X: The Complete History of Pearl | Horror History

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AN X-TROARDINARY STORY. Pearl is the geriatric antagonist of Ti West's 2022 slasher X, and the young antihero of its prequel Pearl. She shocked audiences with her crass treatment of those around her, her delusional self-centeredness and her ability to hold a grudge for over 60 years.

But what is really going on inside Pearl's overly imaginative head? How did her upbringing make her into the monster she would become? And what happened to her and her husband in the 61 years between Pearl and X? In this video I'll be analyzing the entire life of Pearl, from her simple upbringing to her deluded downfall.

Chapters
0:00 The Birth of Pearl
1:40 Intro
3:09 Life in the Flu Pandemic
6:51 Pearl's Plans for Stardom
8:44 Pearl's Sanity Breaks
11:27 Diagnosing Pearl's Mental Illness
12:55 The Church Dancer Audition
14:34 The Confession
17:42 Complete Mental Breakdown
18:54 The 61-Year Gap
21:01 Encountering Maxine
24:40 Last Delusions of Stardom
27:11 The Death of Pearl

#Pearl #X #Maxxxine

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Horror History is a series that analyses specific characters, monsters, places or events in the fictional worlds of your favorite horror franchises.

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Edited by Storm Ideas

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⚠ Disclaimer: This is a documentary film analyzing a fictional work of art for educational purposes. All actions seen in the video are performed by protagonists and should not be taken as real life footage. All stunts, effects and dialogue are performed by paid actors and all accounts are for the purposes of education, documentary and art.

[Butterfly-llmm]

The fact that Pearls last view was seeing her carbon copy leave the farm as she always wanted to do is so poetic and so sad

[JRandaII]

I kinda like how bright the first half of the movie is, for a horror film. There’s no using darkness to muddle the graphic acts, or to create an affect. It makes it more real, which makes it scarier. That doesn’t always work.

[lucasraines]

Pearl couldn’t accept her fate. She fought SO hard to change her life, only to live the life her mother planned for her to an extent.

[lovenoquinn]

Her yelling at the scarecrow she's married when she's the one who violated him first is wild

[RussetPotatoSizedBee]

I think a part of Howard staying, seeing as he also seems comfortable with murder, is that the man lived and fought in some of the bloodiest wars of all time. After WW1, I imagine he was probably desensitized to killing people since he probably had to kill hundreds of them himself.

[rossjones]

Mia Goth deserved an Oscar nomination for Pearl, and I say that with my whole chest; genuinely terrifying and yet nuanced and sympathetic. She’s a force of nature and I’ve no doubt she’s this generation’s Scream Queen Supreme.

[jayem]

3 details you might have missed:
1.) There are “Missing person” pamphlets at the gas station on the board.
2.) The dead bohemian has bruises down his torso and leg. I imagine it’s from Pearl “having her fun” with him.
3.) Pearl’s dolls all have blue eyeshadow, just like Maxine.

[justanothermortal]

The funny thing is Pearl decided that a life of stardom was impossible after her rejection from the dance recital due to her vanity. People dont't always make the job on their first try. If she had left herself try and keep failing, she would have actually made it someday.

[Menow]

Pearl: *Kills 4 people and a duck*

Howard: “I can fix her”

[qqpie]

Pearl communicating to her husband that she needs reassurance is probably the most normal thing Pearl has done. It's definitely not a pick-me girl trait.

[VersieKilgannon]

The irony of her mother and husband isolating her instead of trying to get her out and socialized... they basically made her mental health worse

[ZombieFarmboy]

I think Mitsy’s death was the only one that really bothered me. She didn’t deserve that.

[lylakittaen]

IMO the gator in X *is* Theda; gators can live up to 80 years in human care. I saw X for the first time right before Pearl in the theater and all I could think about in between was how tame the gator was to not have eaten Maxine. It seems that perhaps at some point Pearl was comfortable enough to even get in the water with it, and Maxine is so similar to Pearl that Theda can't tell the difference between them. It adds a Peter Pan-esqueness to the story that correlates with Captain Hook vs the alligator with the ticking clock in its stomach: Age catches us all, eventually. Maxine is gonna end up *just like Pearl* and I hope we get a fourth movie about the 50's and 60's with Howard and Pearl and what they were really doing on the farm.

[toridrawz]

I think that Howard stayed because in some extent, he was similar to Pearl. I think he enjoyed killing, because Mitsy said that he went to WWI even when he had an excuse not to go, and he volunteered for WWII as well. Maybe he had a lot of pent-up frustration that he released on hurting other people. I don’t think he’s that mentally troubled as Pearl, but i def believe that he was a bit of a psycho too

[RonnieStewartJr]

I feel like X got more attention (probably because of Jenna Ortega & the other bigger names), but Pearl was definitely the better film. It’s great as a stand alone, and works SUPER well as an origin story.

[christopherclark]

What if Maxine doesn't actually look like Pearl.
And it's just Pearl imagining herself in Maxine

[trixx]

Mia Goth straight up deserved an Oscar or something for the scene where she’s sitting at the table letting everything out. That is some of the best acting I’ve seen. For that scene alone she should’ve won an Oscar

[knxa]

I liked pearl way more than X, specially the monologue part. I'm shocked that she didn't win an Oscar for her for performance in this movie cus she absolutely killed it.

[ajstudios]

The fact that Pearl is defeated by a girl who looks just like she did in her youth is such sad poetic irony.

[ZelinkSupporter]

Fun fact: Mia Goth doesn’t just play young Pearl or Maxine. She plays old Pearl too
Old Howard is also played by a younger actor. He was still older than Mia Goth, though