A descent into Madness, #Pearl  

What do Pearl and the Joker have in common? They are both scary yes. They are both crazy, yes.  And they both seem to like killing people. However, if you’re like me and you watch a lot of scary movies, you begin to see so many parallels. In truth, The Joker and Pearl are villains with amazing origin stories that touch on society’s worst fears. What are those fears you might ask? Well, it’s aging, because woman become undesirable and practically invisible after a certain age. Shattered dreams, how many of us wanted to be football players or movie stars? And most importantly, chaos, deterioration, and negativity. Innately, we understand that society is held together by a few strings, and if gently pulled, can unravel into complete destruction. Our human mind, sadly, is very much the same. It really doesn’t take much to tip us in the wrong direction. And watching Pearl, a woman spiraling into madness helps us understand how fragile the human mind can actually be.  So, in this video, we are going to analyze Pearl to truly understand how sweet and innocent people can turn bad. Please stay tuned.   

What causes madness in the brain?  

I don’t know about you, but when I was watching X, I was glued to the screen. It was exciting from the very beginning, mostly because it was a movie about, well you guys guessed it, sex. Sex sells, and there was enough tits and ass in this movie, to drive an incel crazy.

However, Pearl, the sequel was more of a slow burn. And I don’t think that Mia Goth, the actress who played Pearl, even took her clothes off. All sex scenes were off camera, and the killing didn’t really start until the very end.  However, I think that was what the writer was going for. Afterall, that’s what deterioration is. It’s a slow and gradual process that ends in an inevitable demise. We have very little understanding of it, and even less control of it. All we know is that there is some kind of invisible force, threatening to wreak havoc on our very being. To put things into perspective, we need to understand what deterioration really is. In a nutshell.  It’s negative energy. As a society, we are grossly afraid of it. Yet, it plays a huge role in our very existence. If you leave food out, it rots. Your skin overtime begins to wrinkle. Your body breaks down from too much wear and tear: the list goes on and on. However, negative energy can also be a good thing. Your immune system fights off disease and bacteria, pumping weights can help you build muscles and increase stamina, and breaking certain habits can help you elevate and grow. Your body keeps a natural balance. It knows what to destroy and what not to destroy.  

What happens when you go insane?  

Sickness occurs when your body starts to go a little haywire. And much like cancer, your body starts to destroy itself, by killing off cells. There is no rhyme or reason to any of this. It just happens. It’s a slow and steady demise until a whole organ fails, or the body gives way and dies. This kind of deterioration can not only happen on a micro level, but also on a macro level. Entire societies can become infected with a disease, causing all of society’s structures and systems to collapse. Perhaps this was the reason why the movie Pearl, focused on filming during the 1917s during the First World War and the Spanish Flu.  It was a time of chaos and destruction. Societies were breaking down, power was shifting, and people all over the world were plagued by loneliness and despair. In good horror movies, all the characters reflect the main characters fears. Or, in Pearl’s case, her strict mother, and invalid father are representations of her dreams unrealized. Farmwork for Pearl was grueling and unfulfilling. Pearl feared that if she lived her life as a farm girl that she may end up like her mother Ruth, bitter, and worn down from a life of disappointments. Or worse, Pearl feared that she may end up like her father, an invalid, sickened and beaten down from the harsh realities of life. Pearl indulges in fantasies, singing to herself, pretending that her animals are her friends, and dreaming about leaving the farm for good.   

Crazy people don’t know that they are crazy 

She sets her sights on Howard. A young farm hand who appeared to come from money. Pearl marries him, with the hope of being introduced and accepted by his wealthy family. The First World War begins. Howard joins partly because of duty but mostly because of rebellion, leaving Pearl alone on a farm that she despises. Pearl’s mother Ruth is strong, structured and militant. She spews out tough love, attempting to prepare Pearl for a harsh world that not only destroys people, but also their dreams. Ruth is rugged, and tired, crying herself to sleep at night. However, she understands that she is the glue that is holding everything together. With very little money, and help, she runs the farm, all while taking care of her husband. Ruth is not living the life that she dreamed of. Instead, she believes that it is best to make do with what you have. She discourages Pearl from wearing pretty clothes, from spending money frivolously, from focusing on anything aside from the fieldwork that she must do each day. Things change for Pearl when she meets a handsome projectionist. He takes a liking to her, introducing her to the world of underground pornography. He tells Pearl that she is beautiful, talented, and that she needs to strike while the iron is hot. Afterall, woman only have a certain period of time to conquer their goals, before they become old, haggard, and undesirable. Although it’s not explicitly stated, it appears that the projectionist is trying to lure Pearl into the world of pornography. Pearl feels the pressure. She believes that she could be a star, if only her parents were gone. She doesn’t have the heart to kill them, at least not yet. However, things take a twisted turn when Ruth is set on fire and is left for dead. Pearl is then free to live out her wildest dreams and has a little tryst with the projectionist, only to kill him in the end when he rejected her.  

How a normal person can go mad 

Pearl has another breakdown when she auditions to be part of a traveling troupe of dancing girls.  She is rejected. She is inconsolable as her sister-in-law Misty comforts her. To Misty, the dance troupe was just a way to pass the time. To Pearl, the dancing troupe was her lifeline. It was the one thing keeping her from tipping over into the world of madness and chaos. Pearl kills Misty, and disposes of the corpse, all while leaving her parents to sit at the dinner table to rot and fester. Her husband Howard comes back home, only to stare in utter horror at a woman who had become totally unraveled by rejection and unrealized dreams. The food is rotted with maggots and other critters crawling all over it. The deterioration process has begun, both on the farm and in Pearl’s demented mind.  Pearl’s dreams were shattered, the cancer of destruction had taken root, and now there is almost nothing that she can do to stop the chaos from brewing, thus ruining her life, and everyone else’s. That my friends is what deterioration is. It’s like a virus or a deadly flu, that doesn’t just infect its host, but everyone else around him. And that’s what Pearl represents. She represents a virus, or a deadly disease, that needs to be spread in order to survive. However, we as sane and healthy people need to avoid people like Pearl in order to thrive.