Pearl is a 2022 horror/drama movie which is directed by Ti West. It may be little confusing to talk about psychology in a horror movie but Pearl breaks this prejudice. The plot is about a girl who wants to leave her farmhouse which she lives in with her mom and dad. This film also offers a strong psychological perspective, allowing viewers to analyze Pearl’s inner conflicts through various psychological concepts. Unlike most horror movies, this film focuses more on the character’s mind than just scary scenes. This makes the movie more psychological and easier to analyze in terms of human behavior.
The Inner World Of Pearl
In the movie Pearl seems like a cheerful, dreamer young woman. But this cheerful attitude comes with darker feelings. This reflects traits of vulnerable narcissism, where strong ambition is combined with deep insecurity and sensitivity to failure. People like Pearl often imagine a perfect version of themselves, and when real life does not match this image, they feel very disappointed and frustrated. She is scared of her mother’s life because Pearl just wants to be a star who belongs to the stage. Her fear of failure and of being stuck on the farm forever without living the life she wants begins to seep through Pearl’s cracks. Her sense of self-worth depends heavily on success, which makes failure psychologically overwhelming for her. Because of this, even small failures can make her feel worthless and not good enough. This also serves as a great example for studying people who fear being not successful.
Environmental Pressures and Emotional Intelligence
Furthermore, the religious environment in which she grew up shows signs of incompatibility within Pearl. Additionally, the restrictive and isolated farm environment plays a major role in shaping her psychological state. Also, living on a farm and being isolated from others makes her feel more trapped and lonely. She is angry to God for her insecurities. She mentions that because she has high emotional intelligence, she experiences her emotions to the extreme. Instead of dealing with her emotions in a healthy way, she keeps them inside, and this causes her to lose control later. Thanks to her emotional intelligence, she has also been able to make sense of her own shortcomings. However these shortcomings turn into uncontrollable fear and anger.
Failure and Destructive Behavior
She manages to convince her mother with great difficulty to enter the competition, but all her dreams are shattered after losing the competition. During the competition, she is seen struggling to convince herself on stage, and her self-confidence dramatically disappears. After her self-confidence crumbles, we begin to see Pearl’s behavior become increasingly aggressive. Jealousy and insecurity begin to take center stage. This can be seen when Pearl’s husband’s sister wins the competition, and when Pearl’s secret lover starts to get scared of her sensitivity, causing Pearl to hurt him out of fear of abandonment. This behavior can be explained through anxious attachment, where fear of being abandoned leads to extreme reactions. People who are afraid of being abandoned can sometimes act in extreme ways when they feel someone is leaving them. Pearl, devastated by the terrible disappointment of not feeling like she belongs anywhere, is seen in these scenes. The dominance of the color red is an indicator of the intense expression of these emotions. The use of red color and close camera shots helps us understand her emotions better.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Pearl is not only a horror film but also a psychological character study that explores how suppressed emotions, environmental pressure, and fragile self-worth can lead to destructive behavior. Overall, the film shows how strong emotions and pressure can affect a person’s behavior in a negative way.