Movie review
September 16, 2022 · 102 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Pearl is a 2022 horror prequel directed by Ti West and co-written with its star Mia Goth. Set in 1918 on an isolated Texas farm during World War I and the Spanish flu, it follows young Pearl as her dreams of Hollywood stardom clash with her strict mother, paralyzed father, farm duties, and growing violent impulses. The film uses stylized Technicolor visuals and slasher elements to explore personal repression, ambition, and madness with no visible modern activist, identity, or political messaging.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Pearl.
Woke representation / casting
Period-appropriate cast for 1918 rural Texas farm life with German immigrant family; no audience-visible diversity signaling or logic mismatches.
Woke political dialogue
No explicit political speeches, activist language, or ideological messaging of any kind.
Identity-driven story themes
Centers on one woman’s personal ambitions and violent breakdown in a strict historical family setting; no modern identity politics, queer elements, or representation-first framing.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Shows strict mother, farm isolation, and era limits as personal pressures fueling madness; treats them as period reality, not modern activist attack on patriarchy, family, or Western norms.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant; original story expanding the character from X.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No anti-woke or right-leaning complaints found that the film pushes DEI, identity politics, or left messaging.
Creator track record context
Key team (Ti West, most producers) shows no pattern of activist or identity-driven work; Mia Goth has minimal public political activity and no such creative pattern.
Production
