Early in Pearl’s story, Pearl prays to become a successful dancer: “Please, Lord, make me the biggest star the world has ever known.” Since X takes place in the 1970s, the look has a high contrast, as if shot on film stock. The cutaways to the porn that is being made throughout the movie are all shown in a 4:3 aspect ratio and are as grainy as 16mm film, just as it would have looked in its day. There are moments featuring split screens and rapid cross-cuts between scenes that are an ode to films like Easy Rider. 1900s films are a direct inspiration for Pearl. The saturated Technicolor look conjures the feeling of The Wizard of Oz, and the widescreen 2.35:1 image a la Cinemascope (even though it had not been invented until long after 1918) gives the film the grandiose feel of epics long since passed. Not to mention the old-school musical score is reminiscent of Douglas Sirk melodramas and Hitchcock thrillers. In Pearl, the judges of the dance contest do not see “The X Factor” in Pearl’s performance, forcing her life to spin further out of control. Obviously, neither Maxine nor Pearl are prudes, but it can be argued that neither would have entered into the “adult film” world without the help of the men in their lives. If that didn’t make you squirm, then maybe the dance/sex scene that young Pearl has with a too-human-looking scarecrow will do it for you. It is suggested that young Pearl experiences her first orgasm while riding the inanimate stuffed figure in a corn field… As one does. With countless barnyard animals and human sacrifices through the years, this swamp gator surely had enough meals to sustain itself for decades. But as X shows, Howard not only stayed, but stood by Pearl’s side for 60 years, helping cover up all her evil deeds and even taking part in some of the mayhem himself. They were clearly made for each other. Similarly in X, a different car is found in the swamp by Jackson (Kid Cudi), proving that Pearl and Howard have had to cover their tracks more than once in the past 60 years. Maxine’s father is revealed at the end of X to be an evangelist who wants to save his daughter from her wicked ways. Similarly, Pearl’s pious mother will not indulge her silly dreams of becoming a dancer or even leaving the responsibilities of life on the farm. In their own ways, each of our heroines have to climb out of from under their respective parents’ iron fists. In the events of 1918, that is exactly what Pearl is…until she kills her parents, of course. Pearl showcases her passion for dance and how it actually helps lead to her downfall. When young Pearl visits the town cinema in 1918, a man wearing a sandwich board reading, “I will not accept a life I do not deserve,” can be seen wandering in the street.
