"There’ s no place like home": Ti West’s Pearl as a Hollywood Pastiche

KAŠPÁRKOVÁ, Barbora. "There’ s no place like home": Ti West’s Pearl as a Hollywood Pastiche. In Minding the Gaps, 12th Brno International Conference of English, American, and Canadian Studies. 2025.

Základní údaje

Originální název

"There’ s no place like home": Ti West’s Pearl as a Hollywood Pastiche

Název česky

"Všude dobře, doma nejlépe": Pearl Ti Westa jako hollywoodská pastiš

Autoři

KAŠPÁRKOVÁ, Barbora

Vydání

Minding the Gaps, 12th Brno International Conference of English, American, and Canadian Studies, 2025

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Další údaje

Jazyk

angličtina

Typ výsledku

Prezentace na konferencích

Obor

60405 Studies on Film, Radio and Television

Stát vydavatele

Česká republika

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Odkazy

Book of Abstracts

Označené pro přenos do RIV

Ne

Organizační jednotka

Pedagogická fakulta

Klíčová slova anglicky

Pastiche; Ti West; Pearl; Horror; Golden Age Hollywood

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Anotace

V originále

“There´s no place like home”: Ti West´s Pearl as a Hollywood Pastiche This paper examines Ti West´s 2022 horror movie Pearl and argues that its unsettling dissonance between the content and form aligns more with a postmodern “la mode retro” pastiche of Golden Age Hollywood than with a parody of classic movies like The Wizard of Oz (1939) and movies from Disney productions. The central character Pearl (Mia Goth) appears as a simulacrum of Doroty who turns into deranged “Baby Jane” due to various external and internal factors. To evoke the aesthetics of nostalgic cinema, West uses Technicolour-inspired visuals, but beneath the vivid colours, unexpected for the horror genre, a nightmarish psychological horror steadily unfolds. This to be said, the colourful fantasy slowly crumbles when Pearl, the epitome of innocence and psychopathy realizes she will not become a star. By using pastiche, West creates an uncanny blend of the familiar and the disturbing. The setting in a Texas farm in 1918 that seems from outside cosy is contrasted with the “pet” alligator in a nearby pond but also with the Great War and the Spanish influenza pandemic. Though the pastiche pays homage to Technicolour films from the 1930s and 40s, it is also satirical. Pearl´s isolation and unfulfilled dreams set in motion gory killings reminiscent of classic slasher horror films. In addition, the movie critiques the beauty dominant pattern in society sustained by Hollywood and its harmful impact on aspiring women, illustrated by the line: “We are looking for someone blond and younger”.