The Red Light Rules: X

I'm a big fan of the X trilogy (I really loved Pearl and Maxxxine was pretty good too) and I'm quite surprised X scored so well on The Red Light Rules; I generally assume slashers with sex workers present means she is going to be one of the characters that ends up dead. I'm happy that X flips that stereotype and has Maxine as the final girl in both X and Maxxxine (review coming tomorrow).

If you haven't seen it already, X is a film about a group of porn performers (Mia Goth, Kid Cudi, and Brittany Murphy), their producer (Martin Henderson), the videographer (Owen Campbell) and his girlfriend (Jenna Ortega) shooting a new stag film called "The Farmer's Daughter" in a remote farm in Texas. When they arrive they are immediately greeted by the cantankerous ugly old man with a shotgun. The producer is able to charm his way out of being shot but the farmer is left with the feeling that they are there to get into some debauchery. The farmer also has a wife, Pearl, who he is trying to shield from the evil and vanity of the group; however, Pearl is extremely drawn to Maxine. She sees something special in Maxine, she sees that Maxine is a star; just like Pearl wanted to be. Pearl is feeling extremely sexually frustrated and regretful at how her life turned out; she begins to take out these frustrations on the troupe by picking them off one by one, saving Maxine for herself. X was one of the first slasher/horror films I ever saw and for that reason I may be biased at how fun and great I thought it was. I do recommend watching it if you have not already!

"The fact of the truth of the matter is, we turn folks on: and that scares them...

But they can’t look away neither."

X clearly showed an understanding of choice, circumstance, and coercion by not conflating them and showing how each of the performers had different ideas about how they want to continue in the work (or not). And X almost scored 2 out of 4 because Mia Goth (who is the sex worker in the film I based the rating off of) doesn't really have any positive interactions besides with the producer who is her boyfriend, so technically it is outside of the scope of sex work but she is definitely playing the game with him. As far as Maxine's storyline outside of sex work, we don't get that until the ending of the movie where she is shown to be the daughter of the preacher but don't get much more than that single frame of her image in the church as a young girl. The film ends "happily" I suppose, with Maxine as the final survivor, driving away to pursue her dreams of becoming a star.

"I will not accept a life I do not deserve"

– Mel

 X scored 3/4 on The Red Light Rules™ test that assesses portrayals of sex work in media. We created 4 questions to determine this:

1. Does the film show an understanding of choice, circumstance, and/or coercion? yes
2. Does the SWer interact with another person in a positive manner unrelated to SW? yes
3. Does the SWer have a storyline, hobby, or interest outside of SW?
4. Does the film have a happy and/or non-traumatic ending for the SWer? yes