Black Swan - Review & Theories

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Hello again LGBT+ Amino. Today I am giving a personal review on the 2010 movie “Black Swan”, directed by Darren Aronofsky which further stars Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, and Winona Ryder. Furthermore I’m going to explain my theories on the movie, discussing colour theory in the movie and the symbolism involved. Without any further ado, let’s begin.

Trigger Warning: This post (and the movie itself) involves mentions of s*xual assault, s*lf h*rm, spiking/dr*g use, s*x, and e*ting disorders. Please refrain from reading any further if this may trigger you; your safety matters more. If you would like anything censored, please do not be afraid to message me or comment below.

!!Spoilers Ahead!!

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Plot Summary

The plot revolves around a New York City Ballet company that is performing Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake”. This production requires a ballerina to play both the innocent, fragile White Swan and the dark, sensual and seductive Black Swan.

28-year-old Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a young woman who lives with her mother, Erica (Barbara Hershey), a former ballerina. When Nina is at rehearsals, artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) announces that prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) is retiring and he needs a new, fresh face to play the dual roles of White and Black Swan. Nina plays Odette beautifully, but fails to embody Odile.

The following day, Nina asks Thomas to reconsider her for the role. It ends up with Thomas forcibly kissing Nina and her biting him and leaving. Later, to Nina’s surprise, she has been picked for the lead roles. However, at the gala, an intoxicated Beth accuses Nina of sleeping with Thomas for a promotion. The next day, Beth has been hit by a car, injuring her legs and preventing her from ever dancing again.

As the movie progresses, Nina becomes more and more unstable; seeing hallucinations of herself and finding more scratch marks on her back.

Nina and newcomer Lily (Mila Kunis) go out for drinks, despite Erica’s objections. This leads to Lily spiking Nina’s drink with ecstasy. Under the influence, Nina flirts with two men and Lily. After she argues with her mother, Nina locks herself and Lily into her room and they have s*x. Nina wakes up the next morning alone, and late for the dress rehearsal.

Upon arriving at the rehearsals, Nina sees Lily dancing her parts and confronts her about their night together. Lily denies going home with Nina and mocks Nina for having fantasies about her. This convinces Nina that Lily is trying to take her place. Nina’s hallucinations grow stronger and stronger.

On opening night, Erica attempts to stop Nina from going and Nina mocks her and leaves anyways. Upon arrival, she sees Lily is prepped to be Odette but Thomas is so impressed with Nina’s newfound confidence that he lets her take her roles again.

After being dropped due to a hallucination, Nina is stunned to see Lily dressed up as Odile. Nina hallucinates again and sees herself as Odile. They fight and Nina stabs her and hides Lily’s body. Nina dances Odile’s part flawlessly and surprised Thomas with a kiss.

However, whilst dres as Odette again, Lily knocks on Nina’s door and congratulates her. Nina finds that she has stabbed herself. Nina dances the final act and throws herself onto the mattress. Everyone runs to get help after seeing the blood from Nina, who calmly says that she was perfect.

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Review

Honestly, this is one of favourite movies of all time! I have rewatched it so many times solely because I love the storyline and I always find new symbolism with every rewatch that I wouldn’t have noticed on the first watch.

It can be an intense movie so I can see why people might not like it or not understand what the whole meaning was of the movie. But overall I do recommend it!

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Theory

With the first watch, it was clear to me that Nina suffers with a form of OCD. She has an obsession with her work being perfect; although all ballerinas do want their dancing to be perfect, hers can come off as rigid, as Thomas said. However, the rest of this theory isn’t as obvious with the first watch but it becomes clearer with all the symbolism.

Nina’s mother, Erica, is a clear narcissist. She lives vicariously through Nina as she was the one who made her go to ballet classes all the time. Personally, I believe Erica may have been m*lesting Nina. There are several hints to this occurring;

1. Forcefully undresses Nina in several scenes, usually under the guise of being overprotective and making sure Nina is being safe. Nina is also 28 which makes it weird.

2. When Nina gains the lead roles, Erica buys her a cake. Even when Nina doesn’t want a slice, she makes her lick icing off her fingers. Could be innocent enough but combined with everything, it does make it slightly odd.

3. When she asks Nina if she’s “ready for her”.

4. The little to no privacy that Nina has. She is not allowed a lock on her door, and whenever Nina is alone in the bathroom, Erica is constantly asking her what she’s doing and to come out.

As I’ve mentioned, Nina is 28 and hasn’t experienced any form of adulthood due to her mother’s actions and extreme overprotectiveness of her. Erica is the active cause of Nina’s forced age regression and psychosis due to the trauma enforced on her.

You may be wondering where I got the age regression from. It is abundantly clear that Nina experiences age regression with is linked with s*xual regression. This is seen through Nina’s childlike bedroom (see the photo below). The bright pink room filled with stuffed animals is unusual for a 28 year old. However, this is the room her mother keeps Nina in.

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Nina’s use of the word “mommy” is peculiar since it is a word that most adults do not use for their parents, “He picked me, Mommy.” Again, Nina is 28 and this isn’t normal behaviour. She lacks a personality that she should have developed by now.

When Nina “transforms” into the Black Swan, that is her rejecting her mother’s advances for the first time but that is what causes her to have a complete breakdown.

Bringing back round to Erica, I believe she is s*xually ab*sing Nina. This is seen in the Nina and Lily s*x scene. Lily calls Nina “my sweet girl” and that is what Nina’s mother calls her. Nina was hallucinating profusely during this since she saw swan features on Lily, again signifying the end of Nina’s innocence.

Furthermore, in the m*sturbation scene, Nina’s mum once again interrupts her; this adds to Erica being the sole figure of s*xual repression in Nina’s life. In that same scene, there’s a black swan figurine in the background amongst her normal stuffed animals. This, once again, highlights the beginning of the black swan transformation. When Nina actively disobeys her mother, that is when the black swan has fully “taken over”, the end of Nina’s innocence.

To summarise, I believe that Nina’s mum had been ab*sing Nina in various forms, and when Nina finally decides to actively rebel against them, it is the trigger for her breakdown which ultimately leads to her demise.

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Colour Theory

Pink

In the beginning, Nina wears a lot of pink clothing. The colour pink can represent;

• Purity

• Girlyness

• Sweetness

• Naivety

It reflects Nina’a vulnerability and gentleness; these are the traits that are limiting her dancing.

White

White is parallel to Odette, the White Swan. The colour white can represent;

• Purity

• Innocence

• Perfection

Nina is obsessed with perfection and control. She fears failure and disappointment.

Red

Red can be a mature colour. It can furthermore represent;

• Adulthood

• Violence

• Sexuality

Nina has to ‘kill’ her old self, her innocent self, to be the perfect dancer she wants to be, to break past her mother.

Black

The colour of the psychotic break that Nina faces. It represents;

• Seductiveness

• Impulsiveness

• Unhinged

As the movie progresses, Nina’s clothes become darker, showing how her mental state is decreasing and how she is letting go.

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That is all I have for one day! This was a different sort’ve post than I would normally write but Black Swan has been a favourite of mine for a while, and the symbolism and colour theory in the movie always impresses me. I hope you enjoyed and maybe learnt more about Black Swan from this post.

:heart: 🧡 :yellow_heart: :green_heart: :blue_heart: :purple_heart:

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