Good Girl/Bad Girl Themes in 'Black Swan' Underlying these themes is the idea of perfection at any cost and the good girl/bad girl tug-of-war. It's a seesaw of wills that knocks Nina off-balance mentally, if not physically.
Because Black Swans are always unexpected, they dramatically change the world of those, who are not prepared for them. Never try to explain the future by looking at your past, it's a bad indicator. If you try to gauge real-world risk like you would in a game of cards, you'll likely make bad decisions.
What Is a Black Swan? A black swan is an unpredictable event that is beyond what is normally expected of a situation and has potentially severe consequences. Black swan events are characterized by their extreme rarity, severe impact, and the widespread insistence they were obvious in hindsight.
There are simply too many psychological issues going on with Nina. She shows elements of an anxiety disorder with obsessive compulsive behaviors. She also manifests self-injurious behavior and some signs of an eating disorder.
In nearly every classical ballet the world over there is a theme of good vs evil, light vs dark, hope vs despair. In traditional versions of Swan Lake, this is portrayed by the White Swan/Odette (innocence, honesty, integrity, purity) and the Black Swan/Odile (temptation, malevolence, corruption, villainy).
Her final line and the look of satisfaction on her face possibly imply that Nina is finally content with her artistic capabilities, and it no longer matters to her whether she survives or not. The purpose of her life has now been attained. The Black Swan explained that maybe, Nina does die after all.
The implicit meaning here is that real love liberates the authentic self from the trap of a fraudulent persona and allows for integration. Siegfried pledges undying love and fidelity to Odette, but tragically his inflated idealism and pursuit of perfect romantic love, is influenced by the dark hand of fate.
Destruction of the body is the basis of all horror, but Black Swan's body horror serves a dual purpose by not only freaking out the viewer but also using symbolism to represent the decline of Nina's mental state. Though it isn't as overt as most other horror films, Black Swan is no less terrifying.
Personality… childlike, insecure, and psychologically disturbed. The pressure of being the Swan Queen has been affecting Nina's behavior, and her perfectionism is starting to take a noticeable toll on her mental health.
But speaking as a psychiatrist, Lamberti said the film did not accurately depict schizophrenia, as has been widely speculated, but "does present a reasonable portrait of psychosis." "People tend to be scared of things they don't understand," he said.
A swan has often been seen as a symbol of wisdom and includes awakening the power of self, balance, grace, inner beauty, innocence, self-esteem, seeing into the future, understanding spiritual, evolution, developing intuitive abilities, grace in dealing with others and commitment.
Swan Lake, composed by Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky [1840-1893], tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a white swan by the curse of the evil sorcerer von Rothbart.
But in 1697 the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh encountered swans with dark plumage in Australia, a land largely unexplored by Europeans at that time. The black swan thus came to be a metaphor for the reality that just because something has not happened does not mean that it cannot occur in the future.
It is, though, far from being the whole truth. The “Black Swan” screenplay has surely been prompted by a number of dancers' memoirs — Gelsey Kirkland's 1986 best seller, “Dancing on My Grave,” is just the most famous — to convey its neurotic version of the internal life of ballet.
NOT REAL: Therefore, Lilly and Nina did not have actual sex (we know this because after sex, Lilly said something to Nina about being a ‘Good girl’ and then tried to smother her.
Lily was the evil twin and the director of the play was the prince, Lily was seducing the director (Thomas) but Nina becomes the black swan and seduces him but ended up killing herself to finally free herself from the constant burden she puts on herself to be perfect all the time.
Sometimes in these situations, where a mother is caring for a mentally ill child the child's life needs to be strictly regimented and controlled in order to maintain stability. This could be the reason why Erica feels the need to restrict Nina's movements and social interactions.
After the 83rd Academy Awards, where Portman won Best Actress for her performance in the film as a ballerina, controversy arose over how much credit for the dancing in the film was being given to her and how much to her "dance double", American Ballet Theatre soloist Sarah Lane.
Rachel Loewy, assistant adjunct professor of psychiatry at UC San Francisco, agrees that Nina's troubles could be consistent with a borderline personality disorder (in which a person has difficulty setting proper boundaries between herself and others) rather than a full-blown psychosis.
What are the scratches on Nina's back in Black Swan?
Early in the film the audience is shown a small rash on Nina's back; this has to do with a nervous tick she has developed where she scratches herself. When the mother finds that the rash has gotten worse, she strips Nina down to her underwear and pulls her into the bathroom to cut her nails.
Swan Lake doesn't end well. Thinking she is his Odette, Prince Siegfried swears his love for Odile, both destroying his future with the Swan Queen and dooming her to death. In most productions, the prince, distraught, commits suicide by jumping into the lake.
The ballerina's dual role of Odette/Odile, or White Swan/Black Swan, is one of the most iconic in the repertoire, demanding technical mastery and emotional range to morph from vulnerable and pure Odette to audacious and deceptive Odile. Thematically, these polar-opposites symbolize a battle between good and evil.
Odette flings herself into the lake and Siegfried follows. Siegfried's and Odette's steadfast love breaks the enchanter's spell and Von Rothbart, too, collapses and dies. With the curse removed, the lovers' spirits are freed. Their spirits take flight and are reunited for eternity.
