Holly's Secret Garden

Introduction

Black Swan, a 2010 psychological thriller, explores the binary conflicts in human life---reason/unreason, love/hatred, repression/passion, hetero/homosexuality. The warring of the two turns out tragic in the film, for the latter overwhelms the former and leads to the death of the female protagonist.

First of all, the theme of binary contradiction is symbolized by the classical ballet, Swan Lake, in which the swan queen should portray two contradictory roles at the same time, White and Black Swan. Nina, the leading character starring Natalia Portman, exhibits the coexistence of evil and innocence, passion and reservation. In her exist the two contradictory qualities. White is associated with the pure and noble while black with the seductive and evil. As black and white swans are twins, the two characteristics co-inhabit the human mind, always waging destructive wars and wrecking havoc on life. In the ballet, white swan kills herself out of the despair over the loss of her lover. In real life, Nina also kills herself out of despair, only that the despair is caused by her jealousy, fear and hatred. The film presents a subtle parallel between Life and Art with Life heavily influenced by Art. The tone is pessimistic and doomed. Now, let’s examine in detail the binary contradictions in the swan queen’s mind.

I. Reason/unreason

As a devoted dancer, Nina seeks for perfection in every movement in her ballet performance. Extreme pressure thus springs from the enthusiastic pursuit of her career achievement. She begins to have illusion, bewildered by the real and fictional. So, a split world emerges, plunging her into the schizophrenic darkness. Looking into the mirror, she sees an apparition. Light goes out suddenly when she is practicing ballet. Mysterious scratches and wounds occur. All these are symptoms of schizophrenia. She sees something which is nonexistent, or does something unconsciously. The wounds she inflicts on herself manifest one of the characteristics of madness: animality. When hurting herself out of despair, she doesn’t feel the pain. In the seizure of madness, she grows numb to the reaction of her body. When the boundary of reason and unreason is blurred, her real world collapses and in its stead is a fictional world created out of her fantasy.

II. Love/hatred

The love/hatred complex exists between Nina and her mother. As an artist herself, the mother aims to make Nina a great dancer. But Nina feels her single mother’s love too suffocating. Her excessive care leaves her no room for privacy. For one thing, the spying glances make her ill at ease. In a certain sense, Nina ‘s perfectionism can be attributed to her overly devoted mother. On one hand, she appreciates her mother’s sacrifice for her; on the other hand, she hates the burden of her mother’s love, which is an invisible blockage to her freedom. That’s why she chooses to hang out with Lily before she has a rehearsal the next day. It’s a rebellious gesture against her mother’s surveillance. Once the hatred is out, she no longer obeys her mother and doesn’t want to be her “sweet girl” any more.

III. repression/passion

As her ballet director points out, Nina is too rigid and reserved to fit in the role of black swan, which is supposed to be passionate and seductive. Long trained to be a perfect dancer, Nina is an ideal choice for the white swan. Pure and reserved, she disciplines herself too strictly to have fun and relaxation in her life. Lily, as her counterpart and alternate, embodies the very qualities of black swan. She envies Lily and becomes anxious about her replacement. In reality, it’s only herself that stands in the way of her achievement. Lily cannot take her role away as long as she lets go of her reservation. With such limitation gone, Nina can be a perfect dancer as she expects herself to be. And the fact is, she isn’t without passion herself. Taking some drugs from Lily one night, she frees herself from the former constraint and enters a blissful state of sexual ecstasy. Her passion is dormant, waiting to be evoked when her reason evaporates with the use of drugs. After she crosses the passion/reservation boundary, she accomplishes a great work of art, performing the perfect roles of both white and black swans.

IV. Hetero/homosexuality

Nina’s dormant passion is awakened by Lily, an ideal choice for the black swan. She has no feelings toward her director, who tries to arouse her passion by kissing her. Instead of kissing back, she bites his lips. She doesn’t respond to man’s caress and kiss but she does to Lily’s. After taking the drug offered by Lily, she experiences a sexual fantasy with Lily that night. The former frigidity about sex is replaced with lesbian sexual pleasure. The awakened sexuality pushes her to the height of her career. She can liberate herself from the passionless world to the one filled with fantasy and excitement. Once the homosexual desire is gratified, she is empowered with the passion to portray the black swan well.

Conclusion

All in all, the triumph of the latter qualities in Nina contributes to her success on stage. This validates Michel Foucault’s assertion that madness is linked to creativity, but yet destroys the work of art. The work of art can reveal the presence of unreason, but yet unreason is the end of the work of art. The release of the unreason, hatred, passion and homosexuality in Nina ends her life, but accomplishes a great work of art. These dark qualities consume her life, but meanwhile transform her life into perfect art.