Black Swan: A Study in Hollywood Psychology
The film Black Swan was noteworthy in the way it explored the dark side of ballet, including eating disorders, psychological manipulation, and how the pressures of achieving perfection can wreak havoc with the developing psyche of a young woman. The central protagonist Nina is a rising star in a prestigious city ballet company. She is given the task of dancing the lead role of Swan Lake. This is one of the most technically and emotionally demanding of all roles in ballet. The White Swan Odette, is supposed to embody purity, while the Black Swan Odile, embodies all that Odette is not and thus temporarily seduces the prince and the audience with her sexuality and bravado. Nina is told early on in the film by the ballet company director that while she is technically proficient she lacks the qualities needed to embody the Black Swan. The company head is also shown letting an older principal ballerina go, illustrating the short nature of a ballerina’s career and the pressure to get ahead quickly.
Like many Hollywood films about dance, Black Swan suggests that there is a fine line between artistry and madness. Whether this is true or not, of course, is much disputed. Furthermore, when a number of psychologists and psychiatrists were asked to review the film, they noted that its treatment of the dancer’s psychology was problematic as well. “The film took liberties with a host of anxiety disorders: anorexia, bulimia, cutting and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)” said one psychiatrist (James, 2010, par.23). Rather than focusing on a single disorder, the film preferred to use a constellation of them. Ballet is shown as giving rise to a variety of psychoses in a diffuse manner. This paper will provide an overview of possible diagnoses for Nina and also note why they are problematic to fully explain the behavior she exhibits on film.
Schizophrenia
Given the dissociative nature of Nina’s disorder,...
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Her day's routine and life merely revolved around these characters that cause her to think or act differently. All of these characters have quite an influential pressure on her that the Nina eventually becomes an amalgamation of thoughts. Pretty soon she gives into the evil desires that she cannot distinguish reality from illusions. Stone and Church (1989) have called adolescence a very vulnerable period. According to them, adolescence is full
1960s Italian film Oedipus Rex and the 2010 film Black Swan how each has familiar neuroses and self-mutilations that affect the main characters. In Oedipus Rex, obviously, there is Oedipus who is the only son born to the Queen of Thebes, who gets kidnapped by the order of his own father, and is rescued by the King of Corinth, where he grows into a handsome young man. In Black
Assignment Two Black Swan is a sort of horror film, but one that we don't expect as it takes place in the world of ballet. Nina (Natalie Portman) is a ballerina who wants her chance at playing the swan in "Swan Lake," which means she will have to portray both the 'good' swan and the 'bad' swan. The problem is that she is such a good girl that nobody believes she
. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 35(3), 384-394. 2 groups of 70 patients with patellar tendon and hamstring tendon autografts were assessed 2 years following surgery. No significant differences were noted in terms of activity, although more patients in the PT group experienced pain and loss of motion for a longer span of time than did patients in the hamstring tendon group. On the whole, patients with hamstring tendon
Nina Sayers Biopsychosocial Analysis of Nina Sayers Academic Institution Nina Sayers, the protagonist in the film the Black Swan, displays a plethora of dysfunctional symptoms and a dissent in the psychosis in the film. The following is a biopsychosocial analysis of the character as she is betrayed in the film. Biological. The film offers very little in the way of direct biological evidence to build a case that there is a significant biological component
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