Doppelgangers have long been a device used in thrillers and genre horror films and Black Swan is a fantastically dramatic fusion of both. Roman Polanski used doppelgangers to great effect in Repulsion and even his lesser known The Tenant scrounges up this device. Darren Aronofsky, one of my favorite of the New 70’s auteurs, is no stranger to symbolism or even heavy handedness however in Black Swan he brings these tendencies together in a wonderful marriage of illusion, delusion, ambition, passion and loudly comments upon monster we create when those elements all meet up on the stage.
Nina Sayer’s lives life as a reflection. Seen constantly in mirrors and reflecting the burnt out desire of her former ballet has-been mother Nina strives not …show more content…
It’s a classic trope of storytelling, the corruption of innocence; the desire to drive what is pure into the clutches of possession has marked the land of told tragedy for thousands of years and indeed Black Swan purposefully mimics its centerpiece show, Swan Lake. Nina slips deeper into the role of the Black Swan everytime she sees herself walking down a sidewalk, or on a train or in her mother’s paintings even as stated in Lily’s face during a pivotal sex scene. That she ends the movies dead by her own hand almost seems inevitable. Her narcissism had escalated to such a fervor there was no other symbolic statement that could be strong enough to announce her final shapeshift into the Black Swan. Her innocence was never real but a projection of the reflected will Nina saw in her mother, her director, Veronica, Lily...she embodied the cliche of innocence to hide in shadow what was always meant to be in the light: her unwavering devotion to perfection. Imagine if instead Nina had embraced her drive and ambition and had been assertive and confident. Every time she sees her double she sees herself as she wants to be, not realizing it is already there within her. The arc of her character is directly related to the arc of her delusions, or the reflections of her actual self if you will. Remember Nina is living a life not of but as a reflection. There is a mirror in literally every scene in Black Swan, and in most there are multiple. Aronofsky plays off of the mirrors with the camera seemingly mimicking the duality of white vs. black in the film. Nina is constantly looking at herself in the mirror, and this serves more purposes than simply detailing the internal struggle with sanity that she has, because almost every time she starts hallucinating, be it a doppelganger or a transformation, it begins by her observing herself in a
Nina Sayer’s lives life as a reflection. Seen constantly in mirrors and reflecting the burnt out desire of her former ballet has-been mother Nina strives not …show more content…
It’s a classic trope of storytelling, the corruption of innocence; the desire to drive what is pure into the clutches of possession has marked the land of told tragedy for thousands of years and indeed Black Swan purposefully mimics its centerpiece show, Swan Lake. Nina slips deeper into the role of the Black Swan everytime she sees herself walking down a sidewalk, or on a train or in her mother’s paintings even as stated in Lily’s face during a pivotal sex scene. That she ends the movies dead by her own hand almost seems inevitable. Her narcissism had escalated to such a fervor there was no other symbolic statement that could be strong enough to announce her final shapeshift into the Black Swan. Her innocence was never real but a projection of the reflected will Nina saw in her mother, her director, Veronica, Lily...she embodied the cliche of innocence to hide in shadow what was always meant to be in the light: her unwavering devotion to perfection. Imagine if instead Nina had embraced her drive and ambition and had been assertive and confident. Every time she sees her double she sees herself as she wants to be, not realizing it is already there within her. The arc of her character is directly related to the arc of her delusions, or the reflections of her actual self if you will. Remember Nina is living a life not of but as a reflection. There is a mirror in literally every scene in Black Swan, and in most there are multiple. Aronofsky plays off of the mirrors with the camera seemingly mimicking the duality of white vs. black in the film. Nina is constantly looking at herself in the mirror, and this serves more purposes than simply detailing the internal struggle with sanity that she has, because almost every time she starts hallucinating, be it a doppelganger or a transformation, it begins by her observing herself in a