Black Swan Comment / DW Codes
Dec. 26th, 2010 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodel Gots some Dreamwidth codes if anyone needs an extra.
Also, Black Swan did not in fact give me nightmares, but I do have two issues with it. Three actually.
1) It's a horror movie. Not just a psychological thriller/suspense movie. Horror. With blood and guts and tearing flesh and scary BOO moments.
2) Nina (the protagonist) is not an innocent creature. Nor is she a high-functioning person (or even a high-functioning person with a tic) who breaks down as the film progresses. She's a barely-functional paranoid-- infantile, obsessive, and mean-- from the get-go. She steals stuff for no reason before she's even cast as the Swan Queen. I read reviews calling the choreographer a slimy evil person, or characterizing the mother as evil. Nuh-uh. The dude's unethical, and the mom is a piece of work, but Nina is the only character in the film committing truly evil acts, repeatedly.
3) As it's telegraphed early on that the plot arc will (must!) end with a suicide, metaphorical or actual, there is no way for the viewer to cheer on any of the actions that, in a real coming-of-age film, might be cheered. When Nina goes out for a night on the town, or tells her mother she's moving out, or when she shoves her stuffed toys down the trash chute, there's no sense that any of it is leading to Nina's growth as a person. Because it's not. All those acts push her into assuming the role of the Black Swan and have nada to do with any sort of growth or self-actualization. They're just necessary steps toward embodying the Swan Queen, and the demands of that role in term demand the "death" at the end. So, calling this a coming-of-age movie (as has been done) is waaaay off.
I keep wanting to type "Nyna" instead of "Nina," ha ha ha.
Also, Black Swan did not in fact give me nightmares, but I do have two issues with it. Three actually.
1) It's a horror movie. Not just a psychological thriller/suspense movie. Horror. With blood and guts and tearing flesh and scary BOO moments.
2) Nina (the protagonist) is not an innocent creature. Nor is she a high-functioning person (or even a high-functioning person with a tic) who breaks down as the film progresses. She's a barely-functional paranoid-- infantile, obsessive, and mean-- from the get-go. She steals stuff for no reason before she's even cast as the Swan Queen. I read reviews calling the choreographer a slimy evil person, or characterizing the mother as evil. Nuh-uh. The dude's unethical, and the mom is a piece of work, but Nina is the only character in the film committing truly evil acts, repeatedly.
3) As it's telegraphed early on that the plot arc will (must!) end with a suicide, metaphorical or actual, there is no way for the viewer to cheer on any of the actions that, in a real coming-of-age film, might be cheered. When Nina goes out for a night on the town, or tells her mother she's moving out, or when she shoves her stuffed toys down the trash chute, there's no sense that any of it is leading to Nina's growth as a person. Because it's not. All those acts push her into assuming the role of the Black Swan and have nada to do with any sort of growth or self-actualization. They're just necessary steps toward embodying the Swan Queen, and the demands of that role in term demand the "death" at the end. So, calling this a coming-of-age movie (as has been done) is waaaay off.
I keep wanting to type "Nyna" instead of "Nina," ha ha ha.
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Date: 2011-01-07 05:00 am (UTC)