The Dichotomy of Feminine Identity in Aronofsky’s Black Swan: Objectification, Duality, and Psychological Decline

Isabel Rose Hay, University of Bristol, Film and Theatre BA, Year 1
Introduction to Film and Television Studies, summative essay, awarded 75/100 first class.

Black Swan (Aronofsky, 2010) was inspired after the director watched Swan Lake and was ‘stunned’ to discover the White and Black Swan were performed by a single dancer; ‘they are such distinct characters, one is innocent and pure, the other is passionate and adventurous. So we built this story about the dark side and the light side of personality, battling for sanity’. The film follows talented and perfectionistic ballerina, Nina (Natalie Portman), as she is awarded the gruelling role of the Swan Queen. She begins a downward spiral as she struggles to embody the temptress Black Swan, becoming more and more unhinged from reality. I will explore how this is intrinsically connected to representations of female identity through Nina’s objectification, delusion and duality.

Aronofsky represents female identity through a potentially divisive dualistic lens. The concept of binary opposites, a pair of two contrasting elements, was derived from anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss (1955) and laid the groundwork for structuralist theorists to explore the influence of binary oppositions on film and media narratives. This structuralist approach illuminates strategies used by Aronofsky to cinematically represent the dichotomy of femininity. The film’s narrative is anchored by the dual role of the Swan Queen in which Nina has been cast. The binary opposition of the “pure and sweet” White Swan and “lustful” Black Swan could be interpreted as a symbolic analogy for Nina’s innocent virginal and liberated sexual self. Mise-en-scene in Nina’s bedroom – light pink and white bedsheets, butterfly wallpaper and an abundance of stuffed teddies – connote her girl-like femininity and encode her infantilised and virtuous default. This infantilisation is anchored by Nina’s name, meaning ‘little girl’ in Spanish (Browning, 2020), and her mother Erica’s (Barbara Hershey) incredibly protective and possessivetreatment; perhaps in the hope of preserving Nina’s childlike purity. Calvo-Pascual (2016, pp.121) agrees that Nina is ‘presented in a state of arrested psycho-sexual development caused or exacerbated by her domineering single mother’. This side of Nina’s femininity is symbolic of the White Swan, which Nina effortlessly dances as her director, Thomas (Vincent Cassel), confirms “When I look at you all I see is the White Swan”. Thomas insinuates she must ‘lose herself’ to be able to also play the role of the Black Swan and that contrary to Nina’s belief “perfection is not just about control. It’s also about letting go”. He proceeds to kiss her. Cassel’s forceful and predatory performance is matched with uncomfortably tight framing, placing the audience in an unavoidable state of unease. The narrative timing of this within the scene draws a direct parallel between Thomas’s belief Nina must let go to be perfect, and his sexual advances being able to evoke such “letting go”. This encodes the notion it is her feminine sexuality that must be uninhibited to become the Black Swan.

Throughout the film, a clear parallel is continuously drawn between dance in the ballet world and sexuality in the outer world through the dialogue. For example, in rehearsal, an exasperated Thomas describes Nina’s dancing as “frigid”. Extreme close-ups of Thomas’s groping hands and an intense and invasive kiss depict his attempt to seduce Nina so that she releases her feminine sexuality to dance the Black Swan. When debating the relationship between the horror genre and gender, Fisher (2011, pp.59) suggests that ‘the ballet company is an infernal vision of patriarchy, controlled by an almost parodically phallic artistic director’; thereby gender dynamics at play within the narrative could be read as a microcosm of society’s larger patriarchal structure, significantly through this characterisation of Nina and Thomas. When Thomas is scolding Nina for “whining”, high angles are used to represent Nina from Thomas’s perspective, and low angles to frame the versa. The effect of this is that a power dynamic is created between the gender binary, where the woman is weakly positioned, perhaps even infantilised as she is told off by a dominant male figure. In the narrative, Nina’s sexualisation is coerced and praised by Thomas, and if Thomas symbolises the patriarchy, we can begin to see how Nina could represent female objectification and sexualisation within wider society.

Laura Mulvey’s (1975) theory on the male gaze can be used to explore the potentially misjudged representations of femininity within Black Swan. As Nina begins to embrace her dark side, her female identity becomes sexualised and objectified. Mulvey suggests film offers the pleasure of scopophilia, the pleasure of looking, a term isolated by Sigmund Freud as one of the naturally occurring instincts of human sexuality (pp.8). She explains that in a society ‘ordered by sexual imbalance’, women traditionally assume a ‘passive’ and ‘exhibitionist role… simultaneously looked at and displayed’, whereas men remain active determiners of the gaze (pp.11). The visual treatment of Nina and Lily (Mila Kunis)  in their sex scene might be criticised for conforming to such patriarchal norms of cinema as it resembles soft porn. A dynamic editing style is employed, sharply cutting between extreme close-ups of Nina and Lily kissing and undressing one another. The pacing slows to linger on the tight-framed action of Lily pleasuring Nina and Portman’s facial expressions portraying Nina’s sexual awakening. This is underscored by an orchestic chord crescendo in pace and volume, building to emphasise Nina reaching climax. The scene is pivotal for Nina’s sexual liberation and perhaps a progressive representation of a female taking control over her body and desires. However, Aronofsky’s approach feels aesthetically objectifying. The close framing and editing cause Nina and Lily’s interaction to dominate the screen, exhibited in front of the audience as a spectacle, thus adhering to the male gaze. Even in scenes of a non-sexual nature, Mulvey’s theory is supported. After Nina and Lily’s sex scene, there is a temporal cut to Nina waking up the next morning. The camera slowly pans from her feet, up her bare leg, to her hand and finally reveals her face. This is an example of the ‘woman as an object and the screen space coalesce(ing)’ (pp.14) where the camera favours fragmented parts of Nina’s body through the close-up lingering shot of her skin. Portman is styled in a subtly sexualized manner with seductive posing, unusual for someone waking up; a bent knee, hands between her thighs, and an arm behind the head. Her face is shown last, prioritising her body over her identity.

Mulvey argues these codes ‘must be broken down before mainstream film and the pleasure it provides can be challenged’ (pp.17). Although the narrative of Black Swan could aim to shed light on the struggles of women within modern society, such cinematic codes employed by Aronofsky fit within established conventions of the male gaze and could be argued to further degrade feminine identity as passively looked upon. Women’s objectification in Hollywood often evidences producers employing the male gaze as a means of guaranteeing viewership success and thereby profit. However, as technological advances have made filmmaking more accessible, alternative cinema outside of the capitalist mainstream provided a politically and aesthetically radical space to challenge such conventions (pp7-8). Black Swan was produced by Aronofsky’s independent company Protozoa Pictures but also received funding from the conglomerate Searchlight Productions, situating it in a blurry industrial position between alternative and mainstream cinema.  In comparison to the mainstream, Black Swan may be radical in terms of its graphic content, but perhaps not in how it represents women.

Nina’s struggle to balance the duality of the Swan Queen, and thereby her femininity, leads subsequently to her psychological decline and delusion. The presence of these two sides is constantly reflected visually through an abundance of light and dark imagery. This is achieved through a predominantly black, white and red colour palette, chiaroscuro lighting and dress codes; most notably in the final dance where Nina wears the costumes of the Black and the White Swan under the harsh stage light. The binary opposition of cinematic codes reflects Nina’s psychological conflict as she battles her dark and light self and two sides of femininity. Calvo-Pascual asserts that ‘the force of Nina’s repression is so deeply rooted that, instead of integrating both sides of herself, she will suffer from severe disassociation’ (2016, pp.122). One way this duality and delusion is explored is through the mirror motif. In every set, mirrors surround Nina, such as the dance studio, dressing room, her apartment and even subway window reflections. However, the reflection rarely matches reality and instead depicts her doppelganger as she descends into madness. This doppelganger connects to Freud’s ‘double’, which Jen Boyle (2016) describes as a reflection of oneself ‘often addressed in film/cinema… (in) reflections in mirrors, shadows, spirits, or the infamous doppelganger’. The double is uncanny and evokes fear, despite being familiar. Boyle suggests that ‘by seeing the double a person is criticizing their self, and becoming aware of their conscience. When the person becomes aware of their conscience, they become aware of what the double represents – the unacceptable part of their ego’. For Nina, her double represents the unacceptable part of her femininity she is trying to unlock.

Clinical psychologists Danielle Vanier and Russell Searight (2012, cited in Calvo-Pascual, 2016, pp.122) explain ‘by challenging the viewer to distinguish between delusion and reality, Black Swan successfully creates identification with the protagonist’. Nina acts as the audience’s deictic centre, and they follow the first-person narrative through her subjectivity. Camera movement, point-of-view shots and close-ups align the audience with the unreliable narrator, so they closely share her journey, conflict and bewilderment. In moments where Nina sinks into her delusion, like when she picks a hangnail and her skin pulls off, Aronofsky cuts between subjective point-of-view and objective mid shots, each depicting different action so the film’s verisimilitude and truth is unclear. The exponentially blurring line between reality and delusion is crucial to explore the effect the pressure has on Nina’s psyche. One technique employed to support this is the breaking of the 180-degree rule. In Lily and Nina’s sex scene, the rule is broken numerously, causing visual confusion so the audience cannot comprehend who is who. The mirror motif is similarly used when they enter the apartment; the angle of the camera and the mirror merge Nina and Lily’s bodies before they split as Lily walks away. Both techniques could symbolise the blending of Lily’s personality with Nina’s. Lily is reckless and represents sexual adulthood as well as the Dark Swan. She embodies the femininity Nina is trying to achieve. The name Lily denotes purity which suggests Lily was once like Nina but now she changed there is no going back to innocence, hence her difficulties when dancing the White Swan.

Fisher asserts that whilst ‘Black Swan is a film of female horror’, this does not make it a ‘work of misogyny’ (2011, pp.59). Whilst this may be true, the choices Nina is trapped between are concerning. As Nina begins to embrace her dark side, as desired by Thomas, her rebellion is met with the dismay of her mother. No matter which side of herself she chooses, Nina cannot satisfy the conflicting standards of those around her, reflective of the double standards women are held to in society. Jacobs (pp.59) critiques the opposing representation of white/black and virgin/whore as a ‘binary mapping… of femininity under patriarchy’. She asserts there is no ‘an alternative construction, or even a resistance to, the version of femininity in which Nina is trapped’ and that ‘the film reproduces, romanticizes, and condones these terms’ with ‘no subversion or rethinking’. Aronofsky represents a thought-provoking duality of female identity through light/dark and purity/sexual freedom. This reflects the impossibility of balancing these conflicting ideals to achieve feminine perfection. However, Nina is punished by Thomas for her purity, by her mother for her sexuality and ultimately for both by her death. Whilst this could highlight the dangers of pursuing such an unachievable ideal, Aronofsky’s lack of solution for Nina’s plight is an unsettling, but perhaps deliberate, conclusion to leave the audience with.

Bibliography

Audiovisual Works

Black Swan (2010). Dir. Darren Aronofsky. US: Searchlight Pictures. 110 min.

Works Cited

Aronofsky, D. (2011). Black Swan: Interview with Darren Aronofsky. [online] Electric Sheep. 16 Jan. Available at: http://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/2011/01/16/black-swan-interview-with-darren-aronofsky/ [Accessed 11 Dec. 2023].

Boyle, J. (2016). Theory in a Digital Age: Freud’s Uncanny Theory. [online] Theory in a Digital Age: A Project of English 483 Students, Coastal Carolina University. Available at: https://scalar.usc.edu/works/index-2/freuds-uncanny-theory [Accessed 11 Dec. 2023].

Browning, K. (2004). Fractured Femininity in ‘Black Swan’. Screen Queens. Available at: https://screen-queens.com/2020/12/04/fractured-femininity-in-black-swan/ [Accessed 11 Dec. 2023].

Calvo-Pascual, M. (2016). “It Was Perfect”: Desire, Corporeality, and Denial in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. ES Review: Spanish Journal of English Studies, pp. 119-132.

Fisher, M. and Jacobs, A. (2011). Debating Black Swan: Gender and Horror. Film Quarterly, 65(1), pp.58–62. doi:https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2011.65.1.58.

Levi-Strauss, C. (1955). The Structural Study of Myth. The Journal of American Folklore, 68(270), pp.428–444. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/536768.

Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Screen 16(3), pp.6–18.

Vanier, D. and Searight, R. (2012). Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorder in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. Advances on Psychology Study 1.2. pp.4-7