representation of black swan

BLACK SWANREPRESENTATION OF

NINA SAYERS / THE SWAN QUEEN

NATALIE PORTMAN AS

CHARACTER INTRODUCTION

Age: 20

Gender: Female

Ethnicity: White American

Class and Status: Middle Class

Good vs evil: Good/Evil



LEVI-STRAUSS

Nina Sayers is looked at in various binary opposites through the film, she is seen as being good in Levi-Strauss’ theory, as she plays the White Swan very well and has the personality of a good pure person to be able to fulfil the needs of the role of the White Swan. Therefore we know this character as being good, however the binary opposite of good vs evil is within the character of Nina Sayers, as she also has a dark evil side to her, as she tries to find the Black Swan within her. In this film the binary opposite of reality vs fantasy is also explored, and an audience is left wondering whether most of what is told and seen about the life of Nina Sayers is reality or just a fantasy of her imagination, such as the scene that shows her dream which is clearly a fantasy, but the story that was told in the dream could appear to be the life of Nina Sayers. One of the last binary opposites which is created in this film is the binary opposites of old vs new, Nina Sayers being new as she is playing the new Swan Queen and the woman who played the Swan Queen, the year before is now being represented as old as she is no longer allowed to play that part. This representation is more positive on the character of Nina’s part.


PROPP

Using Propp’s theory, it could be argued that the Black Swan is known as the villain, as Nina Sayers is finding and realising her bad side and that it is a part of her and in fact ended up killing her by finding it. Therefore, the Black Swan can be seen as the villain of the film, however the character of Nina and the portraying of the White Swan would reflect the princess character type as she is in danger of losing her true self whilst finding her dark side to herself.


MCROBBIE

The character of Nina Sayers is quite timid and is shown to fit in with the typical role of a woman, she is often shown as being quite weak and has to act very ladylike; given her role as a ballerina dancer. Nina conforms to stereotypes of a traditional woman, as she is submissive to her dance instructors and mothers words. She is seen as a weak character in most of the film as she is quite dominated over by others, however, half way through the film we see her evolving as a character trying to realise her darker side. Nina becomes more daring and she starts to be less delicate which challenges the stereotypes more. It could be argued that this is not the real Nina Sayer though, as she is being taken control of. Her character does overall follow through and reinforce the stereotypes of a traditional woman more.


MULVEY

The character of Nina Sayers definitely follows the theory of Mulvey’s sexualisation of women, as during this film, Nina is sometimes portrayed in a “male gazed” way, she is sexualised through her costumes and especially through the stages of her finding her inner Black Swan; she becomes more dare devilish. In scenes she is seen kissing other men and is pin pointed as being the epitome of the virgin-whore dichotomy, given the nature of her character becoming the Black Swan and the transformation between that and the White Swan.

LILY / THE BLACK SWAN

MILA KUNIS AS


Age: 20

Gender: Female



Good vs evil: Evil



LEVI-STRAUSS

The character of Lily follows the binary opposites of Levi-Strauss’ theory as she is seen to be the evil side when it comes to good vs evil. The good being the White Swan which is Natalie Portman’s character Nina Sayers and Mila Kunis’ character pf Lily is the evil side which is the Black Swan. This is known through how Lily leads Nina into all sorts of trouble such as getting drunk and helping her to find her wild bad side. There could also be the binary opposite of protagonist vs antagonist with Nina and Lily fighting for the spotlight of Swan Queen, Lily would be known as the antagonist as she is seen as more of the evil character, whereas Nina’s character is the protagonist which the audience emphasises with in her situation.


PROPP

In Propp’s theory, the character of Lily could be seen as the donor in some angles, as she is seen to be helping Nina find her dark side to unleash her capability to play the Black Swan. However, the way that this is done is through drugs and alcohol which can be seen as a cruel way and really it looks as though Lily was not trying to help Nina but instead attempt to win the title of the Swan Queen for herself, which would make her the villain in this case.


MCROBBIE

In the situation of the character of Lily, she goes against McRobbie’s theory, this is because the character of Lily does not conform to stereotypes of a traditional women. Lily is quite dominant in her present and very confident with the power that she has over others. She is seen as having more stereotypes of a sexy women rather than the traditional woman that is seen to be weak and needing a man to cope. Lily’s character is more played on the part of getting what she wants by doing anything in order to get what she wants, for example when Lily sleeps with Thomas the dancing instructor, Nina believes that she is doing this in order to get what she wants; as Nina thinks that Lily is after her.


MULVEY

Lily’s character is definitely sexualised and portrayed to an audience with the “male gaze”, she is seen in multiple sex scenes in the film and the costumes which she wears are quite male provoking for attention. Mulvey’s idea of women being objectified in the media is true in this sense.

THOMAS LEROY / THE GENTLEMAN

VINCENT CASSEL AS


Age: 40

Gender: Male


Class and Status: Upper Class

Good vs evil: Evil



LEVI-STRAUSS

The character Thomas Leroy proves that Levi-Strauss theory is correct, as there are binary opposites which this character is accepted in to. For example the binary opposite of male vs female, the character of Thomas Leroy seems to always be against women, for instance when he is seen as taking the role of the Swan Queen away from Beth who was the Swan Queen before Nina was. He is seen as a dominating character which is also expressed through the binary opposite of weak vs powerful, he plays a very dominating role as the director of the production, he is a bossy man who has a lot of power over people especially women. He is seen as quite manipulating, for example, when he attempts to bring the sexual side out of Nina through seducing her and when he is seen having sexual intercourse with Lily; he is a male dominant character.


PROPP

Thomas Leroy is could be known as conforming to the character type of villain, as his mannerisms and the way he treats Nina would look as if he is against the protagonist, the hero. However, he does not completely conform to the role of a villain, as he does in a way try to help Nina find her potential and realise her sexual needs, in order to help her grow up and become a woman, and also help her to grasp the concept of being able to pull of dancing for both the White Swan and the Black Swan.


MCROBBIE

The theory of characters representing the gender roles stereotypes is performed in this film. The character Thomas is seen as being quite aggressive, strong and he is the leader being the director of the production. He does stick to these stereotypes of a male, and in his mannerisms does perform in a way as if he is incredibly powerful. However, Thomas Leroy is a director for a ballet production, which is not a very manly job, therefore, he also challenges the stereotypes of a man as it is not a typical job which a male would have such as an engineering manual job.

ERICA SAYERS / THE QUEEN

BARBRA HERSHEY AS


Age: 45

Gender: Female



Good vs evil: Good



LEVI-STRAUSS

In terms of the theory of binary opposites being expressed in films in order to create conflict, there is the use of the character of Erica Sayers being used in the element of binary opposites. For example, an audience can see that the binary opposite of weak vs powerful is expressed through this character as she holds a lot of power of her daughter towards the beginning of this film, however the power roles change and Erica is known as having less power and her daughter, Nina, is more superior over her and dominant. This is seen through scenes such as when Nina comes home drunk, and wants her mother to leave her alone and stop bossing her about she says, “It's called privacy! I'm not f****** twelve years old anymore!”. This is when the power roles are reversed and Erica Sayers is then seen as being weak rather than holding the power.


PROPP

Out of the 7 character type from Propp’s theory, I believe that Erica Sayers does not easily conform to one of the seven types, therefore this strikes a fault in the theory. But if there was one character type which the mother of Nina is more reflective of, it would be the helper, as this character type is an explanation of helping the hero on their quest. If the hero is seen as Nina when she plays the White Swan, and her quest is to get the role of The Swan Queen, the mother, Erica, has helped in her journey to gain the lead role in the ballet show. This is done through encouragement but also “baby-ing” Nina in a way, as her mother looks after her 24/7 therefore she wants her to do well, and her main purpose in life is looking after Nina.


MCROBBIE

The character of Erica Sayers is the mother to Nina Sayers, follows ad conforms to stereotypes of a traditional stay at home mother. She is retired from her dancing career and has a hobby of painting. She looks after the apartment and her daughter in much care, which shows through her attention to wanting her daughter to do well, clipping her nails for her and waiting by her bed until she wakes up; because she looks after her very much. Her character is the epitome of what a traditional woman is stereotyped as being. McRobbie’s theory is seen as very true when adapting her theory to the role of the character Erica Sayers.


MULVEY

In this film there is much debate about the role of Erica Sayers, as first time watching this film, you can see that Erica is very much a mother, however if you look at her character in more detail, some audiences would assume that the relationship between Erica Sayers and Nina Sayers is not just a mother and daughter relationship. Some audiences would assume that the mother was molesting Nina. Audiences have assumed this through her active role and caring words of the mother, as some would say that she cares too far. For example, when Erica discovers a stretch mark/cut on her skin, a couple days later she demands that Nina take off her shirt to see how her skin is. This was said in a very tough way but as if Erica had a sexual need for Nina, this was then interrupted by the knock of the door. Erica conforms to Mulvey’s theory, as her mannerisms and her sexy black lingerie costume which she wears around Nina, makes the mother a sex object to the eyes of audiences.

representation of black swan

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