Film Analysis of Black Swan
Film Analysis of Black Swan
The movie Black Swan revolves around Nina Sayers, an aspiring ballerina. Although talented, she is very reserved and others would describe her as “shy, frigid little girl”. She longs for the lead role in a theatre production of “Swan Lake”, and as fate would have it, she gets cast to dance both the white and black swan. These are two immensely different characters. Her innocent, almost child-like personality makes her a perfect white swan. However, she has trouble getting into the character of the white swan’s dark and seductive counterpart. The movie is focused, not such much on the actual dancing, but rather the stressful and emotionally draining pursuit of perfection and self exploration, which inevitably paves the way to a psychotic breakdown for Nina. The film shows her slow descent into madness as the pressures of the role weigh down on her.
Watching this film, I found Nina to be a very intriguing character. It was obvious that a mental disorder was present, and that her behavior was not merely the normal response to overwhelming stress. After much analysis, I have concluded that she is likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. Nina’s madness shows many symptoms of schizophrenia, a psychotic disorder in which a person loses touch with reality. With much research, schizophrenia is described as a heterogenous condition that typically begins in early adulthood. This mental disorder makes it difficult for someone to differentiate reality and fantasy, and this is characterized by a wide range of symptoms. Nina has paranoid schizophrenia, which is characterized by delusions and hallucinations. Although there is a known direct cause of her disorder, something that puts someone at risk for developing schizophrenia. In Nina’s case, it is the constant stress that she deals with, all due to her goal to be lead role of the theatre production.
Although schizophrenia is a suitable diagnosis to describe Nina’s behavior, another
The movie Black Swan revolves around Nina Sayers, an aspiring ballerina. Although talented, she is very reserved and others would describe her as “shy, frigid little girl”. She longs for the lead role in a theatre production of “Swan Lake”, and as fate would have it, she gets cast to dance both the white and black swan. These are two immensely different characters. Her innocent, almost child-like personality makes her a perfect white swan. However, she has trouble getting into the character of the white swan’s dark and seductive counterpart. The movie is focused, not such much on the actual dancing, but rather the stressful and emotionally draining pursuit of perfection and self exploration, which inevitably paves the way to a psychotic breakdown for Nina. The film shows her slow descent into madness as the pressures of the role weigh down on her.
Watching this film, I found Nina to be a very intriguing character. It was obvious that a mental disorder was present, and that her behavior was not merely the normal response to overwhelming stress. After much analysis, I have concluded that she is likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. Nina’s madness shows many symptoms of schizophrenia, a psychotic disorder in which a person loses touch with reality. With much research, schizophrenia is described as a heterogenous condition that typically begins in early adulthood. This mental disorder makes it difficult for someone to differentiate reality and fantasy, and this is characterized by a wide range of symptoms. Nina has paranoid schizophrenia, which is characterized by delusions and hallucinations. Although there is a known direct cause of her disorder, something that puts someone at risk for developing schizophrenia. In Nina’s case, it is the constant stress that she deals with, all due to her goal to be lead role of the theatre production.
Although schizophrenia is a suitable diagnosis to describe Nina’s behavior, another