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BLACK SWAN

Id Ego Superego
Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed
with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When
artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their
new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well.
Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile
and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers
expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to
destroy her. Written by Fox Searchlight Pictures

Mirror in a Bathroom

Did I enjoy Black Swan? The answer to that could be yes and no like some critics are voicing at the
moment, they say the performances were subtly but the films style was over directed, kind of like Nina’s
problem with her ballet to much of one not enough of the other.
Which leads nicely to Nina’s trouble with her identity, due to the lack of privacy bestowed upon her by an
overbearing and some what perverse mother Nina finds moments of ME time in the bathroom ,bedroom
and dressing room usually in front of a mirror where Nina confronts herself (the ME time I referred to
would probably be better described as US time) for when she is alone her repressed dark side (shadow)
starts to rear its ugly head and a battle between Nina’s white and black swan ensues.
. These moments show to us how quickly her persona changes from her public self to her private self ,
this is common for all of us and not abnormal but in the case of someone as repressed and shy of her darker
nature it becomes a problem and demons start to well up from the depths, which is great for the role Nina
needs to play, the only problem is they take over.
The reason for this is unclear, repressed sexuality, child abuse (we never know anything of Nina’s father)
maybe it is just the pressure of being a ballet dancer and or the role she is about to embark on, the role
demands of the player to become split, Nina’s Mirror image moves independent of her self.
Nina’s mirror image and the use of mirrors is in constant use as a metaphor of her split persona.
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Oedipus Rex

We never know anything of Nina’s father is an interesting point in the film, the absent father figure would
imply Oedipus Rex which would also give meaning to the ecstasy fueled lesbian fantasy with Nina’s real
life black swan lily ( in this scene in the bedroom Nina takes charge at one point further reinforcing the
superego’s repression of the id ) later in the film we discover that Nina went home with one of the guys
from the club not Lily at all.

Repressed sexuality could well be the reason for Nina’s compulsive scratching, according to Freud stored
up sexual energy can manifest itself as a creative or destructive force .

Where does this neutral energy come from? The answer may lie in sexuality—in a “narcissistic reservoir of libido... [that is]
desexualized Eros.” This process of desexualization occurs, according to Freud, when libidinal energy passes from the id (its origin)
into the ego—which (through a process called “sublimation”) abandons the original sexual aims and utilizes the energy to fuel thought
and self-interested motility (62). The libido is, therefore, transformed into energy that can be applied toward creative or destructive
aims. Freud, Sigmund. "The Ego and the Id". The Hogarth Press Ltd. London, 1949

Through out the film Nina, Lily, Leroy behave in “real life” like characters in Swan Lake and the fact that
we hardly see any interactions between Nina and her partner (played by Benjamin Millepied) is a
intentional plot devise – so as to mirror the dynamics of a weaker Siegfried vs. the more influential
Rothbart/Leroy, Real life is where the real Swan lake is played out not in Nina’s mind.

Art deco and black swan

In the 1920’s Art Deco was a big thing, which was the decade Freud published ‘The Ego and the Id’ Art
Deco Posters were used in Black Swan’s production. See fig overleaf
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Nina’s battle with her selves is play out through her mother, there relationship becomes more strained as
her dark side becomes more prevalent and internal and external violence ensues, take for example Nina’s
guilty feelings toward Erica, Nina is seen stealing certain effects from Erica’s dressing room early in the
film (trying to become her/ physical connection ) Erica after losing the part breaks down and ends up in
hospital leaving Nina with strong feelings of guilt which ends with Nina visiting Erica in hospital where
she stabs her self in the face with a nail file saying “I’m nothing , nothing” Nina runs out of the hospital and
finds she is holding the nail file and is covered in blood she blames herself for Erica’s condition. Thus
reinforces the Id Ego Superego idea see below

the ego finds itself trying to both appease and mediate the desires of the id. It stands on a middle ground between the id and the
outside world, trying to make the id conform to societal rules, while trying to make the world conform it the id's innermost passions.
This task falls to the ego because it is the only part of the mind capable of exercising direct control over the actions of the body. The
relationship of the ego to the id is, at the same time, a mutually beneficial one and a submissive one: “[The ego] is not only the ally of
the id; it is also a submissive slave who courts the love of his master” (83).

Thus the ego finds itself the seat of anxiety, beset by potential dangers from three directions (84)—by the super-ego, the id, and (not to
mention) the external world. Freud, Sigmund. "The Ego and the Id". The Hogarth Press Ltd. London, 1949.
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After the incident at the hospital Nina confronts her self in the mirror at home she has red swan eyes, more
feather growing body horror and her legs buckle and break to form a swans legs, she falls bangs her head
knocking her self out.

When she awakes her mother is in the room telling her she is not fit to perform for the show, late and angry
at her mother for not waking her Nina storms out and heads to the theatre.
When she arrives she finds lily dressed as the black swan ready to perform but she convinces Thomas she is
fit enough to do it so he agrees.
After the first act due to a hallucination the dancer playing the prince drops Nina in tears she returns to her
dressing room where she finds Lily still dressed in the black swan costume. Lily says to Nina that she will
play the black swan and transforms into Nina herself. Nina and the doppelganger fight, Nina pushes her
double into a mirror it shatters she grabs a shard of glass and stabs her other self in the stomach, and the
doppelganger turns back into Lily so she quickly hides the body.
On her return to the stage Nina dances the black swan perfectly and grows black feathers from her arms
which become wings as she transforms into the black swan.

At the end of the act, she receives a standing ovation from the audience, When she leaves the stage, Nina
takes Thomas by surprise and kisses him. On returning to her dressing room to prepare herself for the final
act ‘the death of the white swan’ who should appear but Lily alive and well, turning to look at the mirror
Nina discovers it is still shattered and she stabbed her self not Lily which takes us back to the Freudian
‘The Ego and the Id’ see below
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Key Conclusions: “The Subordinate Relationships of the
Ego”
This is what happens when the death instinct takes hold of the super-ego and turns on the ego (77). During the process of sublimation
—the love-instinct and death-instinct (formerly fused) become separated; and the latter ends up in the super-ego causing it to “rage”
against the ego. Sometimes the ego’s unfortunate position can result in obsessional neuroses, hysteria, and even suicide—depending
on the ego’s reaction to the super-ego’s chastisement. Sometimes (in the case of melancholia) the ego has identified with a forbidden
love-object so strongly, that it can’t bear the super-ego’s criticism and gives up—with suicide. At other times (as in obsessional
neuroses) the object is still external to the ego, but its feelings for it are repressed, resulting in acts of external aggression. And finally
(in cases of hysteria) both the object, the feelings for it, and resulting guilt (caused by the super-ego’s criticism) are repressed—
causing hysteric reactions.

Nina dresses her wound and goes to the stage for the final act where she jumps off the cliff and falls to her
death as the white swan, the camera pans to the audience and we see Nina’s mother crying, Lily walks up
to Nina and see’s she is bleeding but Nina does not care, smiling she stares up at the lights and declares “I
felt it - Perfect - I was perfect,” the superego or ideal ego speaks

The red shoes and wereswans

Comparisons have been made between Black swan and The Red Shoes.
Also there is a Were tale in the black swan as the film progresses Nina becomes the black swan as in a
werewolf film.
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