“the most powerful elements of emotional interest in Tragedy — Peripeteia or Reversal of the Situation, and Recognition scenes — are parts of the plot”

Reflect on the overall structure of the plot. Look back at a plot diagram. Consider the overall arc of the film. Does it follow the usual path of a tragedy? Does Nina experience peripeteia and anagnorisis as our other tragic heroes do? Provide a discussion on this- what is effective about the manipulation of these plot elements.

• Nina doesn’t properly experience a true anagnorisis, however, it can be said that the audience does when they come to realise that Nina is seeing this and is, in fact, going insane. Nina never truly accepts that her eyes are deceiving her and therefore doesn’t acknowledge the crazy behaviour she displays. For example, when doing a lift during the live ballet due to her own struggles Nina’s partner drops her and afterwards, she puts the blame on the dancer. “It’s not my fault, he dropped me!”

• Nina does experience partial elements of the tragic hero structure through her excessive pride and obsession with being perfect. Her inevitable downfall begins as Nina’s mental state progresses to become completely unstable until she is no longer able to distinguish between reality and her unnatural hallucinations.

Comment on the role of the subplot in this text. It is possibly more symbolic in Black Swan than any other text we have studied. What function does the subplot have in this film? Is it effective?

• The subplot in the Black Swan is the toxic relationship between Nina and her mother. Nina’s mother has severe control issues and believes Nina is not capable of functioning as an adult and therefore treats and cares for her as if she were a young child. It is also portrayed that Nina’s mother has a possible internal resentment towards Nina as she has the career that Nina’s mother wanted before she has a child and this means that she tries to live her dreams through Nina. Nina’s flaw is her desire to be perfect this could be because Nina’s mother is constantly pressuring her to essentially be the perfect ballerina, the perfect daughter and the perfect innocent girl – in order to prove to her mother that the sacrifice she made giving birth and raising Nina was worth it.

• “When energy is compressed and confined, like lava under a volcano or oil pressed into underground pools by the massive weight of the earth, that energy will explode forth through any crack in the container. The volcano erupts. The oil gushes into the air or the sea. When normal human adult sexuality is thoroughly compressed and confined a crack in the container will release that energy in unexpected and even bizarre eruptions.” – https://www.eatingdisorderrecovery.net/culture-and-media/739-black-swan-motherdaughter-control-issues-and-sexuality-3-8#:~:text=Nina’s%20mother%20treats%20Nina%20as,occasion%20and%20become%20an%20adult.

• This subplot is significant as it shows the audience that Nina has not fully developed as a normal adult woman would. She has dormant repressed adult feelings that could cause her delicate innocent lifestyle to be corrupted. Nina was unable to experiment with her sexuality at the same rate and time as others the same age would have. The enormous pressure she felt from the role of the black swan causes Nina to release her sexual adult energy with no way to guide and experience that energy in a natural healthy way. Her obsession with being perfect causes a ridiculous desire to fulfil the black swan role and therefore eliminates the sweet childlike barrier that has been repressing Nina’s ‘dark side’ giving way to a whole other side of the world that Nina has never experienced before.

• “Her mind creates fantasies to hold her experience.  As in most severe eating disorders, particularly anorexia and bulimia, She does not know the difference between fantasy and reality.  She only knows her obsession.” – https://www.eatingdisorderrecovery.net/culture-and-media/739-black-swan-motherdaughter-control-issues-and-sexuality-3-8#:~:text=Nina’s%20mother%20treats%20Nina%20as,occasion%20and%20become%20an%20adult.