The movie Black Swan was disturbing, but I have decided it is most disturbing for being an allegory/cautionary tale for what it's like Being a Lady. Because basically, you have to be technically perfect, unassailably flawless, but you have to make that look completely effortless and totally sexy and wholly natural like you HAVEN'T been suffering and in pain and working your ass off and toiling and sweating and bleeding and denying yourself food and comfortable footwear for years and years and years to nail this performance, and you need to nail it before people judging you whom you are supposed to make want to fuck you if they are dudes and hate you if they are other ladies, and in the back of your mind you're fully aware that no matter your efforts and dedication someday you will get too old and be considered un-fuckable and thus valueless and tossed aside, but, you know, DON'T LOOK AT THE SEAMS OF THIS CONSTRUCTION, I just whipped this perfection out of my back pocket, this is TOTALLY ORGANIC AND LIKE SPIRITUAL, NO PAIN HERE, LOOK HOW SEXY AND EASY MY PERFECTION IS . . .
. . . and then it's not really surprising if the ladies go a little mad.
I spent a few frustrating hours today and several thousand words trying to put down my thoughts about "Black Swan." You just nailed it, Gayle. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteI am working on an essay about Little Women. The moral of said book is essentially this- that you first of all work harder than you'd need to if born male at whatever you love, then realise pursuing that is fundamentally SELFISH, that wanting anything for yourself is equally selfish, and give up and learn to relish whatever you have, even if that's your family dying. It is fun, but triggery to read.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in Black Swan for this reason (also, Natalie Portman) but think I may leave it for a while before watching it
Another thought I had while writing my review was I kept seeing parallels between it and Danny Boyle's film "127 Hours" about Aaron Ralston stuck under a boulder for the eponymous time. While Nina (Natalie Portman) continues to sacrifice and press despite the obvious physical and mental toll it takes on her the more she loses. Yet in "127 Hours" the more he continues to stave off despair ("Don't lose it, Aaron" is his mantra) the greater he achieves.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that "127 Hours" has the same amount of depth or message about Being a Man as "Black Swan" does about Being a Lady, merely that it's an interesting parallel and the two would make a great (and VERY INTENSE) double feature.
p.s. Coincidentally when "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Wrestler" came out, Boyle and Aronofsky interviewed each other about their work and methods. Here's the YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXNsAKo4Fgw