In case we haven’t established this little fact yet, here it is. I’M BIG INTO MOVIES! Yes, I’m known for spouting off lines from the multitude of films I have seen and my husband calls me the Dennis Miller of obscure movie references. I love movies, perhaps because I’m an imagination dweller and I like to escape the real world as often as I can. Don’t worry; I maintain a loose grip on reality. Anyway, I have a tendency to gravitate towards strange, dark, mind-scrambling types of movies. (I have a dark side and I’ve embraced that) And there are certain directors who know how to push me down the rabbit hole. Darren Aronofsky is one of them.
Aronofsky directed Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, and the lesser known Pi. If you are familiar with those films, then you know how Aronofsky blurs the line between real and imagined. That is exactly why I knew I had to watch his latest film, the Academy Award nominated Black Swan.
Again, I don’t like to give away a movie. I sometimes beg people to tell me what happened in a film I haven’t seen, but the truth is that deep down inside, I don’t want them to tell me. It’s just that I have this love/hate relationship with suspense. Maybe we all do. We want to be surprised, we want to be thrilled, but we don’t want to be snuck up on. So, that being said, I will not tell you “what’s in the boooooxxxx”. Did you get that reference? I will only tell you about what the movie made me think about.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the ballet Swan Lake, it is about a princess who is cursed to take the form of a swan by day. A prince happens upon the swan maiden and falls in love with her, but before he can proclaim his eternal love and devotion, which would break the spell, the sorcerer who cast the spell appears and the prince returns to his castle. There is a ball (what is the obsession with balls?) and the sorcerer sends his daughter, disguised as the princess, only she is in black. The prince, not knowing the truth until too late, swears his love for the “black swan”, and the princess (the white swan) is doomed to remain a swan forever. Before I lose all the guys in the audience, let’s move along.
Good vs. Evil. It’s an age old battle that rages on in most movies. But Aronofsky puts a little twist on it. Nina, the dancer portrayed by Natalie Portman, must play both the white swan and the black swan, but her personality is much more suited to the white swan. A competing ballerina (Mila Kunis) has the personality to portray the black swan perfectly. So, in order for Nina to take on the role she so desires, she must allow herself to let go and become the black swan.
I believe that we are all like Nina, trying to find the balance between light and dark, trying to let go without losing our minds. We are all seeking the harmony of yin and yang. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean there is a Manson lurking around in all of us and we should let him out. No, that is evil. I mean we have to embrace all that we are, and all that others are, dark and light. And sometimes, we have to let go in order to find the balance.
No one is all white or black; rather we are all varying shades of grey. If we try to be only light or only dark, we upset the balance within ourselves. If you suppress your emotions-your anger, your pain, your heartache, your passion-you will find they grow more violent and will tear you apart trying to escape. You will find that you are not running away from them, but they are running away with you. If you try to be completely light, to be perfect, you will lose yourself, because you are not perfect, no one is, and we weren’t meant to be. On the other hand, if you go to the dark side (snuck another one in), you’ll lose yourself as well, only this time you’ll be lost in a deep, dark tunnel and there will be no light at the end, no arms to welcome you. You will not see the beauty in yourself, in others, in life. You will become lonely, angry, and this could lead you to hurt yourself or others.
I’m not a psychologist nor will I pretend to understand all the workings of the human mind. All I am saying is to embrace your light and dark sides, know yourself, and find that balance.
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