Grace Ostrosky, Arts & Life Editor–

“Black Swan” (2010) is one of my favorite movies. I enjoy the aesthetics, the plotline, but especially its main character, Nina Sayers, who is the epitome of a tortured artist. 

Nina is a young ballerina with the New York City Ballet, which is seeking a new prima ballerina. Nina is a shoe-in to be Odette, the innocent and fragile White Swan of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” but struggles to embody the sensual and dark Black Swan, Odile. A newcomer to the ballet company, Lily, threatens Nina’s position as the new prima, exhibiting very important traits Nina does not have: carefreeness and confidence. 

As Nina prepares to play the dual role of Odette and Odile, she experiences hallucinations from the high amount of stress she is under. In real life, Nina and her mother, Erica, squabble as she believes her mother is jealous of her for achieving her dreams. Nina is also paranoid that Lily will replace her. 

This culminates in the opening performance of “Swan Lake.” Towards the end of the second act, Nina becomes distracted and is dropped by her partner. Nina returns to her dressing room, distressed, and finds Lily preparing to play Odile. She confronts her and Lily appears to transform into a doppelgänger of Nina. The two fight, breaking a mirror. Nina stabs her doppelgänger with a shard of glass, killing her and breaking the illusion. Nina hides Lily’s body and takes the stage. She dances flawlessly as Odile and seemingly begins to turn into a black swan, her arms covered in feathers. 

In her dressing room, as Nina readies herself for the finishing act, she is interrupted by Lily, who congratulates Nina for her performance. Nina sees that the mirror is still broken, but all other evidence of the stabbing is gone, including the body. She looks down and pulls a piece of glass from her abdomen, realizing she stabbed herself and not Lily. Despite her injury, she dances the final act of the ballet with blood gradually seeping through her costume. The ballet ends with her jumping from the set onto a hidden mattress to simulate Odette throwing herself off a cliff.

Nina ends the movie with these lines: “I felt it. Perfect. It was perfect.”

The ending is purposefully ambiguous. Viewers don’t know what happens next, and honestly, it’s nice to guess and decipher my own message and meaning from the movie, without a definitive end. 

Nina follows the archetypal tortured artist: a character who experiences torment as a result of their passion and dedication to the craft.

However, “Black Swan” is not the only movie that follows a tortured artist. Modern movies–such as “Whiplash” (2014) and “I, Tonya” (2017)–and classic movies–such as “The Red Shoes” (1948) and “All That Jazz” (1979)–include characters similar to Nina. 

I find many aspects of the tortured artist archetype intriguing. There is, of course, the obsession and torment I mentioned before. There is also the psychological breakdown that comes from immense pressure and fear of failure. There is, maybe most importantly, the perfectionism.

Nina’s life is consumed by her pursuit of artistic perfection in the role of Odette and Odile, leading to the decline of her mental stability and physical wellbeing. 

To an extent, I consider myself an artist. While I cannot pirouette on pointe shoes or paint a mural, I dedicate my time to writing essays and articles and poems, which I consider art. 

I feel the pressure to be perfect, to have publications under my belt and, one day, be well-known. I feel that I’m not doing enough, not making enough opportunities for myself, not taking the time to write for hours and hours every day. In pursuing the arts, it is easy to feel like a failure when it seems no one recognizes the work you have done. There is a desire to be seen for what you have done.

However, there is something to be said about chasing passion for the sake of chasing passion. In the back of artists’ minds, there is an urge to pick up the pen, the paintbrush or the pointe shoes. Without art, this world would be dull.

As humans, we pursue the arts because it is colorful, beautiful, and full of life, not because we want to be recognizable. 

“Black Swan” teaches us that perfection is difficult to achieve, but our passions should be pursued anyway, without inhibition. We should do what makes our souls happy.