Diaz, Benedict B.

Psychological Approach

BSED ENGLISH 4 - 2 Literary Criticism

The Death of the Gray Swan

(A Psychological Analysis of the film, Black Swan)

As a film revolving around the human mind of an individual, literary critics

argued that the said film is indeed a manifestation of Nina’s “psychic odyssey

toward achieving artistic perfection “ (Bali, 2016). They also believed that Nina is

experiencing lots of mental disorders such as anorexia which can be seen in the

scene when she looks at a grapefruit and turns away the slice of cake her mother

gives for their celebration of Nina getting the role and bulimia which can be seen

when she always keeps on running to the wash room to throw up for her to be

perfect as she was put under pressure. Hence, using psychological theories, most

particularly of theories of personality, it was found out that the film is indeed a

piece of literature that reflects the complexities of the mental personality of one’s

self. Through Freud’s personality theory on 1923, the film Black Swan saw the

psyche of the protagonist, Nina, as to how her Superego and Id are conquering on

one another affecting her ego.

Superego, at the first place, is defined as a part of a human mind that

incorporates the attitude of knowing what is right and wrong. Hence, this primarily

constitutes “the values and morals of society which are learned from another”

(Freud, 1923) thus having characteristics of goodness and all the other positive

values. This can be clearly seen with the symbol of one of the character that Nina

are about to portray only at first - the white swan. This role basically requires

“innocence and grace” (Fox Search Light Pictures, n.d.) which Nina has already

acquired. Thus, knowing the thing that the white swan represents it, that would

probably show a representation of Nina’s superego, since at first morality was still
Diaz, Benedict B. Psychological Approach

BSED ENGLISH 4 - 2 Literary Criticism

there at the first place, most particularly when she can still control her Id’s

impulses. And these impulses were shown when (1) she still managed her

aspiration on becoming a ballet dancer by doing what she can do as part of the

company whereas her aspiration was done when she even repaired her ballet

shoes, (2) she still treated her mother as to how it should be that is inclined in the

moral absolute in the society even though her mother found out rashes at her

back, and (3) she defended Beth, the former lead character of the production, as

her co-dancers talked about her sorts of non-sense things that she will be out of

the production but Nina just even praised her for being a good dancer at all. Thus,

it can be concluded that Nina behaves as to how the society declares one to

behave.

Id, on the other hand, operates under the principle of the satisfaction of the

wishful impulse wherein this satisfaction primarily occurred with Nina’s desire to

perfection. Now, this can be clearly seen with the symbol of the second character

that Nina are about to portray - the black swan. This role basically requires “guile

and sensuality” (Fox Search Light Pictures, n.d.) which Nina has not already

acquired with and only Lily, her rival, has been a personification of it. Thus, this

presentation of Nina’s Id was shown when she already desired perfection wherein

this was first seen when she even stole things from Beth’s room on the time she

destroyed everything in her wardrobe because of her anger of being already out to

the production. Second is when she goes to Thomas Leroy’s office just for her to

request to get both the roles of the black and the white swan even though Thomas

Leroy even stated that, “Lily dances naturally as the black swan.” Hence, it can be

concluded that Nina is wanting a thing that is of not tangent with what the roles

require to and her character as a dancer. This is because, just like what has been
Diaz, Benedict B. Psychological Approach

BSED ENGLISH 4 - 2 Literary Criticism

mentioned, Id already performed its goal - to satisfy the desires of Nina, which

was mostly seen in the film. And those desires suddenly put her into a complex

situation because of the clash between her superego and Id.

Therefore, if there are imbalances in the superego and the Id, probably, ego

would be the one that is suffering wherein it was then defined as “a part of the Id

which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world - thus

reality.” Also, ego is the one that devices balances among superego and the Id,

but if it fails with its job, naturally, an anxiety would be experienced. This is the

same with Nina. Her ego was not able to balance both her superego and Id just to

seek for her desire and avoid pain, instead she was just filled with desires, not

knowing the consequences she might pat on. Thus, that is aptly the reason why

she already loses of control of her ego - because of the over control of her Id just

to achieve perfection and fight for it that certainly creates her schizophrenic

activities that automatically kills herself.

Thus, in this paper, one would notice the inclusion of Freud’s personality

theory (1923) which was structured into three parts. Specifically with the

characteristics of the roles that the protagonist in the film has portrayed. Indeed,

by showing these complexities of characters that later on produce the great

desires of Nina to get it showed the imbalances in her mental self that the main

character has done, it was found out that due to the clash of superego and id, ego

was not able to control any more any of the two. Thus, through Freud’s personality

theory on 1923 of Id, Ego, Superego, the film Black Swan is indeed a

manifestation of one’s disposition in weighing value over desires, affecting mental

unconscious.
Diaz, Benedict B. Psychological Approach

BSED ENGLISH 4 - 2 Literary Criticism

Bibliography:

Anonymous. (2018). An Analysis of Black Swan. Spaces quarterly. Retrieved on

October 10, 2018 from

http://www.spacesquarterly.com/blog/an-analysis-of-black-swan

Bali, R. (2016). Black swan : A psychological analysis. Movierdo.Retrieved on

October 10, 2018 from

https://movierdo.com/black-swan-psychological-analysis/

James, S. D. (2010). 'Black Swan': Diagnosing Ballerina's Descent. ABCNews.

Retrieved on October 10, 2018 from

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