Has Black Swan Influenced Perceptions of Ballet?

In Black Swan, dancer Nina Sayers loses her mind as she prepares for both the movie's title role and the role of the white swan in a production of Swan Lake. The Black Swan character is evil and sensual, characteristics that Nina must find within herself to play the Black Swan well. Early on in the film it becomes clear that she has a history of mental health issues. She becomes increasingly paranoid as her preparation for the role consumes her, but it's always unclear what is really happening: is the blood real? The feathers? To Nina, they are real and so they are real to us.

But what consequences may such a dark film have on perceptions of ballet dancers? Several dancers have come out in an obvious PR move to try to dispel stereotypes of ballet dancers as being cold, masochistic, tightly wound and super competitive. In a December Los Angeles Times interview, two principal dancers in the New York's American Ballet Theatre answer questions about similarities between Nina's experiences in Black Swan and their own experiences preparing for and performing in shows.

While they explain that some aspects of the film are realistic, at points it is clear that Murphy and Hallberg, particularly Murphy, are trying to debunk notions of ballet that Black Swan has perpetuated:

GM: "Most of my colleagues have a great sense of humor... you have to embrace the role onstage and experience what that character is about — very repressed and angry. But does that mean I was a nightmare to live with? Absolutely not ... The mean-spiritedness portrayed in the movie was disturbing to me ... It (dance film The Red Shoes) asks the question of how can a dancer experience and portray greatness onstage and also have a full personal life — and as a woman, have kids and get married. In this day and age, people do it all the time."

This interview and other articles about the Black Swan film clearly show that some in the ballet world are afraid about the impact the film may have on people's perceptions of their craft. Will Black Swan hurt ballet? Apparently not. Tickets for The New York City Ballet and Russian National Ballet at Valley Performing Arts Center productions of Swan Lake have been selling wildly.





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Stanley Faces His Demons

Part two of a series.

So, Stanley told me that the kittens weren't actually checking out bombs. Stanley said he overheard from our human that the sites the kittens were visiting had something to do with human mating. Well, the furballs weren't even visiting the sites. Supposedly, our human just left them up there and the kittens were like "Cool, I wanna sit on the chair that moves!" and "OMG look at the pretty colours on the computer."

To be honest, I don't really buy what he found out about what the kittens were supposedly doing. I mean, I don't think he made the story up. I'm sure he did overhear that conversation, but the pieces just don't really fit. There has to be a reason why the kittens have this hold on him. It must be something Stanley isn't conscious of. Maybe they've installed a microchip into him to brainwash him and make him scared of them, so he'll stay out of their way! -- No, maybe our human installed the microchip into Stanley! That would explain that cut on his neck. Yes, that must be it. The humans knew Stanley and I suspected something, so they came up with an alternate explanation for the website and everything. Yes. Oh, man. Wait until I tell Stanley.

I don't think he'll listen to me, though. I told him that I think his training as a sniffer dog has made him anxious and paranoid because despite this news, he's still terrified of these kittens. Just these kittens, though. I don't get it. So now he won't talk to me. Well, maybe he will after I explain that I know he has reason to be paranoid, that he has a microchip in him, that we have to do something about all this. First, I have to convince him there's a problem.

Part 1: Stanley Doesn't Know What He's Talking About

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Twins, Television and Sexy Ignorance

I'm still trying to understand the eroticization of twins. It seems to play on the common young male fantasy with lesbians, which of course means incest in the case of twins. As a twin, I can tell you that I would not want to do any of what you're about to see in this Coors ad with my twin or want to take turns with her and a guy, or want to watch her do stuff with a guy, or want to dress the same as her and pose provocatively with her. But hey, if I can't attract guys on my own, I can always ask my sister to come pose and flirt with me.

And of course there's the twin double date fantasy. Often the prospect of dating twins is what the dude really wants. Notice how, in this episode of 7th Heaven guest starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Simon doesn't specify which of the girls he is interested in (if he even has a preference; I don't remember this episode very well.) Mary-Kate and Ashley say "we'll go out with you," "we've been waiting for you to ask us out all week," you know, because all of us twins love threesomes and just can't wait to share everything!

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Stanley Doesn't Know What He's Talking About

My friend Stanley, a German Shepherd like me, is considering getting neutered, but he wonders if doing so will affect his patrolling capabilities. He knows of course, that he could still patrol, but will he still have the same subduing, intimidating effect after the operation and for the rest of his life?

He has mixed feelings about the appendages themselves. He thinks they intimidate bad animals and people, which is what he wants, what he's supposed to do, yet he thinks they make him less masculine. I know, trust me, I don't get it either. He tries to cross his legs when he sit like a human, even though I keep telling him that's not possible. If you ask me, sitting like a human lowers his menace factor more than being neutered ever could. But that's just me. I like dogs to behave like dogs.

Stanley feels most like a dog when he's around kittens. I think it's because he has this instinct to eat them, but he knows he's responsible for their safety. He knows he has to protect them and try to right their wrongs. Well, most kittens make him feel like a dog. There's this particular litter of kittens, though, who have somehow emasculated Stanley and hurt his dog ego. He doesn't even feel like a dog around them. He doesn't know how to stop them when they walk away from their bed or try to get into some garbage. He thinks they're trying to take over the world and he's afraid of what they might do to him if he gets in their way. He just runs away with his tail between his legs. He trembles.

I'm serious. One kitten is trying to get a hold of nuclear weapons. She seems to know other cats in all parts of the world who are trying to do the same thing. It's some sort of conspiracy. She uses the internet. I can't read, but I keep seeing pictures of bombs on the sites she uses and I see chat windows up too. There appear to be different alphabets or some sort of code on some sites. (I know what English words look like). The bombs in these pictures were silver. They shook and buzzed on the screen when she clicked on them. They look like bullets. I know these are bombs because I saw them on a tv show about World War 2. I actually know about a bunch of bombs because I'm a German Shepherd. I used to work at an airport. In my career I never actually found a bomb, thank God, but my superiors showed me pictures of what to look for. My sense of smell isn't so reliable, but I'm good at catching up to running bad guys and then jumping on them and holding them down. That's why I was hired. Plus, my long snout is perfect for digging through bags.

I was neutered and I keep telling Stanley that it didn't stop me from doing my airport job, nor my current guarding job, but he won't listen. I don't think it's the bomb sites and other conspiratorial material that intimidate Stanley (though I can assure you these activities intimidate me). I think the kittens are pretty harmless. They have evil thoughts, but they won't and can't act on them. I don't even think they mean to upset Stanley. They just meow more than most kittens and he can't deal with the annoyance. It also stresses him out, having to discipline them constantly. Hey, now that I think of it, maybe he's just faking being afraid to try to get out of dealing with them.

My name's Dennis, by the way. I'm reciting this through my master's voice recognition software. Oh man, I have to go. Stanley's coming. He says he has to tell me something.






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Puppy Love

Here is a tender moment between me and my beloved dog Pounce...

Before we made out.

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Girls Should Just Settle Down. Period.

Remember those educational Disney films you saw in school? You know, the ones that were on the tape projector? Well, I'm not sure if this one was shown in schools, but I doubt it is something you would expect from Disney.



So, what did you think? Is this a liberal representation of menstruation, or at least liberal for 1946, when it was released? To the older women out there, how did you find out about menstruation?

When I first saw this video, I was shocked that Disney would release something like this at all, especially over 60 years ago! I was impressed that Disney used the word "vagina" in a film. But I watched it again tonight and really noticed that it isn't really all that informative and enforces some disempowering rhetoric to impressionable young girls. Not to mention other telling things: all the girls featured in this video are white. "Most of your daily routine" involves cleaning.

The narrator describes the symptoms of menstruation as a mild problem. There's no reference to the intense pain and intense mood swings that so many of us experience. Way to minimize my experience, Disney. Then she says, “You’ll find it easier to keep smiling and even tempered” as the crying girl's mirror image poses cutely.

Then the scene breaks to the girl slow dancing with a boy, smiling politely as the narrator explains that during their periods, girls can do "practically everything" they normally do. Then the music changes and she and the boy start to swing dance.

The narrator says “Come now, we said practically everything.”

The narrator then tells girls to take “common sense care of yourself.” Translation? “Be ladylike. Calm. Quiet.” It’s almost as if girls are being trained to think they should hide their period and not talk about it.

I’m not sure why vigorous activity is not recommended for girls during menstruation here, but it seems to me that menstruation was thought of as something that made women weaker. Something that made them difficult to deal with. The emphasis in this video is on women looking pretty and acting pleasant during their period. That bothered me.

I did like the discussion of the biological process of menstruation, though. The simple animations made everything that much clearer.

However, in this film there is no explanation or description of the process that causes the egg to be “impregnated, which happens when a woman is going to have a child.” If anyone knows what this missing information is, please explain it to me.


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