Time Machine: Developed Ideas

After the last meeting with Caroline I began to consider more specific areas to analyse from Black Swan in my essay. Caroline helped me to come up with a few different strands however I have begun to narrow my focus down to the contemporary interpretations of Freudian theories. Specifically looking into the largely featured subjects of:

- Oppression & Repression
- The Uncanny & Doppelgangers
- Sex drive/Death drive

I think I will probably narrow my subject matter down even further but for now these are the main issues that I will be looking at in relation to the work of Freud & the film.

I am very interested in looking at the main characters & their relationships particularly between Nina & the other members, Lily, Thomas & her mother, Erica; this is because these relationships spark different mental & phsyical issues occurring in Nina life at home, work & play as it were. 

Nina & Lily

Nina & Thomas

Nina & her mother, Erica

I have begun to research the film through reviews on the internet and in the newspaper which all explore different themes including: sexuality & sexual trangression, repression, opression, anxiety & paranoia, feminism, self-destruction & harm:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2010/11/black-swan.html

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/opinions/black-swan-sex-natalie-portman-darren-aronofsky.php

http://text-relations.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/black-swan-and-terror-of-femininity.html

http://criticalgrasp.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/why-black-swan-is-not-fight-club-for-women-as-some-say/

http://firesunderground.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/black-swan-freudian-nightmare-or-feminist-statement/

 
 I then went on to take to books out of the library about Freud's work:

They feature varying titles which I am beginning to read & analyse to help me to explore the film in more detail:

Psychoanalysis & the Unconscious
Sexuality
Narcissism
Masculinity, Femininity & Bisexuality
Repression
Unconscious Emotions
Topography & Dynamics of Repression
Metapsychology of Repression
A Metapsychological Supplement to the Theory of Dreams
A Case of Paranoia Running Counter to the Psychoanalytical Theory of the Disease

I have also been looking up papers by Freud exploring the theories of the doppelganger effect which features heavily in Black Swan to portray a character shift as well as his research & study titled 'The Uncanny' which looks at cognitive dissonance which relates to the cognitive issues Nina has.

I will take this research to Caroline's seminar tomorrow and begin to consider where this research may then lead on to in starting to consider a hypothesis or question.