Black Swan
“Live a little…Relax…Let it go…Perfection is not just about control. It’s also about letting go.”
This is a good advice, but not for everyone, because like Nina, the main character in Black Swan, letting go means revealing her dark inner self. Letting go means losing control of herself.
Because the over-protection that the mother shows, at the start, one might blame the mother on why Nina seems to be a stiff, fragile, fearful, weak perfectionist. (“Stop being fucking weak!, says his boss.)
Although it’s not discussed in the movie but it’s obvious Nina has schizophrenia, a psychological disorder that makes a person see reality in a scary twisted way. Maybe her controlling mother knows. In one scene she even asked Nina “What do you see?” Maybe it’s the reason why she’s so protective of her daughter.
It can also be noticed how Nina thinks Lily is an ideal self, although she will never admit it. The wings tattoo at the back of Lily was focused often when Nina’s looking at her. It might be one of the reasons why Nina thinks she’s growing wings at her back. (She prolly didn’t know about the existence of tattoo and just resorted to scratching and thinking she’ll grow more real wings, who knows.)
All in all, this is a great psychological movie that will make you think, scare you, make you let go of yourself or maybe even question reality.
So there you are, kids. Always remember, telling someone to just “be yourself” is dangerous. Some are too evil deep inside. Some even want to be a black swan.
I wouldn’t say that “letting go” and “being yourself” are the same thing. To me they’re very different.
Letting go. Just be. Be yourself. Just do what you feel like doing. I would prefer “letting go” though than “being yourself” because the latter is pretty ambiguous because no one can really define what “real self” anyway.
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