as a metaphor - i thought that nina's character did a wonderful job of inviting one into the space of shadow (understood as a jungian archetype) personally, i had a difficult time ever seeing any part of the movie through a literal set of eyes -- one reason why i love that director -- the movement from neurosis to psychosis (in the clinical sense), to me, showed how much energy there is behind that archetype as such, and how powerful/important integrating ones own shadow is....
One 'interpretation' I guess I have - which swings me into the "i loved this movie" - is the idea that sometimes we have to project the unconscious onto darkness, or shadows, or unknowns in order to work with it and integrate it. Psyche likes to be objectified. I understood the 'shadow work' as projected through the events that transpired through the psychosis. I really enjoyed the skin as an allusion to the psychoid aspect - space between the unconscious and consciousness - where nina's shadow was eventually able to 'break through'...her skin, rashes, etc. stood out to me as a metaphor as that space where transition occurs, where we are able to do our own inner work, and the space that is created in the therapeutic setting.
It feels like the director invited us through his experience of what that process is like - and suggested that though messy, the perfection is at the end an encounter with a collision of consciousness and the unconscious- or in Jungian terms the Self.
the death aspect - i'm privy to the idea of an 'egocide', it was as if she had reconciled the oppositional aspects of her personality - both the conscious/neurotic 'pink nina', and the unconscious/black swan nina -- through the integration, the ego no longer clings to one side or the other, so there is a glipse of 'god' or 'Self' which is how i understand perfection...of course here I am agreeing with Jung's and Endinger's argument as they explore the Self/God-image in Answer to Job.
One of my favorite Edinger quotes, "The new psychological dispensation finds man's relation to God in the individual's relation to the unconscious". -- Nina's relation to perfection, and with her Self - for me - unfolded through her own relation to her unconscious i.e. shadow.
more quotes I like
"There is in the unconscious an archetype of wholeness...the God-image does not coincide with the unconscious as such, but with this special content of it, namely the archetype of the Self" (Jung in Answer to Job).
---through this quote I see the movie as a dialogue of what 'wholeness' is - and the process one moves through to get there
"Becoming conscious of an unconscious content amounts to its integration in the conscious psyche" (Jung, Symbolic Life).
--I relate this quote to the psychosis, and how messy/'crazy' the integrative process can be. And that integration is a process and should be honored as such.
I could go on =) I also drew many parallels to this movie and Jung's work on alchemy....
Essentially though - I thought the movie visually invited me into this 'process' we always talk about in the field - and on the collective playground, the fact the movie got so much attention/resonated revealed the universal component which characterizes the unconscious, archetypes, and the 'process' which is consistently churning in all of us beneath the surface of our skin and what is seen
thats all i got for now.....should go do some homework now =P
I was generally disappointed by the film. The use of the myth was too predictable. Nina's transition from a severe neurosis to a full blown psychosis was improbable and not convincing - even accounting for artistic license. I've treated a prima ballerina in her older years who suffers from similar perfectionistic symptoms, but she is far from psychotic.
Aja Rossman Mutzl > Thom F. Cavalli, Ph.D.January 19, 2011 at 9:40am
Thanks for responding, Thom! What would you diagnose Nina with? (If you had to, may I ask?)
Ed Koffenberger > Aja Rossman MutzlJanuary 19, 2011 at 10:20am
I agree with Thom, that the story line was predictable. I have found, however, that the images and transition in the flim have sparked some interest in images and "the shadow" among the uninitiated to Jungian/archetypal/metaphorical thinking. Possibly a teachable moment? (not in a therapeutic sense but in a general population context)
Replies
as a metaphor - i thought that nina's character did a wonderful job of inviting one into the space of shadow (understood as a jungian archetype) personally, i had a difficult time ever seeing any part of the movie through a literal set of eyes -- one reason why i love that director -- the movement from neurosis to psychosis (in the clinical sense), to me, showed how much energy there is behind that archetype as such, and how powerful/important integrating ones own shadow is....
One 'interpretation' I guess I have - which swings me into the "i loved this movie" - is the idea that sometimes we have to project the unconscious onto darkness, or shadows, or unknowns in order to work with it and integrate it. Psyche likes to be objectified. I understood the 'shadow work' as projected through the events that transpired through the psychosis. I really enjoyed the skin as an allusion to the psychoid aspect - space between the unconscious and consciousness - where nina's shadow was eventually able to 'break through'...her skin, rashes, etc. stood out to me as a metaphor as that space where transition occurs, where we are able to do our own inner work, and the space that is created in the therapeutic setting.
It feels like the director invited us through his experience of what that process is like - and suggested that though messy, the perfection is at the end an encounter with a collision of consciousness and the unconscious- or in Jungian terms the Self.
the death aspect - i'm privy to the idea of an 'egocide', it was as if she had reconciled the oppositional aspects of her personality - both the conscious/neurotic 'pink nina', and the unconscious/black swan nina -- through the integration, the ego no longer clings to one side or the other, so there is a glipse of 'god' or 'Self' which is how i understand perfection...of course here I am agreeing with Jung's and Endinger's argument as they explore the Self/God-image in Answer to Job.
One of my favorite Edinger quotes, "The new psychological dispensation finds man's relation to God in the individual's relation to the unconscious". -- Nina's relation to perfection, and with her Self - for me - unfolded through her own relation to her unconscious i.e. shadow.
more quotes I like
"There is in the unconscious an archetype of wholeness...the God-image does not coincide with the unconscious as such, but with this special content of it, namely the archetype of the Self" (Jung in Answer to Job).
---through this quote I see the movie as a dialogue of what 'wholeness' is - and the process one moves through to get there
"Becoming conscious of an unconscious content amounts to its integration in the conscious psyche" (Jung, Symbolic Life).
--I relate this quote to the psychosis, and how messy/'crazy' the integrative process can be. And that integration is a process and should be honored as such.
I could go on =) I also drew many parallels to this movie and Jung's work on alchemy....
Essentially though - I thought the movie visually invited me into this 'process' we always talk about in the field - and on the collective playground, the fact the movie got so much attention/resonated revealed the universal component which characterizes the unconscious, archetypes, and the 'process' which is consistently churning in all of us beneath the surface of our skin and what is seen
thats all i got for now.....should go do some homework now =P
Very interesting comments, all!
Jenni--go do your homework!