Black Swan Film Analysis

Abnormal Psychology’s Portrayal in the Media: Black Swan Black Swan is a twisted modern film that focuses on the production of Swan Lake and the difficulties behind the world of competitive dance. What makes the movie more difficult for the main character, Nina Sayers, is that she also deals with many psychosis disorders. Although there are many different types in the movie, the biggest one identified was schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is commonly associated with the idea that the person has an impaired sense of reality. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the mental disorders shown in the film and whether or not this film accurately depicted these disorders. With the actions portrayed by Nina, it’s safe to say that she suffers from

From viewing the film, there were many subtle hints to other mental disorders including eating disorders and Obsession-Compulsion Disorder (OCD). In regards to eating disorders, the directors made small hints to show that Nina suffers from anorexia and bulimia (sadly a common occurrence in the competitive dancing world). Nina hesitates to eat a grapefruit for breakfast one morning and urgently resists to eat a cake that her mother had bought for her. Along with the lack of food, she makes frequent trips to the bathroom to throw-up, which indicate bulimia behaviors. Going along with the mirror theme, Nina views herself critically and always seeks out opportunities to check her weight. As far as OCD goes, Nina is obsessed with her dancing. To cope with this, her compulsions are organizing her makeup and constantly washing her hands. Another OCD related behavior Nina called Skin-Picking disorder which is a constant picking and scratching of the skin. This is known as self-mutilation which is often associated with anxiety-depressive disorders. The expectation to be perfect for her mother, dance instructor, and for herself seems to have left a high level of anxiety for