The Oscars this year was brilliant. I kind of learned more about the nature of power through one of the most popular movies of this year—Black Swan. My definition was even more well-established after watching this film. Most notably, the way the main character pursues power offers a variety of examples connecting with the themes of Ovid, Nietzsche, and Rilke in the form of drink, art, sexuality and finally her daily experiences.
The movies opens up as Nina Sayers, a ballet dancer, has a dream of performing as white swan. Her dream foreshadows her interior aspiration of shining in public. She does get picked as swan queen for a performance of next coming season whereas she has to dance both white swan and black swan which symbolize different characters and styles. Nina seems to hot the rough patch in that her body is too frigid to dance as the black swan, being unable to seduce the audience. As the story progresses, she realizes that the power is to lose the self that living under control, or being transformed, in turn gaining the power of seduction. Even though she does practice over and over again, she can barely make a breakthrough. Not until Lily, another dancer, comes into her life, does Nina’s state of mind become clear. Thomas Leroy, the director, once shows Lily as an example to Nina, saying that Lily is naturally attractive and not pretentious. After that Nina set Lily as her imaginary adversary whom she frequently competes with. At the same time, one of respected dancers, Beth Macintyre, is replaced by Nina due to her age and appearance. Nina was sad for Beth but also comes to know that there will ultimately come a day when fame fades away.
Hence, she kept dancing, pursuing perfection, and learning a taste of jealous...
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...stions which only your own deepest instincts, in their own quietest moments, might perhaps be able to answer.” Thus, not just the way she touches herself, but also the value she weighs reflecting her pain, guilt, and shame which eventually lead her to the answer of gaining the power.
Weak but determined, Nina does gain this power by the end of the movie. Her ability to present herself as an evil black swan and an innocent twin indicates that she has finally transcended herself. On the other hand, the movie does not give much detail concerning how she uses the power after her performance whereas I make assume that she would probably keep fighting for her career and trying different styles that she has never tried yet. She would also struggle against her will or other social conventions but this power will ultimately lead her to self-creation and transcendence.
The definition of power is the ability to influence the behaviors of others or to change the course of events. Power can be gained through hard work or power can be given to you In a book published in 1937, this problem couldn’t be more prevalent. This book is Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. The story tells of two migrant workers, who are incredibly close friends. They goes place to place looking for a job during The Great Depression era. They eventually find a ranch in Soledad, California. Where they will face characters and incidents that will decide the fate of their dream. Powerful people are not as powerful as they seem, but is given power due to societal hierarchy or physical traits.
What is power to a human? As time has gone by, there have been many forms of control and influence in the world. Many strive to achieve total rule over a society or group of individuals. Yet the question still presents itself to the average man. Why does man desire power so greatly even though there is visible trouble that follows? Shelley’s Frankenstein, Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, whether through the situation or the character themselves, depict the evils and hardships due to an imbalance and poor management of power.
...he shows us her character, not by how she gives herself respect, but by the continued respect that she gives to others: even her tormenters. Her secret shame was kept inside, and it was an impossible burden to bear. She was brave.
Contrary to popular belief, power does not give a person everything needed in life. Power gives people an illusion of a perfect, ungrueling life which- news flash!- is probably the total opposite of what power actually bestows upon people. Within The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes is mistreated with due to abundance of power Monseuir Villefort has, causing Edmond to later seek power to avenge for the mistreatment caused to him. Almost everyone in the book either loses or gives up their power in the end, thanks to Edmond. Viva la Vida, similarly, depicts the story of Louis XVI possessing immense power and then being deprived of the same power he once thought was going to be in his fist forever.
Power is a strong ability that is used to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. (add reference) Almost everybody wants power or has power. Most people do not seem to be happy unless they have some sort of power. The entire world is evolved around power, from presidents, terrorists, parents, all the way to the hierarchy of the animal kingdom. The tragic play titled King Lear by William Shakespeare, the protagonist is named King Lear. He has troubles with his powers of being a king and has a tragic downfall, after many mistakes of trying to maintain it. King Lear and A Streetcar Named Desire have a large quantity of difficulties on their own, but the two plays also share a lot of the same problems. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire written by Tennessee Williams, the protagonist but not the tragic hero is Stanley Kowalski. He is married and lives with Stella Kowalski, who’s sister is Blanche Dubois, the tragic hero of the play. Stanley also has troubles with his power within, which causes a lot of mistakes. In the plays, King Lear by
Previously, the narrator has intimated, “She had all her life long been accustomed to harbor thoughts and emotions which never voiced themselves. They had never taken the form of struggles. They belonged to her and were her own.” Her thoughts and emotions engulf her, but she does not “struggle” with them. They “belonged to her and were her own.” She does not have to share them with anyone; conversely, she must share her life and her money with her husband and children and with the many social organizations and functions her role demands.
Power is a difficult concept to define conclusively or definitively however, Bourdieu explains power to be a symbolic construct that is perpetuated through every day actions and behaviours of a society, that manipulate power relations to create, maintain and force the conforming of peoples to the given habitus of that society (Bourdieu, 1977). Power, is a force created through the
The desire for power is prevalent in our day to day life from wanting control over little insignificant aspects to control over others. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is
...ng that although she now considers herself independent, she still does not have much power. She knows that the only power she has is to keep or end her own life.
The Black Swan was originally a play, created into a film in 2010. Nina is part of the New York City ballet company. She is a very hard working and dedicated ballerina whose life consists mainly of ballet practice, and rarely any fun. She has been chosen to play the role of the black swan in the upcoming performance Swan Lake. Although Nina was the directors first choice, she begins to develop a bit of competition with another dancer in the company, Lily. They go back and forth with being friends, then competing against one another. The idea of the black swan requires someone to play both the white and black swan components of the piece. One being portrayed with innocence and grace, and the other with a darker side of sensuality. Viewers begin
...to have shame." (Tan, 2013) Her mother’s words cause the reader to have an “oh I see” moment and pause before continuing on with the read.
From the displays of power that have been shown through out this essay, we see that this story is a story about power. Power is the story is primarily about peoples need for some small amount of power to survive in life and to feel that hey have a purpose within their society which every society it may be whether its is Gilead or Nazi Germany or modern day Britain.
Power has been defined as the psychological relations over another to get them to do what you want them to do. We are exposed to forms of power from the time of birth. Our parents exercise power over us to behave in a way they deem appropriate. In school, teachers use their power to help us learn. When we enter the work world the power of our boss motivates us to perform and desire to move up the corporate ladder so that we too can intimidate someone with power one day. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Kurtz had a power over the jungle and its people that was inexplicable.
Weiten, 2001). In the scene where Nina meets with Thomas to ask for the part of the Swan Queen, Nina admits that she obsesses over every dance move in an effort to achieve perfection. She says that she “just want[s] to be perfect”, which could highlight the fact she strives to live up to the high standards which have been imposed on her from others. Boeree (2006) emphasises that, because these standards stem from external elements, they are not always in line with the organismic valuing process and individuals often find these expectations unattainable (page 5). Nina struggles to meet these conditions, she practices the dance routine relentlessly and even enters into dangerous, self-harming behaviour in an attempt to maintain the level of perfection she feels is expected of her from those around her. Nina displays bulimic and anorexic behaviour, and scratches herself to the point of bleeding throughout the
The book The Black Swan: The Impact of the HIGHLY IMPROBABLE, written by Nassim Nicholas Taleb; introduces the idea(s) of the black swan theory. The term black swan theory is a metaphor used to describe an event that comes as a surprise and has a major effect. Assumptions were all swans were white, however they are not as there was a rare discovery of black swans in Western Australia in 1697, by a Dutch explorer. Taleb, the author of this book is also the founder of the Black Swan Theory as he uses his background in philosophy and mathematics to describe randomness and uncertainty in society and everyday life.