omcneal_humanitiesassessment_011424

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Apr 3, 2024

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Humanities-Assessments Olivia McNeal Rasmussen University Humanities Professor Ricardo Gonzalez 01/14/2024
Assessments 1. In 2010, Natalie Portman transformed herself to embody the obsessed ballerina, Nina Sayers. In the dark melodrama that is Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky conveys transformation into womanhood using Nina, her doppelgängers, and her literal transformation into the Black Swan as she trains for her performance of the Tchaikovsky ballet. A big dichotomy within the film is that of the Madonna and the Mistress, which is a common perception of what it means to go from a girl to a woman. (Bareket, 2018) This also shows the conflict within Nina as she displays unresolved sexual complexes and her desire to be independent. Throughout the film, we can see how Nina’s lack of sensuality hinders her ability to immerse herself in the role of the lustful Black Swan queen yet enhances her performance as the White Swan queen. This conflict is further conveyed through the relationships between Nina, Nina’s mother, and her instructor, Thomas, who has a twisted sexual engagement with her. Thomas or “Tomah” challenges Nina and pushes her to the limits of no return to portray a seducing and evil Black Swan, while her mother engages in “purity”. (The Black Swan, 2010) Multiple times throughout the film, her mother addresses her as a “sweet girl”, going as far as dressing and cleaning her adult daughter despite her protests. Within the confines of Nina’s relationship with her mother, purity is what makes her a good daughter. Despite this, Thomas demands less perfection from Nina, as it holds her back from becoming a woman, the Black Swan, and his new affair. The plight of wrestling with these two interpretations of femininity is actualized in the form of Nina’s body and mind violently changing as the film progresses with papules surfacing her skin and feathers rupturing. Nina, ultimately and painfully transforms into a
swan, symbolizing sexuality and desire to become before she falls to her death. (Christiansen, 2016, pp. 514-515) 2. If Plato were to explain falling in love, he would emphasize love as an abstract means to an end for fully conceptualizing beauty. To Plato, ideal love is eternal and surpasses that of the initial love felt for the physical appearance of something or someone. “Plato on Love and Sex”, explained 2 kinds of love, good and bad kind of love. “The good kind of love, however, is directed at the beloved’s soul—i.e., his character, or who he is. In the good kind of love, there is still clearly physical attraction, but it is a “secondary concern”, and the lover is happy merely to look upon the beloved. Thus, there are two kinds of love with different objects (body and soul).” (Reid, 2019, p. 105) In summation, Plato describes love as a physical appeal but grows and grows beyond physical into true love beyond sex, this is what is called Eros (erotic love). (Ray, 2023) To Aristotle, however, love is synonymous with friendship and starts with the love one holds for themselves. He believed that to even begin to have friendships full of love and happiness, one must love themselves to express sympathy for those around them. Aristotle also believes in prioritizing the interests of our friends, so that reciprocation will prevail. (Gartner, 2017) 3. Both poems emphasize the challenges and problems we face in life. We face many things that will drop us to a low, very low, and bring us to a high. In those times when we’re at our lowest, we stand and try not to give up. We have a hope that things will work out. I live by the word that “everything will work out the way it’s supposed to”. Even in love, we must find peace and not punish ourselves emotionally when there is no reciprocity. (Wyatt, n.d.) The poem stresses that at
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