{"id":368,"date":"2012-04-04T19:10:20","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T01:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/blockfeatures\/?p=368"},"modified":"2012-04-04T19:11:26","modified_gmt":"2012-04-05T01:11:26","slug":"ballet-and-black-swans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/blockfeatures\/2012\/04\/04\/ballet-and-black-swans\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballet and Black Swans"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are feeling that your brain is very happy and content and have a desire to change that, I would encourage you to watch Swan Lake <\/em>and immediately follow it with Black Swan. \u00a0<\/em>The juxtaposition of the smooth,\u00a0ethereal dancing of Tchaikovsky’s ballet– which was first produced in 1870– and the gritty and rather disturbing Black Swan <\/em>is rather drastic. \u00a0However, the two are more similar than may be initially thought especially when the music is considered.<\/p>\n

It is a testament to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s prodigious talent in composition that the music of Swan Lake <\/em>is versatile enough to be used in a Ballet and in Black Swan. <\/em>If you are unfamiliar with either the ballet or the movie, I shall attempt to come to the rescue here<\/a> and here<\/a>. \u00a0There is one particular piece of Tchaikovsky’s composition that I would like to focus on, and that is the Swan Theme (of which I shall embed a video at the bottom). \u00a0In the ballet, the music is used to underscore the moment when our fine hero\u00a0Siegfried and his new-found love, the Swan Princess Odette, are separated by the nefarious von Rothbart who is to blame for transforming Odette into a fowl in the first place. \u00a0In typical Hollywoo– errrr, Russian fashion, Siegfried vows to marry her to break the spell. \u00a0How exactly this is communicated through dance I shall never fully understand. \u00a0This is a touching moment in the ballet, as it portrays Siegfried’s love for Odette. \u00a0In Black Swan, <\/em>the Swan Theme, which is the most well-known segment of the whole score, is only hinted at (it is played in 8-bit form as Nina’s ringtone, and a variation of the theme is used in the very opening of the movie) until the finale of the movie where [SPOILER] Nina discovers that she never killed Lily, but instead stabbed herself in the stomach with the glass. What is of interest is how the same music functions so differently. \u00a0As noted before, in the ballet the theme is used to underscore romance, and Siegfried’s intention to save Odette from the tyranny of von Rothbart. \u00a0In Black Swan, <\/em>the theme is used as the utter climax of the film where Nina realizes that she has let herself go and “lost herself” in the role of the Black Swan.<\/p>\n

The question that arises, for me at least, is: In which instance is the music more powerful? Does the music fit the ballet or the movie better?<\/p>\n

In my relatively humble opinion, the music was used to incredible dramatic effect in Black Swan<\/em>, which causes me to go as far as to say that it surpasses the original usage. \u00a0Of course, this can be viewed as a\u00a0sacrilegious\u00a0statement, especially in the eyes of our good friend Walter Benjamin who was discussed in an earlier post. \u00a0Benjamin would say that it is impossible to replicate the Aura <\/em>of the original composition and usage, thus making the use of the same theme in Black Swan <\/em>inferior. \u00a0This is a point of conflict for your dear author. as I truly do understand the brilliance of Swan Lake <\/em>and\u00a0Tchaikovsky’s composition. \u00a0I don’t however, believe that “original”\u00a0\u00a0is synonymous with \u00a0“the best”. \u00a0Tchaikovsky was accused of “borrowing” the Swan Theme from Wagner’s opera Lohengrin. \u00a0<\/em>However, no one remembers Lohengren <\/em>in the same way that they remember Swan Lake. \u00a0<\/em>Is the original still superior if the “remake” is better in every conceivable manner? \u00a0I am not saying that Black Swan <\/em>is better than Swan Lake. \u00a0<\/em>That would be\u00a0preposterous\u00a0and would likely result in me ending up on some sort of The-Secret-Organization-of-the-Defenders-of-the-Superiority-of-Ballet-Over-Other-Media Orginization’s black list. \u00a0I am, however, saying that to me, the usage of the Swan Theme is more powerful in Black Swan <\/em>than in the original ballet. \u00a0I strongly encourage anyone to disagree with me and to voice your concerns of my incredible ignorance in the comments. \u00a0In the mean time, have some swan:<\/p>\n