This article contains details about media that addresses sexual and psychological abuse, self-harm and eating disorders.
“Black Swan” was first a movie about Nina, a dancer who will go to any length to play the part of the Black Swan in her ballet company’s production of “Swan Lake” and is now an American Repertory Theater musical playing through July 12.
Nina’s mother, a former dancer at the same company, pushes her to work as hard as she can to make up for the chance at stardom she lost when she became pregnant with Nina. The choreographer, Leroy (said in the French way), encourages Nina to explore her darker side for the role. Nina begins to see herself as the sinister Black Swan when she looks in the mirror and loses her grip on reality. This mental break causes her to lose the part to her understudy, who at the end of the show Nina believes she has stabbed to death, only for it to be revealed that, as Nina finishes the performance she has “stolen back,” Nina has been stabbing herself.
The central question of the story is what drives Nina to madness. The script implies that Nina has a dark side that must emerge for her to portray the Black Swan. In the movie, the catalyst is predominantly Leroy, a Weinstein-like figure who sexually exploits and manipulates Nina in return for giving her the role. He sees her innocence as something that must be destroyed, mostly for his own pleasure, but also because it serves his vision of the sensual Black Swan, in comparison to the innocent White Swan. The mother is a typical overbearing type, and while she is not blameless, think of it this way: Nina had been living with a narcissistic showbiz mother for 20 years. What changed that made her lose it?
In the musical, the choreographer, instead of being a vaguely canceled white man, is portrayed by a Black woman (still named Leroy). This presented a few problems for the author: What kind of Broadway musical opens with a tall Black woman (the metaphorical Black Swan) molesting a tiny white woman (the White Swan)? The author’s solution was to remove the bad parts of the choreographer’s personality. This Leroy makes the controversial decision to cast Nina as the Black Swan over other seemingly better candidates, though she has little stated motive to do so. Leroy tells Nina that her ballet is “too perfect” to portray the darkness of the Black Swan, and that she must find that part within herself.
Then, for the next hour and a half, Leroy stops affecting the plot. Nina comes to her for advice, and at every turn, when Leroy could twist the knife and make Nina question herself even more, she instead takes on a motherly tone. She urges Nina to take breaks, allows her to be late to rehearsal and seems genuinely concerned when Nina begins to experience hallucinations. It begs the question of the purpose of Leroy’s character. The musical suggests that it is to give Nina the idea to “explore her darker side,” but that is, at least to me, relatively normal stage direction. A performer should be able to interpret what that means without becoming evil. The musical even acknowledges this, with Leroy telling Nina outright that when she asked for her to find her dark side, she wasn’t asking her to lose her mind.
I read a review from WBUR that acknowledges this change: “Instead of a domineering director who uses sex to manipulate his prima ballerina, the musical’s Leroy is a self-possessed visionary who is often at odds with the ballet company’s board over her unorthodox ideas.” I feel like this is such a myopic critique that I am left wondering if the reviewer saw the show or simply read a press release. It does not elaborate on why the change was made or what implications that had for the story. It does not acknowledge that Leroy, despite an amazing performance from the actor, was a nothing burger in terms of plot and character development. The ending has Leroy congratulating the bleeding-out Nina for her perfect performance, realizing her vision for “Swan Lake.” This is to show the audience that Leroy was so blinded by her goals for Nina that she does not see the destruction she has wrought. This beat makes no sense in the musical because Leroy was not really at fault. There is no irony in her not realizing that Nina is dying – she just missed the boat. The musical clarifies that several times. Leroy lacks a moral stance on what’s happening; she just observes and reacts. Given that Leroy is such a major role, I would have liked for there to be more to her character.
Without Leroy, then, what makes Nina go mad? As we left the theater, my friend and I debated this, and decided that it had to be her mother. During intermission, I told my friend the actor in that mother felt very stereotypical. The actor was doing a bit of a Winona Ryder impression. She’s how I imagine the mother of any pro-athlete: willing to train her kid from a young age toward a single goal without regard for the child’s mental or physical health. The trope of a mother failing at becoming something (and Nina the implied cause of that failure), then making her kid do it, is a cliché too. Still, I think the musical refrained from making the mom as evil as she could have been. In the film, Nina scratches herself, starves herself and stretches her body to the breaking point. Nina is abused by both a father figure who wants her to be less innocent and by a mother who wants her to remain a child, and this is what makes her go mad. This is hinted at in the musical but not explored in the way it could have been.
While the musical critiques the mother somewhat, there is only one person it can blame, and that is Nina herself. The ghosts who haunt Nina when she looks in the mirror appear within the first 10 minutes of the show. Her dark side is already there, ready to reveal itself. All she needed was a push from her mother and Leroy. Then, through her paranoia and desire for success, she unravels and becomes someone she doesn’t recognize. At least this is what the musical wants you to believe; that is its critique of Nina. It posits Nina as a square who thinks she deserves the world because she spent her whole life working instead of having fun, a jealous, overachieving brat who gets what is coming to her.
The problem is that Nina is innocent. Plenty of people are squares. Plenty of people are competitive and jealous. I think the only bad thing Nina does in the musical is steal a tube of lipstick. The writing implies strongly that it is all somehow her fault, though, or at least that the “bad” Nina was within her all along. There is even a dream sequence in which she makes a literal deal with the devil: Her soul in exchange for the role of the Black Swan. The point of the film is that Nina is a victim: She is failed by her mother, her ballet company and all of those who have power over her. To make it a critique of her makes no sense. But if we cannot say it was Nina’s fault, is the point that she, at the age of 20, developed a psychiatric problem? Is that why Leroy gives her mental health counseling?
I don’t think anyone has to write about abuse, much less sexual abuse. There is nothing morally wrong about writing a story with characters who are bad people, though. The fix here was simple: Make one or both Leroys or the mother megalomaniacal and controlling, heck, even just have them raise their voices at Nina – there need not be a lick of sexuality in it. When Nina seeks support, turn her away. The musical could have shown the ways narcissists can control the vulnerable and make them question their own reality. Villains are frequently bad people – this is fine, and is not an endorsement of the villain’s behavior. Villains drive conflict and change within stories. Without someone pushing her, the only explanation is that Nina is doing this to herself. And I’m very, very sorry, but from the information I have, I just don’t find that believable.
It is the responsibility of a writer who is adapting a text to think about what the story is trying to say and why. When considering major edits, ask what purpose the material serves. What could take its place? Without this, there is no drama or tragedy – it is but a musical production themed on the “Black Swan” movie. By the way, it is a beautiful production: The lighting, set design, singing, choreography, and acting are wonderful. But all that talent needs to be backed by a good story.
Nicholas Marchuk is a local author and engineer. His work is available at major retailers and on his website, nicholasmarchuk.com. Comments and questions can be directed to his contact form and may be responded to in this publication.
About The Author
