Spoiler Alerts
In the film “The Matrix” we encounter a heroes journey narrative structure with a strong emphasis on internal struggle (to come to terms with oneself) or spiritual awakening. We watch as Thomas Anderson aka Neo, the “man leading a double life” is awakened to the truth about the very fabric of his reality and the degree to which he can willfully manipulate space and time to control that reality as not just one person, but “the one” person. In “Black Swan”, we see Nina Sayers, a young woman wanting nothing more than to be a ballerina, yet chosen from within this narrowly focused life path to fulfill two ballerina roles as both the white swan and black swan in Swan Lake. Her struggle to accurately portray both identities causes her reality to unravel as she becomes increasingly familiar with both roles while losing control of reality and slowly going insane. On the surface these two movies may seem like polar opposites of each other, but this surface is just a construct to hide the truth about these movies... that they are, in fact, one and the same movie.
5. Both movies overtly feature a real world and a world that is imagined. Further, this imagined world requires behind the scenes logistics to keep it functioning. In “The Matrix,” Neo is unplugged from the matrix computer construct, but he and a select few can travel back into it anytime they want to or need to. This computer construct is incredibly complex incorporating every facet of known human existence into a seemingly real world for all of those connected to it. The team even has “training sequences” that help to prepare them for this alternate world of the mind. When Neo wakes up in the human pod farm, we get to see a little of the behind the scenes of what it takes to keep the matrix running. The physical world that runs this construct is immensely complex with towers of people, and robots overseeing every technical hiccup such as Neo waking up and pulling out his wires. We also are privy to the infamous complex computer code scrawling in green letters across what are usually multi-monitor setups.
In “Black Swan” we once again have a select few that participate in a theater/dance recreation of Swan Lake and regularly train to appear flawless onstage. This type of production doesn’t just occur because everyone is really into ballet and wants it to happen, it takes dedicated professionals, directors, and lots of work behind the scenes handling logistics such as fund raising. We are brought along on one such occasion with Nina to a fancy event with patrons of the arts where she is introduced as the new Swan Queen. Aside from these such events there is everything else involved in running a production, from makeup and wardrobe to set design. 4. Each protagonist is selected to be a leader. The two protagonists (with oddly similar names - Nina and Neo) are each selected to fulfill a leading role as a part of the team (and each team has a unique costume style to differentiate themselves from the general public). Even though Neo is “the one,” he still lives aboard the Nebuchadnezzar and eats the same gruel as the rest of it’s leather and trench coat to real world rags crew. Similarly, Swan Lake is no one woman show, it has a entire cast that all rehearse together. They may wear tutus to perform, but when they’re not on stage or training, we see the same loose fitting clothing that the Nebuchadnezzar’s crew wears.
3. Each protagonist is doubted in their leading role. “Black Swan” goes extremely into the intense pressure that Nina feels preparing for her role as the Swan Queen. The main voice doubting her is her director, but we are also privy to the kind of backstage gossip that can occur among competitive ballerinas. The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar is similarly not sure if Neo is “the one” or not, but in both movies the groups have directors / leaders that push each protagonist in a mentor role to realize their potential in the production (or matrix) by “letting go” of whatever it is that is holding each of them back respectively. Favoritism is also an issue when we see Beth telling Nina that she used to be the favorite, or Cypher telling Trinity he didn’t remember her ever bringing him breakfast (as she did with Neo). We as an audience even question whether the protagonist is fit for the job after a dramatic fall during a training sequence or rehearsal sequence, but then watch them begin to transform in an abandoned train station scene.
2. Both movies use the same symbolism. Both movies use special effects with mirrors/reflection to show the reality of our protagonist begin to change. In Black Swan, Nina sees her reflection change in the train window. There is also the mirror in her dressing room, which she dramatically shatters during the performance at the end. Actually she has a mirror in her bedroom too, there are mirror’s in the dance studio, there are pretty much mirrors in every scene of the movie. That’s because her transformation took a lot longer. In the matrix we see Neo getting arrested in the rear view of Trinities motor cycle. Not long after this he is reaching out to touch the shattered mirror that liquefies and slowly covers his whole body turning him into the Terminator 2. Just before this he is given a choice between a red pill and blue pill reflected in Morpheus’s glasses. (Nina is also given pills in Black Swan).
1. Both protagonists are persuaded to go to a club to party. In addition to being introduced to each character while they are literally waking up (symbolic of their soon to be metaphorical waking), each protagonists doesn’t have much of a social life, but is persuaded to go out late at night to party at the club. This results in another waking up scene with them being tired, hungover, and late for their appointments the next day. This happens to Neo at the beginning of the movie, while for Nina it is a little past the halfway mark and with a more dramatic emphasis on this being a part of her “letting go”. Another waking up scene in each movie involves the protagonist opening their eye’s and screaming underwater while in a tub or pod of some sort.
In The Matrix one of the cast members says "we don't wake people up after they've reached a certain age, the mind cannot handle it." It is possible that all Black Swan is a side story in the same universe about a young woman noticing a lot of glitches in the computer construct of her reality, like the scene where the mirror looks at her while she is looking away, and her mind is unable to handle it. Neo was messed with a little in the beginning of The Matrix when Trinity was leaving messages on his computer to "follow the white rabbit" or Morpheus was giving him directions on the cell phone in a seemingly omnipotent way, telling him to take the scaffolding to the roof of a skyscraper. If things had played out slightly differently, Neo could have been the one going insane while Natalie Portman hopped on board the Nebuchadnezzar to save humanity.
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