By Jack Flynn
They all
rhyme. They also all totally feed off each other and inform each other.
I mean, I think Black Swan itself is a work of art, but I also
think its meaning is complicated by Butler's work on the performance of gender
and sexuality. Considering the idea that no sexuality is owned by any group in
a true sense, I think that Nina's performance of lesbianism can be seen as
something subversive. It allows her to opt out of the heterosexual system and
find a sexual outlet sans Mr. Creepy-No-Boundaries-Instructor-Man.
On the other hand, I think Mulvey would pretty squarely disagree
that the movie's depiction of lesbianism is purely subversive. After all, the fact
that Brokeback Mountain is termed a gay movie and Black Swan isn't probably
tells you a great deal about who the movie caters to. It certainly isn't
catering to the lesbian eye, considering the only lesbian experiences the movie
seeks to emulate are lesbian fantasies. And the cinematography throughout
the lesbian sex scene seems to be more interested in the character’s bodies as
moving, sweaty pieces than as entire sexual agents. I would say that it’s a
scene that invokes that male gaze, but I hate that phrase because it’s pretty
damn heteronormative. After all the male gaze of straight men isn’t the same as
the male gaze of male gays, right? (BA DUM CHH) Anyway, all I’m trying to say
is that I think spectral lesbianism is invoked in Black Swan not as a way to
subvert heterosexuality, but as a way to displace Nina’s sexual agency in favor
of a straight male fantasy. So, we queer folks win and lose in this movie, but
speaking personally, I feel like we mostly lose.
As a side note, for anyone who struggled through Butler and
thought, “Damn, she’s kind of a crappy writer”, I think you’ll enjoy these two
articles:
1. Martha Nussbaum’s critique of Butler’s writing and
politics
2. Butler’s really crappy defense of her bad writing that
attempts to coopt the fight against slavery as a part of her argument about her
writing:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950CE5D61531F933A15750C0A96F958260
To be clear, though, I do love me some Judith Butler and
Giving an Account of Myself is one of my favorite books ever. I just think her
ideas exceed her writing ability.
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