"What If?"

When I think of the theme “Down the Rabbit Hole,” I think of the human desire to venture into the unknown. In going down the rabbit hole, we seem in some way to satisfy our nature. It seems that maybe the only thing worse than going down the rabbit hole might be not going down it, and living our lives, asking “what if?” 

One idea I had was to contrast Mary and Princess Kosmonopolis. The two women chose very different paths—Mary married Tyrone and Princess lived the life of a starlet. In terms of their careers and dreams, Princess seems to have gone down the rabbit hole, while Mary has avoided it. And yet, their end points are rather similar. At the end of their respective plays, they are both miserable, and they have both jumped down another sort of rabbit hole: delusion. So does it make a difference whether you jump down the rabbit hole or not? It seems you will either suffer under the weight of dreams that weren’t pursued or under the pressure of knowing your whole identity is wrapped up in a dream that seems everyday to be fading. Which is worse? Asking “what if?” or knowing the answer to the question is not good?

Another possible conference paper topic I was thinking of writing on was Thomas’ performativity in Black Swan. In my A2, I focused on Nina and the ways in which she embodies performativity. For my conference paper, I would focus on Thomas and the ways in which he mimics the gender role of man in power. I would also like to explore the question of his behavior not only as it relates to him being a man, but also as it relates to him being a director. How much of his behavior can we attribute to his role as director and how much can we attribute to his role as a man? How are they connected and how do they reinforce each other?

--Francesca