Destruction Of Female Subjectivity Under Patriarchy

In contemporary society, mass media as the instrument of spreading information,providing entertainment and enriching life has become indispensable. Film as theimportant part of mass media and the information carrier of spreading culture has thefeatures of popularity, entertainment and enlightenment which make it easier to beaccepted and understood. Besides, it satisfies people’s cultural consumption to someextent and enriches the content of popular culture greatly.As the significant branch of the popular culture studies, feminist film theorystemmed from1970s. It is the product under the combination of feminist theories andfilm studies, and clarifies that women on the screen are still constructed as “theOther” of the patriarchal world by male fantasies and lose their own subjectivity.Black Swan tells a story about the ballerina of New York Ballet Company Nina whoexperiences great physical and mental changes and eventually goes intoself-destruction for playing the two roles of White Swan and Black Swan perfectly.Nina indeed changes herself, gets breakthrough and seeks for her inner real self littleby little, but all of her actions are guided and enlightened by the choregrapherThomas. She is placed in the sight of desires and disciplined by the male power.Under the huge pressure of the patriarchal power, she becomes delirious and beginsto mutilate herself. This paper aims at revealing from the perspective of feminismthat the subjectivity of the heroine Nina in Black Swan is gradually destroyed by thepatriarchal system in the process of seeking for her self and pursuing perfection.The body part is composed of three chapters. In Chapter One, the dominantstatus of male discourse in the patriarchal society today is revealed through clarifyingthe differences of gender discourse, and Nina is changed little by little under thecontrol and discipline of Thomas’s discourse. In Chapter Two, the meaning of ‘theOther’ and ‘male gaze’ will be defined. Laura Mulvey’s interpretation of male gazewill be used to demonstrate Nina is constructed as “the Other” in the patriarchal society and objectified by the male gaze although she is the heroine of this film. Byillustrating the concept of “the abject” put forward by Kristeva, Chapter Threechiefly states Nina is portrayed as “the abject” which is the stereotyped female imagein the existing patriarchal society. In order to present a perfect display and achievesuccess, Nina is forced to dig out her dark side, but at last she becomes a monstrousperson and is destroyed by the evil side.