Complete 3 pages APA formatted article: The film Black Swan explores and critiques cultural ideas concerning women. assignment is due Society constraints have always been a curse for women. Women, being the weaker sex, struggle to meet the expectations of the society. Women who fail to meet these standards are never recognized by the society. Women are frail who pay heavy price to conform to the needs of the society. The movie black swan portrays the fate of few women who had to strive to attain perfection. The film Black Swan explores and critiques cultural ideas concerning women. The movie explains the difficult plight of women who had to hate themselves to achieve the perfection that society expected from them. The demands of the society torment women who had to sacrifice a lot to achieve the physical and emotional figure that is expected out of them. The movie also explains the fragile nature of women. They are ready to deny even their basic needs to satisfy the demands put on them. The movie Black Swan portrays the difficult life of women who suffer to achieve perfection. Majority of the reviewers of the movie Black Swan considers it as shockingly misogynistic like any other horror movie. According to the movie women are delicate creatures who are nervous about everything. If they perform something remarkable they would turn out to be crazy. This craziness exhibited by women is somewhat like the sex fantasies maintained by men. Women are psychologically feeble and frail that if they become crazy they would initiate silly fight with other women, even their mothers. They would engage in catfights and torture themselves, physically and mentally. They would become violent that they fight blindly with other women. We can also see them making erotic expressions with other women. The movie is misogynist in nature. The movie brings to light the misogyny found in the society. The movie not just highlights misogyny. it rather takes us to the state of the society we live in. We can see in the movie, female self-hatred in the light of societal standards that are expected from women. Society expects a perfection from women, which in turn makes women crazy and hate themselves. The movie highlights society’s expectations about women and the struggle they undergo to achieve it. Women pay big price to meet society’s expectations about them. We find the plight of ballerina Beth Macintyre. we understand through her experience that even if you have acquired skills through years of hard work, you cannot always maintain them. If you happen to loose them, you will soon face a fall and become the object of pity, horror and contempt. We see Nina reaching perfection in her dance finally. She however had no way, but to die as she could not afford the other alternative. “I was perfect” was her last words. The movie portrays the difficult life of women characters who had to struggle hard to reach the standards society expects from them. Perfection is expected from them. In the movie we find Nina hating herself as she was striving to achieve perfection. It is the feeling that torments teen girls of the society. They are forced to cut themselves to maintain the physical appearance expected from them. They do become caught in the cruel hands of anorexia. They do also dislike their bodies as they cannot resemble the picture of perfection. They strive to be like the image of perfection. Women hate their bodies to such an extent that they have to apply razorblades to their own bodies. They deny themselves the most necessary substance of physical sustenance. They have to deny the needs of their body so that they achieve the thin figure that the society expects from them. Women desire to change their bodies to resemble the idealized picture of perfection. This would make them gather outside approval. It is however amusing who is setting this image of perfection and why women are running after it. It is also strange why women are after the approval of the society. Self destruction is the ultimate reward women receive from their entire attempt to shape themselves. This is the message given by the movie Black Swan. Women seek perfection and destroy themselves. Women seek society approval and value it more than anything. The movie Black Swan is a warning for all women. The movie highlights society’s expectations about women and the struggle they undergo to achieve it. Women pay big price to meet society’s expectations about them. Outline I Society constraints for women I The film Black Swan II Cultural ideas concerning women presented in the movie III Difficult life of women portrayed in Black Swan IV Misogynist nature of the movie V Female self-hatred in the light of societal standards presented in the movie VI Thesis Statement II Life of ballerina Beth Macintyre in the movie III I Life of female characters in the movie II Society expectations about women III Restating thesis statement IV Bibliography Bibliography “‘Black Swan,’ ‘127 Hours’ to Austin Fest” (2010). The Hollywood Reporter. September 21, 2010. Lyman, Eric J. (2010). “‘Black Swan’ vying for Venice Fest’s Queer Lion”. The Hollywood Reporter. Gritten, David (2010). “The London Film Festival is flourishing”. The Daily Telegraph. Hughes, Sarah (2010). “Darkness and despair: that’s dance on screen”. The Independent. Mackrell, Judith (2011). “What Britain’s ballet stars made of Black Swan”. The Guardian. 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