Now, when writing a Deep Impact piece on a film that was only released fifteen years ago, it can be difficult to pin down its cultural legacy. But, to a certain subset of the terminally online, this “WHORE” mirror moment may be it. The still of Nina desperately wiping the derogatory word away is often posted as a reaction image by women who are repressing impure thoughts, literally mirroring our swan’s struggle.
It’s not until the film’s 55-minute mark—the midpoint—that Nina finally begins to verbally fight back: she snaps at Lily for asking Thomas to “take it easy” on Nina. “I just told him that you were working your ass off and that I think you’ll be great,” rebuts Lily. “Well, you shouldn’t have,” Nina spits back. The girls are fighting!
To make amends, Lily invites her for a night out, where they run into… Sebastian Stan?! (“WARNING: Sebastian Stan jumpscare,” cautions Molly). Black Swan came out the year before Captain America: The First Avenger launched the actor into Marvel royalty with his portrayal of Bucky Barnes, a role he’s still playing today in this year’s Thunderbolts*. Here, he has one scene, as a suitor hitting on Nina at the club. But he’s not her true object of affection—Lily is.
Okay, so, we may have identified the “WHORE” mirror moment as being emblematic of Black Swan’s cultural legacy, but maybe it’s actually this one: many, many, many members cite Lily and Nina’s sex scene as their gay/lesbian/bisexual awakening. “Searching ‘lesbian kiss’ on YouTube as a kid,” recalls Yas in her review, describing a ritual common amongst baby gays. “I remember being, like, ten and finding That scene on YouTube,” confesses Andaluna. “I think that it remains my most watched YouTube video.” It doesn’t matter that “That scene” was canonically a hallucination! It was real to us!
