Themes in Thrillers

Themes in Thrillers

THEMES: fear, paranoia, control

FILM: BLACK SWAN

The key theme of Black swan is control. 

 

Nina (the protagonist), strives to become perfect and keep control of how she performs as a ballet dancer. Given the role as the Swan Queen, Nina has perfect control in how she embodies the role of the White Swan. However, with the Black Swan, Nina struggles to perfect it (shown from 0:42 - 0:50). She is the embodiment of innocence and childhood; whereas the Black Swan is more seductive, bold and represents more of adulthood. 

CONTROL:

As the trailer progresses, we see how Nina begins to lose control over her well-being, as her overgrowing obsession of appealing everyone begins to consume her body; leading to fatigue, hallucinations, depression, etc. The role of the Black swan haunts Nina, explicitly gaining control over her which is quite noticeable at the end of the trailer; with the costume, eyes and demeanour. While the Black Swan gains control, Nina loses control of herself and falls into a pit of delusions, and self-harming (as shown at 1:12 - "The only person standing in your way is you"). This clearly showcases how the theme of control is denoted in the trailer. 

FEAR:

Around 0:46, Nina is expressively showing the creeping fear of Lily becoming a rival to her; a threat to steal her role as Swan Queen. The overwhelming pressure in perfecting everything is getting to Nina's head; she begins to fear her surroundings, becoming tense (as seen in 1:19), and self-destructs from the role and her emotions. These scenes strongly depict the theme of fear in this thriller.

PARANOIA:

The theme of paranoia is clearly shown around 1:24 in the trailer, when Nina shakily says, "She's after me..."  referring to Lily who keeps appearing around Nina, whether it's delusions or reality. Paranoia heavily emphasises the psychological aspect of the thriller, giving the audience a clear vision of how toxic people, an unhealthy environment, and the person themselves can fall victim and crumble in front of everyone.

The key themes heavily affects the audience to sympathise with the protagonist, as well as become entranced and apprehensive from the dark spiralling developing throughout the trailer. The enigma of whether Nina will break free from the chains and pressure of being the best Swan Queen is effectively explored in the trailer.

The themes of fear and paranoia will be my main chosen themes for my film; as they are what mainly make up a thriller. They are what keeps the audience intrigued, and at the edge of their seats. You can also get many ideas from the use of those themes.