The American Dream: the idea that every U.S. citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative (OED). Anyone who is willing to put in the work can achieve their dreams, but what if these dreams are impossible to achieve? Where is the line between determination and obsession? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Darren Aronofsky incorporates this paradigm into many of his films, and each film has a separate agenda. Black Swan comments on the competitive world of ballet through gender lenses. As the black and white Swan, Nina must embody purity and seduction at the same time. Pi deals with genius and madness, as well as the unfathomable relationship between mathematics and religion. Requiem for a Dream follows the lives of four Brooklynites dealing with the breakdowns of addiction as they fight to realize their dreams. So, what do a perfectly imperfect dancer, a sober drug addict, and a mathematician who proves the existence of God through mathematics do? do they have in common? They are all impossible. It wouldn't be a stretch at all to say that the protagonists didn't stand a chance. These characters are obsessed with becoming something they could never be. Darren Aronofsky links madness to obsession in his films Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream and Pi. The subjective lenses of the characters as well as the techniques of the cinematic style contribute to the audience's sense of madness. Aronofsky portrays the protagonist's internal battle through concrete and abstract characteristics of madness. Aronofsky's films concretely associate obsession by characterizing the protagonists with traits of paranoia and incorporating their point of view to show delusions. The obsession is also shown in abstraction through images, music and cinematography. Furthermore, film images question the public's sanity and perceptions. The three films contain parallels that specify the concept of what society considers abnormal obsessive behavior. Contextually, these films interpret the decline of obsession within American culture. These ways that link madness to obsession are not problematic but incredibly relevant. They address several cultural issues that are more relevant than ever. I will analyze his films Pi, Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan, comparatively, to address the association between madness and obsession. In Pi, Max has the delusion that he is a new age messiah and the only human being capable of understanding God. His delusions lead to paranoia, although this is justified in some parts of the film. His mentor and friend, Sol, ridicules Max's number theories. “When your mind becomes obsessed with something, it will filter out everything else and find examples of that thing everywhere” (Pi). For example, Max concludes that "we are built from spirals, we live inside a giant spiral, it is possible that all human behavior... is shaped like a spiral" (Pi). He sees spirals in the stock market, in coffee, in smoking, and even in the Torah. Poetic? YES. Valid? Probably not. As Sol said, Max's obsession with patterns causes his delusional spiral. Max's search for patterns contributes to his intense journey from isolation and obsessiveness to paranoia and madness (Kulezic-Wilson 20). His paranoia is presented through his actions such as locking the door and looking out the peephole. Paranoia is presented in a similar form in Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream. While Max's delusions worsen whilecontinues to look for numbers, Sara's delusions increase as she continues to abuse her diet pills. The source of his fantasies comes from a dream of fame. “It's a reason to get up in the morning. It's a reason to lose weight, to fit into the red dress... it makes tomorrow go well” (Requiem for a Dream). The "reason" is his application to appear on a reality show hosted by Tappy Tibbons. In her fictional world, she has a purpose that she lacked in reality. However, it is her obsession with fame that leads her to abuse drugs. This causes her extreme paranoia; she is tormented by the two main forces in her life: the television and the refrigerator. After taking too many pills one night, Sara imagines herself on Tappy's show. She sees everyone mocking her, screaming "Feed me Sara" as her refrigerator comes to life (Requiem for a Dream). In Black Swan, obsessive behavior is seen as paranoia and disappointment in both Nina and her oppressive mother. Both women have an unnatural obsession with Nina's perfection. Her mother blames her poor performance as a dancer on having Nina. On the one hand she can live through Nina, on the other hand Nina is a rival who cannot do better than her (Fisher & Jacobs 58). Her mother infantilizes her to preserve her innocence, preventing her in a sense from embracing the dark, sexual role of the black swan. Nina is obsessed with her own perfection. Ironically, Nina's impeccable technique is her undoing. “I see you're obsessed with doing every move exactly right, but I never see you getting lost,” criticizes his instructor Leroy (Black Swan). A combination of grueling practice, poor nutrition, stress and pressure lead Nina to delusions and paranoia. Nina's paranoia is reflected in other women, Lily in particular. Nina complained to Leroy that "she [Lily] is trying to replace me" (Black Swan). Nina's paranoia is unjustified and continues to manifest itself in an increasingly violent way. His delusions reach a climax during the argument with Lily. Nina sees her as a reflection of herself and pierces her other self with a shard of glass only to realize that her reflection is Lily. Of course this is also an illusion. Lily never died, Nina stabbed herself (Black Swan). Symbolically, Nina killed the white swan within her. “It's my turn” is not a reference to Nina, but to the black swan inside her (Black Swan). His obsession is now satisfied as he completes the final transformation into the black swan (seen as both a physiological and psychological change). Self-harm and suicide are also important links between obsession and madness in Aronofsky's films. While it is most evident in Black Swan and Pi, it can also be seen in the self-destruction of drug use in Requiem for a Dream. In Black Swan, self-harm is gendered towards adolescent females. Nina's mother acknowledges that Nina has been "scratching again" and attributes the return of this "disgusting habit" to the stress of ballet (Black Swan). Although her mother is crazy and obsessive in her own right, she is right. It was Nina's obsession with ballet that made her scratch herself until she bled, her obsession with appearance that led to an eating disorder, and her obsession with perfection that led her to continue performing despite wounds, causing her death. His last words were "It was perfect" (Black Swan). The obsession led Nina to put her dream before her life, a choice we also see in Pi. “When I was little my mother told me not to stare at the sun. So once, when I was six, I did it (Pi). This is Max's first memory of how his curiosity came back to hurt him. In the film, Max's curiosity about mathematics leads him to neglect his hygiene and health (which is poor sincefrom the beginning). “You [Max] can't go out like that… You need a mom” (Pi). The audience sees Max's mania and poor social skills through his interactions with others. The difference between Max's and Nina's self and harm is that Max targets his brain as insufficient while Nina targets his body. There are abstract images of Max stimulating his detached brain, commonly resulting in bright white light and sharp modulation (Pi). At the end of the film, Max literally exercises his brain, signifying the end of his obsession and his acceptance that the human mind cannot understand all the patterns of the world.universe. In Requiem for a Dream, characters harm themselves through drug use, most often in denial of the consequences of their actions. During an argument, Harry says to his mother “what's the matter? Those pills will kill you before you get on TV” (Requiem for a Dream). Sara replies, "I'm someone now, Harry" (Requiem for a Dream). The side effects of the drug are obvious, but Sara is willing to ignore them because they are helping her negative self-image and social status with her friends. Harry's concern is completely hypocritical. Drug obsession is an equally serious problem among him and his friends. The previous conversation also indicates that he knows how medications can affect his health, but he chooses to take them anyway. Although Harry, Tyrone and Marion want to make money selling drugs and sober up, they constantly pressure each other to continue using them. In this way, addiction has the same meaning as obsession. Tyrone suggests that Harry and he should "give it a little taste so we know how much to cut" and Marion argues that "they should dive in now... Tyrone will score in the morning" (Requiem for a Dream). Statements like these indicate that they have convinced themselves that they are not actually addicted; this is similar to Sara's self-sacrifice regarding her addiction. Aside from mental disorders, obsession and madness are linked through ambition and dreams in films. Dream images exist in all films. Dreams are seen both as characters' physical desires and as mental representations during sleep. In some cases, it is difficult to discern what is a dream and what is an illusion. Both Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream have dream sequences or references. In Requiem for a Dream, Harry sees an ethereal Marion wearing a red dress and standing on a pier in Coney Island (Requiem for a Dream). In Black Swan, Nina said she “had the most incredible dream. I was dancing the White Swan” (Black Swan). In Pi, Max doesn't have dreams, but he has these visual states where he contrasts with white. These dreams represent unattainable clarity and purity, just like the characters' physical desires. “To help realize their [Tyrone, Harry and Marion] dreams of owning a business, getting off the streets and securing an apartment, they turn to buying, cutting and selling heroin. The ironic rationalization they offer is that if they can save enough money from drug sales they will be able to achieve a drug-free world. Their obsession with drug use is based on the idea that tomorrow they will stop using it” (Moreno 221). The problem with this dream: it's not realistic. How can a character achieve his dream of sobriety and success if he sells drugs to get there? In order for Nina to embrace her role as a black and white swan, she must find a perfect balance between purity and seduction. “Nina's default position is that of the white swan: prim, tense, affected… she has perfect technique but no feeling, no passion” (Fischer & Jacob 59). Without a doubt, it seems impossible for a woman/41148331.