White Swan/Black Swan Blogathon

The wonderful Sati over at Cinematic Corner has come up with a great idea for a blogathon. She asks us to pick characters to showcase their "white swan/black swan" So basically, to show how they have wildy contrasting traits that they show to some, and now others. Here are the rules:

1. Choose max 3 characters to write about.
2. You can also feature characters from TV series.
3. We are not looking for doppelgangers - we are looking for one person with two sides. For example in Black Swan you can write about Nina and her alter ego but not about Lily and Nina, which are two different people. You can write about Gollum/Smeagol but you cannot write about Bette and Dot - the Siamese twins from AHS: Freakshow - because technically they are two different people.
4. Write about why you chose the character 

5. Provide a theory on what causes the two different sides and what are the signs and contradictions between the two, for example you can write about things like that:

*Spoiler alerts*

Walter White of Breaking Bad

Let's start with the obvious. Walter White and his alter ego "Heisenberg."

White Swan: Kind, family man, somewhat of a push over, insecure.

Black Swan: Over confident, murderer, liar, schemer.

The difference between Walt and Heisenberg is for obvious reasons like I pointed out. He's a secret drug dealer. But I chose Walt because I find him to be one of the most fascinating characters I've ever watched. It was almost impossible not to root for him at times. Starting out as the teacher who had a part time job at a car wash, and had to clean his cocky student's car to becoming "the one who knocks" was brilliant. The lines between the two eventually began to blur, but we were constantly reminded that even though Walt is in the big times now, we still knew where he came from.

In the final episode, Walt says it himself. "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. I was really...I was alive."

Angela Hayes of American Beauty

White Swan: Low self esteem, a virgin, seemingly needs love and structure.

Black Swan: Confident, greatly exaggerates things, sexually experienced. 

In Angela's case, it's the black swan we see the most of. She tells the world she's had all the experiences, yet she's hiding behind false confidence and tells people things that she thinks they want to here. There's an interesting parallel between Angela and her friend Jane in the film. Jane gradually starts wearing less make up as her character begins to come into her own, and Angela gradually wears more and people start to see through her facade. I think what it boils down to is Angela is someone that craves attention because she probably isn't getting much of it at home. She's disappointed her modeling career isn't taking off, so she tries to make herself sound bigger than she is. She's in need of a good friend or a steady parent to learn from. I chose Angela because American Beauty is my favorite movie and I find each and
every character endlessly interesting.