I have to disagree with your positive evaluation of Black Swan (“Dark Swan,” Jan. 27). As a former ballet dancer, I looked forward to the dancing, but was disappointed that it didn’t live up to that old gold standard, The Red Shoes with Moira Shearer, which appeared in the 1950s. Not only that, but in the older movie, there was a romantic strain, dealing with the star falling in love, marrying, then trying to return to the dance. Somehow it ended with her jumping off a precipice of some kind and killing herself because of the conflict between her husband, whom she loved, and her desire to return to dancing. It had no gross sexual scenes, “just” romantic love. All the crotch grabbing and oral sex in Dark Swan was typical of the present times, where there seems to be no such thing as romance or love, just playing with genitals, which is supposed to be the essence of sex—ugh—not so.
We knew it then, but no longer. We’re much poorer for it.
This article appears in Feb 3-10, 2011.
