We don’t tend to think of the fragile and delicate as violent and dangerous. We admire the grace and beauty of the butterfly with no fear. We see the white swan, fluttering beautifully or the sweet gossamer-like beauty of Nina at her minimal breakfast, and we don’t fear them. We might even say that one egg and half a grapefruit is a normal and appropriate food for such a light and delicate being.

I’m glad the Black Swan filmmakers included Nina’s stealing from the older ballerina, Beth. Stealing is often a component of an eating disorder. The person doesn’t steal because she has a criminal mind and seeks to earn her way in the world through theft.

In the film "Black Swan," the character Nina is portrayed as emotionally and physically trapped in a child-like state, In the film "Black Swan," the character Nina is portrayed as emotionally and physically trapped in a child-like state, heavily dependent on her mother for care and guidance. Their mother-daughter relationship is characterized by a binding pattern where Nina's mother treats her as a child, and Nina, in turn, cannot function as an adult.

To improve their relationship realistically, Nina's mother would need to treat her as an adult, and Nina would have to embrace adulthood. However, this transformation never occurs, and they both remain stuck in their co-created dynamic.

In the film, The Black Swan, Nina obsesses about being a perfect ballerina. Her dancing in a troupe is inextricably tied to her sense of self. To endanger that activity is an intolerable nightmare. To stop dancing or to lose progress toward unapproachable stardom is equivalent to the death of her identity.

Anorexic and bulimic women in real life go into weeping tantrums, rages, manipulative arguments and pleading when their eating disorder symptoms prompt family or medical advisers to suggest even temporary life changes in support of their health and psychological well-being.