IntroductionPostmodernist criticism emphasizes the destabilization and fragmentation of the idea of ​​single and coherent subjectivity that has guided Western culture, and subsequently its criticism, over time. Cultural objects seem to correspond to the processes of naturalization of gender divisions and the female body. On a literal level, Black Swan gives the impression of following this tradition. In this article I argue that the use of allegory in Black Swan is a conscious choice that emphasizes the discrepancies between the film and its original source Swan Lake, in order to contest the notion of a stabilized female subjectivity. I will also compare the stereotypical ways of looking at the female body in film, exemplified by feminist film theory, and how the pleasure derived from the act of looking at the female body is disrupted through specific visual elements. Finally, drawing on Butler's theory of performativity, I contest the idea of ​​the essential female body, bringing together notions of performance and performative acts. Allegory and postmodern subjectivity In the first part of his essay “The Allegorical Impulse: Towards a Theory of Postmodernism” (1980) Owens discusses how allegorical elements are employed in postmodern art, separating himself from the romantic and modernist obsession involving originality and the self-proclaimed "genius". Postmodernism is not concerned with originality; in fact he creates an art that recites its own eventuality, insufficiency, lack of originality. Since the allegorical work “is synthetic; crosses aesthetic boundaries producing a 'confusion of boundaries'” (Owens 75), corresponds to postmodern needs, where the crossing of boundaries and the fusion of genres le......middle of paper......terally -as in corporeal-, before the fatal performance, can be read as an open mockery towards the possibility of herself “being” a “natural” in the role. Works Cited Black Swan. Director:Darren Aronofsky. Perf. Natalie Portman. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2010.Butler, Judith. Gender issues: feminism and identity subversion. New York: Routledge, 1990. Print.Mulvey, Laura. “Visual pleasure and narrative cinema”. Film theory and criticism: introductory readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP,1999: 833-44.Owens, Craig. "The Allegorical Impulse: Toward a Theory of Postmodernism, Part 1." October, Spring 1980, vol. 12, pp. 67-86. Salih, Sarah. “On Judith Butler and Performativity.” Judith Butler. London: Routledge, 2002. Sage Publications. Network. March 24. 2013. .