Black Swan (2010), dir. Darren Aronofsky
As a followup to this post, in which the OP mistakenly suggested that Mute Swans were from Australia. Mute Swans are native to Northern Europe. The swans that come from Australia are Black Swans, and they are amazing, and I’m gonna TELL YOU ABOUT THEM with some WIKIPEDIA LINKS TO GET YOU STARTED ON YOUR BLACK SWAN APPRECIATION.
So there’s an old Latin quote attributed to the philsopher Juvenal, which goes “rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno” (A rare bird in the lands, like a black swan) and which was used for things that were impossible. This saying was used in Europe and was particularly common in England, where a “black swan” was something that didn’t exist, and was used like how we use the phrase “unicorn” today. So there are pubs and heraldry and stuff with Black Swans on them, but they were considered a cool/whimsical fantasy animal, because swans are white! That’s, like, the defining characteristic of swans! All the swans in the world are white, and have been for all of history… it’s literally a saying! “All swans are white!”
Then in the 1600s when Europeans saw the Black Swans of Australia, it was literally like seeing a unicorn or a living dinosaur or an angel. “YOU MEAN THEY’RE REAL? HOLY FUCK? THERE’S ACTUALLY SUCH A THING AS A BLACK SWAN?” So as soon as Europeans discovered black swans, the phrase “black swan” stopped meaning “unicorn” and started meaning “holy fuck an improbable thing that is actually real.”
So the Europeans promptly started collecting the black swans. Now there are Black Swans all over Europe, but they’re all captives meant for decoration.
The pleasing contrast between white and black swans is explored in the ballet Swan Lake, in which an Innocent Mute Swan (Odette) competes with a Sexy Black Swan (Odile). This is the basis of the movie Black Swan, in which Natalie Portman cares too much about her portrayal of Odile. Much of Odile’s apparent threatening-ness is because Western culture sees black things as a sort of evil mirror image of white things, which are considered innocent and pure. So black swans are presented as the opposite of mute swans, even though the species don’t compete. But since people are obsessed with irritating Mute Swans and then claiming that “swans are evil,” perhaps this means that they’re ready to welcome the mirror-universe Black Swans?
This Black Swan, which arrived at the Abbotsbury Swannery (a sanctuary and breeding ground of English Mute Swans) - was condemned by the Daily Mail in 2011 for “gatecrashing.”
Anyway, the European discovery of black swans was the first example of the Black Swan Logical Fallacy. And it wouldn’t be the last. And that’s also where Black Swan Theory comes from - it’s used in mathematics, philosophy and science - and the Black Swan Problem of Logical Induction.
The general simplified message is that “All swans are white” is only a true statement until you see a black swan… and that much of human advancement is due to Black Swan Events, things that were thought to be impossible until they existed.
Finally, about a quarter of black swan pairs are same-sex. Waterbirds are pretty gay, and black swans are probably the Gayest. Male Black Swan couples will actually steal fertilized eggs from females so that they can raise little gay families.
And now you know.
