White Swan/Black Swan Blogathon

I've been hearing a lot about this blogathon hosted by Lady Sati over at Cinematic Corner. The idea is straight forward enough, it's about examining duality within a specific character. The title of course refers to this element in the Oscar-winning film Black Swan. This was a tricky one to come up with material for but I think I've finally found a good choice: Evelyn Salt from Salt. This is also a strange example as it involves potentially three sides: white swan, black swan, and grey swan. Technically, the colour of a swan really doesn't indicate it's allegiance. White swans look graceful from a distance but up close they can get pretty vicious, but that's beside the point. Here is what I have found on Evelyn Salt:

White Swan

When we first meet Evelyn Salt, she seems like a decent woman doing a service for her country. She is an expert CIA interrogator and very good at uncovering information. She is also married to a man who seems like a really nice guy and things are going great. At least, that is until a mysterious "defector" accuses her of being a Russian spy...

Black Swan

After being accused, Salt immediately goes on the run, and it turns out she isn't all we thought she was. While her capability to defend herself was not unclear beforehand, she shows how vicious she can be. It turns out she actually is a Russian spy, trained since birth to pass off perfectly as an American. She is part of a conspiracy to overthrow the American government, and shows her true colours when interacting with the Russians. However, they have not told us everything just yet.

Grey Swan

Turns out Salt's cover as an American was too good, so effective that she practically became one. Salt is still being chased by the Americans, but she's simultaneously working to sabotage the plan of the Russian agents. In doing so she is ruthless, and more than ready to kill them in brutal ways, but at the same time she does not do so without good reason. She's like the old western hero: torn constantly between two worlds and never really fitting into either one. She isn't truly good, but not truly evil. She's somewhere in between. Her only real goal: preventing World War III, is a neutral one not specifically aligned with either party, and she is ready to do everything in her power to achieve that end..