'African-American Swan'

Right in time for Natalie Portman's Oscar victory on Sunday came what many of us have been waiting for: a "Black Swan" that's a little lighter. Last week, Insanitas—Harvard's newest sketch comedy group—dropped "African-American Swan," a three-minute "Black Swan" parody. The short film stars Edith J. Taylor '12 and Leslie R. Rith-Najarian '12 as ballerinas interacting with a director (Dante A. Pearson '12) who interprets "black" and "white" quite literally.

Though some may see political undertones in "African-American Swan," Pearson, who also produced the film, said that the comedy group—composed of Alejandro Berron '12, James W. Nitze '12, Pearson, and Caroline A. Solomon '12—made the video in good fun.

"I just thought it'd be a funny idea if the director had different ideas of what black and white mean … if you took that incredibly literally," Pearson said. "That'd be kind of fun if there was some controversy."

Nitze reported that Insanitas intends to produce two or three more videos this semester, with the next one scheduled for release before spring break.

"It's pretty ragtag right now," he said. "You produce a few videos, and you build a small following, and then maybe more people want to be involved."

As for the now, Insanitas has a simple mission. "We're just interested in making funny stuff," Berron said.