Birdman, also referred to as ‘The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance,’ is a 2014 American comedy movie. The film was produced and directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and written by the director and a couple of other people. The starring of the movie is Michael Keaton and has a supporting cast that includes people like Edward Norton, Amy Ryan, and Zach Galifianakis, among others. Riggan Thomson, the star of the movie, is regularly tormented by the scornful and critical voice of the Birdman. In most instances, he visualizes himself doing several feats of telekinesis and levitation. He believes that one day he will awaken his directing, writing skills and hope that one day he will star in one of the Broadway productions. As the show proceeds with its previews, reality springs a trickle. The mania in Riggan is fueled by his seductions of prestige and fame, although the two are totally different. Keaton gives the film the performance of his career. In the film, he commands all his hyper comic energy with all the hype given to the film, Riggan seems to be half-fried by it. There are a number of themes that are evident in the film. The first one is one’s existence and identity. The film tackles the theme through the protagonist, Riggan Thomson. Riggan at one point was famous for playing a superhero with the name Birdman in three movies. He, however, turned down the forth film and he became a washed up actor who wanted to reinvigorate his career by writing and directing. The film brings out the aspect of Riggan’s struggle with the identity of Birdman and showing everyone that he is the real Birdman. It is evident that whatever Riggan does he will always be associated with his previous career as Birdman (Lane 5).
Another theme that is evident in the film is that of Hollywood versus Broadway. In the movie, there seem to be a clash between Hollywood, represented by Riggan, and Broadway, represented by Mike Shiner. Riggan is an actor in the Hollywood and is famous for his Birdman films while Mike is a method actor and is only popular in the theater. The movie explores the differences between the two as well as the clash between the two worlds. Although the two represent two different worlds, they still believe that they have a lot of similarities. Duality is another aspect tackled in the movie. It centers on Riggan’s inner battle with himself. The inner battle is believed to have generated a voice inside him, the voice of one and only, Birdman. The voice inside him keeps mocking and scolding Riggan for the wrong path that he had taken. Birdman was questioning Riggan for not producing other blockbuster movies (Cavalli 72). The questioning soon escalated to insults where Birdman mocks Riggan for his poor acting skills and how his world would become a disaster in the making. The act of being a true actor is another major theme tackled in the movie. Mike Shiner, for instance, is a dedicated actor. He is known for his exemplary and exceptional acting skills. Throughout the film, Mike pulls a commendable performance while Riggan is struggling to become a real actor. The subject of postmodernism is also tackled in the movie. This articulates that the world is in a state of perpetual incompleteness which cannot be permanently resolved. The film vividly brings out the aspect of postmodernism because the world is still in total apocalypse which seems hard to resolve. Extensionism is also addressed in the movie and it holds that all objects and events extend indefinitely through space and time. This is evident in the movie because all the things and events that the actors did many years ago still exist to date.
Works Cited
Lane, Jim. "Birdman; Turner; McFarland USA." (2015): 5.
Cavalli, Thom F. "There's Nothin’Like the Real Thing." Jung Journal 9.3 (2015): 71-74.
