Ok then … Main Character? State his personal issue and then we can get on with the business of the Influence Character.
Okay, okay… Sorry I jumped the gun.
Riggan Thompson (sp?) is a washed-up Hollywood actor trying to make something of himself on Broadway.
Riggan is desperately seeking respect as a true actor/artist.
My guess is that he feels he has squandered away a career on hollow spectacle in favor of fame and money instead of anything of substance. Therefore not leaving behind a legacy but most likely will be add to a pile of quickly forgotten names.
Riggan: His issue is that everyone recognizes him as Birdman and not as Riggan, the actor. When he walks down the street, everyone says, “Hey, that’s birdman!” Riggan wants to change that.
Main Character: Riggan.
His personal Issue: He wants to matter.
(verb be of importance; have significance.
synonyms: importance, consequence, significance, note, import, weight)
Riggan Thompson wants to be taken seriously.
I agree with @Jerome and @Dan310. OS = putting on a successful play. (Activity)
Main Character = Riggan Thompson. A Hollywood star that wants to be considered a serious actor. (Situation? Fixed Attitude?)
In this case, I think the outcome of both OS and MC affect each other a lot. A successful play will affect the MC throughline positively, and a failure will affect it negatively.
I’m just listening to an interview with one of the writers so Im going to throw this in the mix as a possibility, MC personal issue: wanting to calm the voice in his head. OS issue: wanting to matter/ be of importance.
(edit: those sound more like concerns possibly)
But what could the writer know? He’s just the writer.
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I think it’s implied that no one is taking him seriously. Either way, seems like there is a general consensus on Riggan being the MC …
OK, now onto the Influence Character. Please state your IC’s name, their relationship OUTSIDE of the one implied by the Overall Story (since they are both Overall Story Characters as well), and then your reasoning for why you think this person is it.
Funny, but it was only in writing that out that I realized my first guess for Influence Character was wrong. You learn by teaching!
Sam (Riggan’s Daughter) , they have a father-daughter relationship. She’s IC because she challenges the merit behind his desire for relevancy, that he’s catering to the wrong people’s opinions and again ignoring the substance in his life for the success of this play to satisfy his ego and self-obsession.
Thanks, Jim. Your wording helps put it in perspective. I’ll cast my vote for Sylvia, Riggan’s estranged wife, as the IC.
Reasons for Sylvia: “It’s what you always do, confuse love for admiration. It’s your house, you do what you want with it, just make sure you’re there for our daughter.” Where Riggan is obsessed with how people perceive him, ready to mortgage his daughter’s house to finance his vanity project, Sylvia urges him to be a loving father.
Later, during the opening night, she can see Riggan is in trouble when he can’t even see it himself.
In the hospital, when Riggan’s attorney states, “I can see the future,” she slaps him across the face and asks, “How about that? Did you see that coming?”
Jumping ahead a bit: Where everyone is obsessed with perception (either how they are perceived or how they perceive their role in the world), Sylvia urges everyone, especially Riggan, to be aware of the impact he has on those around him, especially their daughter, Sam.
EDIT: Initially thought Sam, but changed my mind (Jim’s fault).
Initially I was thinking Mike, whose fixed attitude is that he doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him as an actor/artist. He’s completely unencumbered in that way. And that’s the place that Riggan needs to (and ultimately, I think does) get to, becoming unburdened and free to soar. Mike is the kind of actor Riggan wishes he was.
But I’m not certain that it’s Mike that actually gets Riggan there. It may be Sam. Or it may be a hand-off situation?
My initial thought was Mike, because he pushes Riggan towards his goal, but then I started to think I might be making a mistake because Mike is the most colorful character Riggan has to put up with. Ultimately, I ruled Mike out because he actually compliments Riggan all the time.
Yes, he says “Carver was stinking drunk” (in reference to the cocktail napkin), and he is destructive during the run-throughs – but he is doing this to make the play better. And I’m not sure how his relationship with Mike changes – he’s a wrecking ball in the beginning (drinking gin on stage) and he’s a wrecking ball at the end (fooling around with Sam).
So I’m going to nominate Birdman himself. He doesn’t want to do the play at all – “Jesus, how did we end up here?” He keeps showing Riggan a better path: be Birdman again. Spin cigarette cases with a flip of your finger. Save cities from giant iron dragon-birds. Fly across the city. Put on the suit and make a billion dollars. He even helps save the play by dropping a light on the bad actor, showing his value early.
Plus, I have a Resolution argument, but I’ll save that for the right time.
Question: Can the IC role be handed out? Or can it be represented by a group? Would it be possible that the troupe is the IC? I’m still undecided on this one.
Both Sam and Mike seems to influence Riggan in opposite sides of the spectrum. Sam because she’s really not that concerned about the play and is kind of the voice that says “don’t take this so seriously”. And Mike being an extremely brilliant actor gives a bright performance right from the start, he’s naturally talented, but being a method actor takes things quite seriously - probably too seriously, he gets mad when his gin is replaced with water - later Riggan will go for this kind of realism when he shoots himself. Was it Mike’s influence for realism? Or Sam’s influence of “don’t take this as serious”?
And there’s also the critic that tells Riggan she hates celebrities that pretend to be actors.
Sylvia for reasons already discussed by @Jerome
And of course, Birdman telling Riggan to make another superhero movie.
So is the IC “the troupe”? (including Sam)
The thing with Mike or Birdman being the IC is they are both challenging Riggan on which direction to take his career which ties into the OS. Birdman feels more like the Antagonist and Mike is a Contagonist. If anything I feel that those two are on opposite sides of that spectrum.
Riggan’s wife and daughter appeal to his personal issues. Things going on inside of him that scar him deeply, or maybe not so deeply. If you recall the dream he related to his wife i think it was, where what mattered most to him was being buried underneath the media attention spoiled on George Clooney. That’s a pretty trivial concern so we can see that his psychology is steeped on superficiality.
So what differentiates Sylvia and Sam? For that I ask which of the two feel like they are enabling him? Sylvia. She lovingly supports his endeavor to put on a great play while trying to leave buried the more personal issues between them. She could be the Sidekick in the OS.
Sam doesn’t have a interest in anything as it relates to the play. On the other hand she too is on a confusing journey towards understanding what is relevancy and how it relates to her. I got that impression during the scenes with Mike on roof of the theater. I believe this is also supported when she is having an argument with her father about the joint he finds when she exclaims that there are a lot of people fighting to be relevant everyday one could almost substitute that line for I am fighting to be relevant every day (especially to my father).
I think the Critic – “I’m going to sink your play.” – is probably the Antagonist. Neither Birdman nor Mike are trying to prevent the play from being a success.
Sylvia and Sam – what path do they demonstrate will lead to solving Riggan’s issues of irrelevance? Birdman – “make another Birdman movie” – will make Riggan culturally relevant again. {I think Sam’s speech during the pot scene is probably in the subjective story somewhere, because it makes him – or tries to make him – question the path he’s chosen.}
Wow. So many varying points of view! This is awesome.
Well, after sleeping on it and reading the other posts, I’m going to change my vote to Birdman.
Birdman challenges Riggan on his identity, on what path he should follow. Sylvia does this also, but to a lesser level. Her absence throughout most of the story is also problematic, not to mention the interaction between Birdman and Riggan feels more intimate than the interaction between Riggan and Sylvia.
Did we conclude irrelevance was Riggan’s issue?