Birdman Group Analysis

analysis
#81

I’m going to just say that Riggan is Steadfast. To me there’s a couple reasons, for the entire film he tries to suppress Birdman because Birdman threatens his credibility as an artist. He’s meditating in the beginning to shut out Birdman’s voice (according to an earlier draft of the script), he destroys the poster, and perhaps in a bit of an homage to Fight Club he attempts to shoot himself to end the alter ego for good.

Second, he chooses to pawn his problems off on others. His preference is to avoid consequences. He tells his lawyer to make the law suit go away, he tells his producer to fire Mike after he embarrasses Riggan at the first run through, when his daughter questions his relevancy he ignores her until she leaves the room, he wants to quit when he is afraid he’s losing his mind and control of the play, and finally, so as to not face the embarrassment of failing on Broadway he tries to kill himself and accidentally misses.

#82

Just watched it again tonight. What a phenomenal film.

Absolute confirmation that Birdman is the Influence Character?

“It’s always we, brother” and “I am you.”

I sense some new clips for the famous “You and I are both alike” montage.

And he tries several times to convince himself that Birdman is just a mental image, something he made up and something he wants out of his head … How does he feel about Birdman at the end?

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#83 
In the reflection, Riggan sees Birdman sitting on the toilet. They look at each other, but say nothing. Riggan puts the bandages back on and we follow him out to...

I think it would be acceptance or at least tolerate each other.

#84

Well he’s still in the bathroom with Riggan at the end but Birdman does say Goodbye. So perhaps the final moment is Riggan finally able to fly on his own, leaving Birdman behind for good.

Riggan overcame Birdman, realizing that he was only a delusion and that he is capable of true artistic expression.

#85

Not even that. Riggan is really clear about his relationship with Birdman.

#86

But how has Riggan changed? How is he different outside of the context of his relationship to the IC?

Because it does sound like your suggesting change, from uncertainty to certainty. I could be wrong.

#87

Indifferent. He’s managed to outgrow him, which was his personal goal from the beginning of the story (validation, to not be seen as a clown in a costume). He sticks with it and manages to get through to the other side and be applauded as Riggan, he’s shed the Birdman persona. Birdman, on the other hand, stops harassing him and tells Riggan to fuck off.

Are we not clear the Riggan is steadfast?

EDIT: The world around Riggan has changed, but it’s clear Riggan has not when he flies out the window.

#88

How has he shed the Birdman persona? He’s still there in the bathroom with him at the end. He hasn’t outgrown him and he hasn’t shed him. He’s very clear about his relationship with him.

Maybe before we get into this we should first discuss the use of magical realism in the film. Because I think people are getting hung up on superpowers and what Riggan thinks he is doing.

What happens to Riggan at the very end of the film?

#89

Two things to reinforce that Riggan indeed shed his feathers…
1.) Birdman says “Goodbye and Fuck you.” That sounds like a farewell. I feel that there’s some significance to this final exchange between them. And I believe it’s supported by the next point.
2.) Riggan succeeded in putting on a play he set out to and won the adoration he had wanted all along. All this in spite of Birdman’s insistence that he isn’t cut out for Broadway.

So I guess what I’m asking is why does he need Birdman at this point. Why does he feel the need to cling to an identity he knows is false?

This is a little misleading from the script because they must have altered this moment in post-production.

He opens the window and flies away. At first I thought this was purely symbolic and that it didn’t actually happen because his daughter was involved and we were shown in at least two different scenes he’s the only one who believes he has powers. So to explain why his daughter suddenly is aware of his ability for flight was just to say that she now sees him as he sees himself, whereas before she did not.

EDIT: FYI that last part was my argument for her as IC since she changed and he remained Steadfast. To me there was more meaning in that ending but I can totally see why Birdman could be a better fit.

#90

What happens to him? He’s given a new face. He’s made into the man of the hour. His daughter posts his picture on the Twitter page she made for him.

What does he do? After removing his gauze mask (which looks like part of the Birdman costume) he stares at his “new face” before looking out the window, seeing the birds flying around and going off to join them.

How does he feel? He’s calm, cool and collected, no longer stressing out.

The Birdman shadow no longer looms over him, crushing his self confidence. He’s no longer the guy who was Birdman trying to do something serious on Broadway. He’s Riggan Thompson, the actor who has “unwittingly given birth to a new form which can only be described as super realism…”

#91

Maybe we should also ask what happens to Birdman in that final scene. He’s no longer trying to convince Riggan, they just look at each other peacefully. - IC change?

I wonder if we should also take more literally where Birdman is sitting in the last scene.

#92

There’s a really good clue that explains why Riggan doesn’t really fly away at the end. Well, two actually. (And for now, let’s stick to the discussion of magical realism, we’ll get back to Resolve in a second).

#93

@Dan310, just to get to your question of “is that all there is to change/steadfast?”

The change character generally adopts the problem-solving style of the dynamically opposed character. This means and Do-er becomes a Be-er, a Be-er becomes a Do-er. They employ the dynamically opposed element (A pursuer will avoid). There generally isn’t time to demonstrate a change in mental sex, which makes it an irrelevant consideration.

So, looking deeper, isn’t this exactly a character changing his very nature, like you say?

#94

Hmmm… I recently watched it too, and can argue that he absolutely does fly away.

  1. His daughter sees it. It’s the only time anyone outside of Riggan has witnessed his powers.
  2. His daughter doesn’t see a dead body below the window.
  3. We hear an ambulance, but we’re at a hospital. It’s like saying we hear a bird when we’re standing in an aviary.
  4. I don’t think a hospital would send an ambulance to a victim right outside their door. They’d just send doctors. (According to ER at any rate.)

Why he absolutely doesn’t fly away:

  1. He’s not actually birdman. He can’t fly. They’ve made it very explicit that his powers are all in his mind, and there is no reason this should have changed.
  2. Even if Birdman could save him, he’s busy on the crapper.
#95

Alright, let’s go for a ride.

From my understanding of magic realism, the genre was developed as a reaction to Latin American governments making official statements for one thing, but doing the opposite. So, in stories, that transformed into a kind of unreliable narrator where everything feels like a dream. A story could go something like: “Your son is alive and well and living in New York. When in fact we saw him being shot by the military in a previous scene. In the following scene, we see the son living in New York like the authorities stated. During the course of the story, the son meets his uncle whom he though was shot by the authorities. No no, says the uncle, I receive an allowance from them every month. Most generous of them. Later, the son finds his mother who is looking for her son and he helps her find him – the connection between mother and son having somehow been severed. etc etc etc…”

Anyways, that’s the kind of weird I interpret as magic realism. It feels a bit like surrealism, but is more grounded and less phantasmagoric.

So in the case of Riggan having super powers (yes he can fly / no it’s all in his head) is both true and false. It’s not a question of interpretation, it’s simply in this story world, something can be both true and false at the same time.

EDIT: Which kind of falls outside the scope of Dramatica if I’m not mistaken.

#96

It does fall outside of the scope of Dramatica, if you’re interpreting it as surrealism rather than what is actually going on. I got the impression that people were taking his flying away as something that actually happened and we’re basing their storyform choices on that perception (which btw, 100 posts in and we haven’t even passed the Main Character Resolve!).

The filmmakers made it very clear that Riggan’s powers are all in his mind, the cabbie demanding his money functioning as the best example of this. The sirens at the end work the same way – where you have the truth grounding the fantasy. While it is true that he is already at a hospital, the fact that the sounds of emergency vehicles carries on into and throughout the closing credits reaffirms this connection.

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#97

So he’s an unreliable narrator, right? But the truth still finds its way through.

Real or not his attitude is much more relaxed than in the previous scene. (or scenes, but it seems to be one large scene, :-D)

Anyway he ends up more relaxed (which could mean a judgment of Good). His attitude towards the critics changed. Also his attitude towards Birdman. - MC Resolve = change?

#98

We haven’t gotten around to solving the Resolve, but I’m going to second Judgment: Good.

#99

To me it wasn’t about whether he committed suicide, as it sounds like Jim is suggesting, or that he flew away because obviously as we don’t see it (whereas we see every other time his fake powers are used) it’s left open for interpretation. I feel it’s too late in the story for that to be a crucial element for the storyform. Not to mention that fact that this all takes place after the first and only cut in the film which honestly to me meant we are no longer in the narrative proper. The intention of the dramatic device of the “one-long-take” had been broken. There is certainly a demarcation point here. But what that means could be a whole other discussion.

It was more about the last interaction with Birdman. Riggan removed the bandage from his head. A metaphor for finally taking the mask off, shedding himself of that persona, because he no longer needed it. He’s achieved relevancy on his own accord without having to do Birdman 4. MC Resolve Steadfast.

@jhull also if he did jump and committed suicide again why does his daughter look up and smile? The fantastical was always grounded by somebody else’s point of view. I mean, we do hear the sirens but we also hear the squawk of a bird as well, which prompts her to look up.

#100

This logic is funky. Being ‘too late’ isn’t a reason to be left out of the discussion of the storyform. When things are after the narrative has been wrapped up, they are usually demonstrative of the storyform – proof that a failure really was a failure, that bad really is bad, etc. They are rarely extraneous.

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