2.4 Writing Portfolio Birdman Ending Analysis
Statement of intent: I am going to write an essay showing my understanding of the open ending in the film Birdman.
Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a 2014 Oscar-winning film directed by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Birdman tells us a story of a has-been actor Riggan Thomson, best known for playing the superhero ‘Birdman’. After years of irrelevance, Riggan hopes to reawaken his career by producing, directing, and starring in a Broadway stage adaptation of Raymond Carver's short story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." In the final act, Riggan, whose character in the play commits suicide, replaced his prop pistol with a real loaded gun, and shot himself …show more content…
But in fact, he is simply giving people the violence, the blood and cheap thrill that he gave people in his Birdman blockbusters. After Riggan gets up from his bed and looks at himself in the mirror, his nose bandage looks surprisingly similar to a white birdman mask. This a metaphor for the Birdman mask he had been wearing before the artistic success that he finally has achieved. But even so, after been deemed as a true artist, he still wears birdman’s mask. This is a metaphor for the Birdman mask he had been wearing before the artistic success that he finally has achieved. But even so, after been deemed as a true artist, he still wears birdman’s mask. The director used symbolism and sarcasm here to highlight the point that there is no difference between “lowbrow” films or “high art” theater. It's all a performance, done to win valuable hand …show more content…
Riggan is loved – not by his fans but by his daughter as well as his ex-wife. Riggan’s greatest victory isn’t that he proves a critic wrong or succeeds in his high art dream, it’s that through his work on the play, he rebuilt his relationship with Sam – and helped her see him the way that he, earlier in the film, needed the world to see him: something special, somebody that still matters. In the final scene of the film, whether he jumped off the window to commit suicide or he flew out into the sky, is up to personal interpretation. But regardless, Riggan succeeds in transcending the man that said “I’m nothing. I’m not even here” to a father that, in the eyes of his daughter, can soar into the
Statement of intent: I am going to write an essay showing my understanding of the open ending in the film Birdman.
Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a 2014 Oscar-winning film directed by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Birdman tells us a story of a has-been actor Riggan Thomson, best known for playing the superhero ‘Birdman’. After years of irrelevance, Riggan hopes to reawaken his career by producing, directing, and starring in a Broadway stage adaptation of Raymond Carver's short story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." In the final act, Riggan, whose character in the play commits suicide, replaced his prop pistol with a real loaded gun, and shot himself …show more content…
But in fact, he is simply giving people the violence, the blood and cheap thrill that he gave people in his Birdman blockbusters. After Riggan gets up from his bed and looks at himself in the mirror, his nose bandage looks surprisingly similar to a white birdman mask. This a metaphor for the Birdman mask he had been wearing before the artistic success that he finally has achieved. But even so, after been deemed as a true artist, he still wears birdman’s mask. This is a metaphor for the Birdman mask he had been wearing before the artistic success that he finally has achieved. But even so, after been deemed as a true artist, he still wears birdman’s mask. The director used symbolism and sarcasm here to highlight the point that there is no difference between “lowbrow” films or “high art” theater. It's all a performance, done to win valuable hand …show more content…
Riggan is loved – not by his fans but by his daughter as well as his ex-wife. Riggan’s greatest victory isn’t that he proves a critic wrong or succeeds in his high art dream, it’s that through his work on the play, he rebuilt his relationship with Sam – and helped her see him the way that he, earlier in the film, needed the world to see him: something special, somebody that still matters. In the final scene of the film, whether he jumped off the window to commit suicide or he flew out into the sky, is up to personal interpretation. But regardless, Riggan succeeds in transcending the man that said “I’m nothing. I’m not even here” to a father that, in the eyes of his daughter, can soar into the