The end of myth and the beginning of reality: The performance of the triumph of ignorance!

For social chaos and mediocrity; art, stalls and fame; stupidity, clicks and news weight; the illusion of reality and the mania for immortality... A different analysis of the film: "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"

Should you fly low or high? Greek mythology's Icarus, in his attempt to fly away from Crete, ignored his father's advice to choose the middle - neither high nor low. Ikari chose the height - proximity to the Sun. But then the wax that held the feathers on his wings melts. Icarus ends tragically in the sea, but this fateful end made him immortal – at least in mythology.

Average in today's reality represents mediocrity which, both in the past and in today's social follies, is the easiest form of survival. Therefore, it is not surprising that Albanians often quote the Turkish proverb that says: "Don't be the first to go out, don't stay last, and don't make too much noise in between"!

Intelligence as a luxury

The film "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" (Birdman, or the unexpected virtue of ignorance), talks about this mess, about social and artistic mediocrity, about egos and survival that aims at dangerous and scorching heights, burning others and finally yourself. Although the film falls into the genre of drama and black comedy, this is a film with a psychological and philosophical background. Because it breaks down the chaotic reality of modern society.

The main character of the film, Riggan Thomson, had reached the heights as the main character of the films with the superhero Birdman, in the 90s of the last century! But his career experienced the fate of Icarus. Today he is a failed actor, with a ruined family. Therefore, failure makes the past haunt him like a curse. His present life is intertwined with the past, with the character that made him famous. Birdman becomes his alter-ego who always reminds him of his failure, "tendencies", "enemies" and the path to choose: what the masses want - the spectacle, the violence, the pyrotechnics and finally the savior superhero!

The spectacle of violence is the reality that has accompanied man throughout history, from the gladiator arenas in ancient Rome, the bloody chariot races in Byzantium that divided the fans into "blue" and "green", to the fanatical groups of sports fans who are known as 'ultras' and today's lynchings – by deeds or words. Everything is fun, as the rocker Roger Waters said in the album "Amused to Death", inspired by the work of culturologist Neil Postman - "Amusing Ourselves to Death".

Televisions continue to do this entertainment, along with social media. Therefore, the album "Amused to Death" - which was finalized in 1993 and was conceived at the time of the Persian Gulf war - shows how the war begins and ends on CNN, as an entertainment contest, where the news becomes a betting attraction for sports arenas. were replaced by bets on battles and war.

That's what superhero movies are: they're aimed at the masses as a form of entertainment. Art doesn't matter here! The main thing is the fame and the staggering income of money that accumulates.

Whereas, intelligence is a luxury!

Reality without reality

For this very reason, the well-known Mexican director, Alejandro G. Inarritu - who is also one of the screenwriters of the movie "Birdman" - indirectly analyzes this phenomenon. He deals with the paradoxes of who is exactly an artist and who is famous (Riggan Thompson)? What is art or anti-art that does not conform to conventional standards (Mike Shiner)? What is criticism and what is anger (Tabitha Dickinson)? What is the challenge and what is the truth (Sam Thomson)?

Today, when being alive means having a profile followed on Twitter and Facebook, and especially clicks on YouTube, none of this has definition and longevity, much less security. Everything resembles the prophecy of the pop-artist Andy Warhol, who said in 1968: "In the future everyone will be universally known - for 15 minutes"!

Therefore, Inarritu makes fun of today's reality: with art, anti-art, and with the perception of the value of news in electronic media! He makes fun of Hollywood and Broadway – the movies and the theater! While, although the central theme of the film is love and art, none of these in this confusing reality have the right value and place.

In this chaos, between art and fame, Inarritu's game begins with the selection of the four main actors who gained fame and the biggest money with the roles of superheroes: Michael Keaton, who in this film plays the main character Riggan Thomson, in the years '90 of the last century (same as Birdman!) was the superhero Bruce Wayne in "Batman" and "Batman Returns"; Benjamin Kanes, who portrays Birdman (Thomson's alter-ego), was a voice actor in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen; Edward Norton, who portrays unconventional actor Mike Shiner, was Bruce Banner in "The Incredible Hulk"; while Emma Stone who plays Thomson's daughter, Sam Thomson, was Gwen Stacy - Spider-Man's love interest - in The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2!

Whether these actors want to show that fame is the main thing and not art, the director does not show this. But, indirectly, it is known that the actor is a man who runs behind the "strong" stalls. He is a businessman today, no matter what talent he may have.

The four actors of the movie "Birdman" prove this in a way.

Illusion for the decisive moment

Therefore, the truth about art and the artist is ambivalent, because both the inside and the outside are very different from each other. Everything is a ruckus: in the streets of New York, and in the souls of the actors in "St. James Theatre” – the theater near these streets where the entire event of the film takes place.

This is explained by Riggan Thomson, the actor who has lost his way and intends to restore himself as an artist in the theater - the big challenge - through the Broadway staging of the work "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" (What we talk about when we talk about love), by American poet and short story author Raymond Carver (real writer). The reason for this again has to do with the past and the thirst for fame: when Thompson as a student had acted in a school play, Carver had left a message written on a napkin where the cocktail glass rested: "Thank you for the honest performance."

So one moment changes life. This moment was best analyzed by the Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski, in the film "Przypadek" (1981), where the run to catch the train results in three different life - political - destinies of Witek (Boguslaw Linda): communist, anti-communist and neutral ! The napkin was the defining moment in Thomson's acting career. One sentence there - without which Carver was an alcoholic he could not be aware of what he wrote - for him it was a "divine message" to deal with acting! But today he is a hostage to his past, looking for a way out.

In the performance that he conceives as a revival, Thomson tries to give everything he has and thinks he knows. Therefore, to prove himself as a genuine artist, he also dramatizes the work and directs the play, with himself in the main role. This is how he perceives self-actualization, the hierarchy of needs (Maslow's theory).

Everyone loves self-actualization. Therefore, the film also talks about life in fear, about the desire to be important in life, useful, relevant and above all famous. However, fear often makes us live in the illusion that Thomson believes that he has the powers of Birdman, of an Eros that defeats Thanatos (in real life, like everyone else, it's the opposite)! He is actually a schizophrenic who does not recognize reality, as every person is in moments of material and spiritual crisis.

Social media and the design of truth

This film also talks about the film industry, about the actor's struggle to be in the center of attention - at any cost and by any means. Therefore, the failure in the film - since it was "covered" in the 90s by the new names of cinematography (George Clooney, who also played in "Batman & Robin"!) - Thomson intends to compensate in another "medium", in his "alternative" for fame: the theater!

But this return contradicts his perception of Carver's message. Because, his involvement in dramatization and directing, for many, is stupid, especially for theater critic Tabitha Dickinson (Lindsay Duncan) who determines the fate of Broadway artists: honor or contempt! Nothing matters in the world epicenter of theater, except her opinion expressed through 500 words published in "Times". She is like Charles Foster Kane (the movie "Citizen Kane"), the personification of the media magnate William Randolph Hearst, who thinks that he is the news, that he owns the truth and that with a photo he is able to ignite the war between Spain and Cuba. and the USA. Thomson risks everything with this play, the critics nothing. To make matters worse, she has her negative opinion without even seeing the show, because labeling is what "weighs" in the world of news and art!

What is the truth now? Is art an innate gift, or a product of criticism? And what is the truth that the masses want to know? What is related to intelligence, to proven intellectuals, or to stupidity that gets clicks as sensational news in the electronic media, especially social networks? And what do you want the masses to know about the return of Thomson (Birdman) as "Phoenix"?

The selection of Carver's work "of the past" is puzzling to the "insignificant" old journalists with few readers, who quote the French critic, philosopher, and theorist Roland Barthes, who said that "cultural works previously made by gods, and epic sagas – which teach citizens the values ​​of their society – are now made into movie stars and washing machine detergent commercials”. But, for the young "important" journalist with many readers, Barthes is an unknown name. For him, it is important to confirm a post on Twitter that says Thomson has "injected pig sperm in his face to look young".

Strangely, it is from these media shenanigans that the success of Thomson's show is achieved: through moments that get clicks on YouTube.

Stupidity, fame and clicks

During rehearsals, very close to the show's premiere, an actor - who Thomson considered weak - is injured after a spotlight falls on his head (Thomson, who in the film appears to have telekinetic powers "carried" by Birdman, believes he did this ). Therefore, it requires replacing him with famous actors, so that the return is convincing. But everyone is busy with "cape" roles: Woody Harrelson with "Hunger Games", Michael Fassbender with "X-Men", Jeremy Renner with a new version of "The Avengers"... and Robert Downey Jr. you know - busy with "Iron Man"!

Free is only Mike Shiner (Edward Norton), another well-known name, especially in the theater scene (in fact, Norton is also known for his roles in the theater!). As his life is in chaos as everyone is against him - critics, his daughter, the public, his girlfriend Laura... - Shiner now becomes Thomson's biggest nightmare. Shiner claims that he is an unconventional actor, that he is real on stage, not in real life. He drinks alcohol during rehearsals in order to play the perfect drunk; he thinks about having real sex, not fake sex, in a scene (as Michael Winterbottom did with the explicit sex scenes in the movie "9 Songs"), with his ex-girlfriend (Lesley) who was finally realizing her dream: a role on Broadway; he wants to have a persuasive weapon in front of him so that he feels the threat exactly; he "steals" Thomson's daughter and intends to steal the show as well by imposing a change of scenes and occupying a foreign place in the newspapers. He thinks it's the truth, even though he steals the lives of others (Carverin, as a motivation to become an actor).

This Thomson comeback show is slowly failing on stage and in the souls of the characters. While Thomson, who lives in the illusion that he has the powers of Birdman, the hero who brings order to an escapist society, is powerless to change anything.

The movie "Birdman" has continuity of the event, of the sequences, because the director's concept was this: "We live life without editing". Or, as John Lennon said: "Life is what happens when we are busy making other plans"! Therefore, the film carries tension throughout - the perception in the viewer that it is part of the fable - as well as the rehearsals in front of the audience who pay half the price of the ticket to the show "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". And, the failures during the pre-premieres were the news of social media, of the world viewed through cell phones: Shiner's erection gets 50 hits on YouTube; Thomson in panties on the streets near the theater has 1.3 million hits in two hours. But the decisive clicks will come at the end.

Myth and lies

Since Dadaism, art and value are conceptualized differently. We are talking about anti-art, which excludes all previous concepts of beauty, cultural and intellectual conformity in society. Thus, Kurt Schwitters says that art is also human saliva; Joseph Beuys had "dried excrement" as a work of art; Angel Delgado in the presence of visitors does the great need on a government newspaper; Teresa Margolles creates an installation from the limbs of a dead child; Santiago Sierra pushes people to masturbate in the gallery... These acts, which today would have many clicks on social networks, were once reported as news in the print media. Art is the news.

Giulio Carlo Argan, Italian art historian and fascist, said: "Anyone can deal with art, but only the real artist can deal with anti-art"! Definitions change over time, and each definition aims to create new artists and new myths. Thus, through a myth, the Austrian Rudolf Schwarzkogler is known today, who was said to have allegedly died by gouging out his own eyes and cutting his genitals piece by piece with a knife, to demonstrate "Body Art". "Time Magazine" wrote like this. Regardless of the denials of recent years, the truth is this: Schwarzkogler is immortal!

In the film "The Last Temptation of Christ" by the director Martin Scorsese - based on the work of the author anathema from Christianity, Nikos Kazantzakis - Jesus has sex with Mary Magdalene, while living with Martha and Mary, the two sisters of Lazarus. He, with his children, encounters Paul preaching about the coming of the savior. Jesus calls him a liar, because "the world cannot be saved with lies." But, Paul did not feel it as long as he had created his truth from the desires and hopes of people. If necessary, he will crucify and resurrect Jesus. And if Jesus says otherwise, the masses will kill him, because they love "Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God, the prophet." His version of the resurrected Jesus who will save the world is more powerful than his real life. Paul transmitted this version of the truth, so he is considered the founder of Christianity as a religion and of the immortality of Jesus! Because, Paul was the one who spread the news…

And, how can Thomson become immortal, while the critic Tabitha Dickinson was determined to finally destroy him by "killing his play", since he was famous and an actor!?

In search of immortality

The American psychologist Hendry Murray proposed the term 'Icarus Complex', as a form of mania of the person who adores heights, who is afraid of falling, who has a narcissistic nature, cognition based on fantasy, and above all obsession with immortality. Ikari is Birdman, and Birdman is Thomson's alter-ego. So, in the premiere, Thomson changes the last scene by replacing the gun as a prop with a real gun, ending the life monologue with suicide on stage!

This act caused the fatal critic to "change" and write the article "The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance", with the words that the actors turn into myths: "Thomson unwittingly gave birth to a new form, which can only be described as a super- realism. Blood has been spilled, literally and metaphorically, by the artist and the audience alike. True blood. The blood that has been lost in the veins of the American theater"!

Thomson survives. The gun hits his nose, and the doctors put a new one on him. He was resurrected, just as he wanted. His ex-wife is on his side, and so is his daughter. Mainly, he is the top news of the media. There is also a Twitter profile with 80 thousand followers in one day. This is the proof that he is alive! He says to Birdman, and in the end he jumps out of the window!

This conclusion is the puzzle that the director leaves unsolved in a way. Thomson doesn't fall down, but… flies!

A parallel to this moment can be drawn from the final scene of the Slovak film "Zahrada", directed by Martin Sulík. The character Helena is lying on the table, when suddenly she gets up and hovers in the air. "In the end, everything is returning to its place", is the comment that accompanies this flight.

Is Thomson experiencing another hallucination, or is daughter Sam – looking up from the window, smiling – seeing things fall into place?

Kieslowski never finished his films. However, he did not reject any version that could come from the viewer. Ultimately, everything is subjective in interpretation. A real work of art, like "Birdman", allows this. Finally, this film talks about the illusion of the reality we live in!

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