Birdman (Ignonce)

Hollywood is a very powerful modern day institution, where a star's image can characterize, shape and circulate societal myths and ideologies. The construction of a star's image as a commodity of their societal myths and ideologies has the extraordinary power to exert messages so that even the smallest details become significant yet not overtly obvious. How a star's image is produced and then consumed can justify a society's relationship with that image and therefore aid in explaining the social construction of what society deems as their 'reality'. A star's image is created through a range of representations churned out by Hollywood. Capitalism from the commercialization of these images has made Hollywood the dominant force it is

Unfortunately, the AIDS-stricken director died before the film was completed. This film operates as a kind of last will and testament for Marlon Riggs. “He bequeaths the idea that rigid

Although not often enough, sometimes the Hollywood industry successfully produces a masterful work of film that persuades us to reflect upon our lives in the society. These introspective films shine a revealing spotlight on the outside forces such as the media, which seek to manipulate our lives. One such film is The Truman Show (1998), a satirical social science motion picture, brilliantly conceived by writer Andrew Niccol, directed by Peter Weir, and perfectly executed by Hollywood actor, Jim Carrey. The film, although highly cathartic serves a nobler purpose of edifying on some philosophical concepts such as truth, reality, and freedom. The themes and settings explored in The Truman Show are an effective precursor to highlight and explain some of the cultural practices that have pervaded the contemporary society. In an era of advanced technology, social media, and popular reality television shows, it is difficult to discern what is genuine and what is crafted for audience consumption. This paper seeks to explore the philosophical depths of this fascinating film and how its titular character challenges, and ultimately escapes the contrived world of absurdity and falsehood.

When he comes home he has post traumatic stress from the war. He becomes an alcoholic, spending all his time at the bar and wanting to get back the The Bird. Louis plans to go to japan find the bird an kill him. All he can think about is The Bird. But one day in a bar he finds a girl named Cynthia Applewhite they fall in love and get married but she dose not understand Louis PTSD. Louis will have night mares about the bird.

At a young age of eight, David Fincher’s passion for cinema grew when he saw the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Born in 1962 Denver, Colorado, David Fincher moved to Ashland, Oregon in his teens, where he graduated from Ashland High School. Much of his time here, he directed plays, designed sets, and managed lighting after school. Until one summer, he and a friend attended the Berkley Film Institute’s summer program, where he hoped to learn film as a true art form but instead learned only the technical production. Either way he was happy to engage is this and as his early film industry career started, he was a production assistant at his local television news station. Years went by as he directed propaganda films then moving on to becoming a well-known music director before his first movie feature debut Aliens 3 in 1992. However, the American director David Fincher didn’t become a modern 21st century visionary until his creation of the film Se7en (1995). The huge success after this film started Fincher’s popularity in the film industry. From there he continued to make ironic movies we know today, such as: Fight Club (1999), Zodiac (2007), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network (2010), Gone Girl, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Marlon Brando was a large Hollywood star during the 1950’s, but during 1965 Brando was seen as challenging and uncooperative while shooting Morituri, which negatively impacted his stardom. The 1966 documentary, “Meet Marlon Brando,” is comprised of multiple interviews taking place in a New York hotel, with Brando about his new movie coming out, Morituri. In this short film, the Maysles Brothers want to shift the public’s view from Marlon Brando being a man who is challenging and uncooperative, to someone who is intelligent, charming, and light-hearted. In this film, the Maysles Brothers use the rhetorical appeals of pathos, logos, and ethos, as well as including fallacies such as exclusion, appealing to the crowd, and red herring.

But, to the contrary to we might assume, we see in Hollywood’s filmography that they have been assigned few roles, which are also mostly stereotyped and unflattering. In this essay, we will review some

David Edwards is a stage and film acting veteran from Las Cruces, New Mexico. He has performed in countless stage performances and several onscreen acting jobs during the last four decades. Mr. Edwards employs both practical and magic rituals to the preparations for his stage performances, and he keeps a good luck charm on his person. His rituals are less extreme than many other stage performers who are extremely observant of superstitions and adamant about preshow rituals. Anthropologists would take note of the greater ritual associated with stage acting than with film acting, as performers feel a lesser need for luck in the mistakes- forgiving world of film. This parallels the dichotomy between hitters and fielders in baseball.

In the movie Birdman directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture, it is about a former superhero actor who is performing a Broadway play in hopes that it will rejuvenate his dying career. The main character Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) struggles with being relevant in the world today where so many want relevance. Thomas starts to realize that the production he is putting on is an exact representation of his life. In Birdman the camera angle and performance on stage, play a vital role in the movie and allows the audience to see Riggan Thomson’s personal life and struggles.

Since today’s society is infatuated with celebrities, the Academy Awards hold prevalence in society and influence what kinds of stories the masses believe to be the most relevant or important. Denying black artists a chance to be recognized leads to fewer opportunities for growth and success. Brody states, “An Oscar or a nomination gives an actor’s career a boost, and for now, those boosts—those roles, that financing—remain limited mainly to white filmmakers and actors” (2). Since nominations tend to favor white artists, Brody claims they are the ones who have the most freedom to experiment with different genres. When the same types of people create the same types of movies about the same experiences, there are fewer films with thought-provoking and meaningful topics that “confront the unquestioned and enfeebled assumptions of artistic merit” (Brody 4).

Hal Hinson, a movie critic of The Washington Post, best describes The Birdcage as “a movie of many laughs.” In the review titled “The Birdcage: A Wingding of a Show,” Hinson describes in great detail the setting and plot of this movie, and makes it clear that is what the reader is looking for. However, it is quite clear that he has made the assumption the reader has not yet seen the film. He also assumes that the audience has even the slightest sense of humor. The movie is presented as one for almost any age and for people whom are quite liberal in their views. He goes further to explain the situation the actors are

However, when Kathy questions this established perspective of Don Lockwood in the following scene, it shatters his self-confidence. Disparaging acting in silent films, Kathy claims that performing on stage requires much more talent. With the true background of Lockwood, the implied audience better understands the effect of this statement. Despite Lockwood’s modest beginnings, Kathy may consider his vaudevillian past the most impressive point of his career, rendering his current status mute and unrefined. After their conversation, Lockwood ruminates on whether he more closely resembles the popular reverence he has grown accustomed to or a pompous and overpaid mime.

"Ordinarly there is a great deal of snobbery from American film critics, they will accept a film by Stanley Kramer as a work of art before they see it, or a film from a European director...but they unloose their ire against low or medium budget Hollywood productions"3

A star’s image is a concept carefully molded by the celebrity himself or herself with the aid of many factors such as audience reception and current ideological trends. Star image, by definition, given by O’Shaughnessy and Stadler, is “the qualities, ideals, and values that a star represents, based on their films and other performances, and on media information circulated about them” (430). A change of star image encompasses the sum of everything we, as in the audience, affiliate with that star. That means changing the star’s body of work, promotion, publicity, and audience practices. These factors put together is also known as star text (Professor Josh Jackson, September 8, 2016, University of California, Berkeley). Jennifer Lawrence had a particular star text before she took on the role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games and was instead known for her role of Ree Dolly in Winter’s Bone. This new role launched Lawrence into a different star text she was previously known for. Though it seemed like the change is solely based on her landing an already popular role, the change in her star text is still calculated in order for her to maintain a certain image that landed her at the top of the celebrity social ladder. This careful manipulation of a celebrity’s image as she takes on a role that guaranteed a big impact on her acting career demonstrates how a star’s image is important when it comes to maintaining what the celebrity, and everyone who is working with that

The romantic idea of the auteur is described by film theoretician, André Bazin, observing the film form as an idealistic phenomenon. Through the personal factor in artistic creation as a standard reference, Bazin primarily refers to an essential literary and romantic conception of the artist as central. He considers the relationship between film aesthetics and reality more important than the director itself and places cinema above paintings. He described paintings as a similar ethical creation to film stating a director ‘can be valued according to its measurements and the celebrity of the signature, the objective quality of the work itself was formerly held in much higher esteem.’ (Bazin, 1967: 250). Bazin contemplates the historical and social aspects that indeed hinder a director’s retribution to their own personalised film, thus en-companying their own ideological judgement upon the world ‘more so in cinema where the sociological and historical cross-currents are countless.’ (Bazin, 1967: 256)