Birdman is a highly praised independent film that was released in late 2014. The movie revolves around one main character - Riggan Thomson, a middle aged actor who used to be known for his role in “Birdman,” a superhero flick that was big many years before this film takes place. Riggan is currently directing and starring in a Broadway adaptation of a book by Raymond Carver. At this point in his life, Riggan is struggling with his fame and is questioning the worth of his life at this point if being famous is actually what is important in his life. Birdman is a film that goes through the struggles of life and depression, relationships, human worth, and what life should be about. Throughout the film, we get to know Riggan’s family and friends, …show more content…
This is not just told through wonderful writing, it also portrays this through it’s masterful cinematography and directing. The movie is filmed so it looked like it was all taken through one shot. This makes the movie feel very overwhelming not just from the viewer’s perspective, but from the character’s also. The film also portrays Riggan’s inability to give up the past. Throughout the movie, we hear the voice of Birdman inside Riggan’s head, many of the times along with visuals. The voice discourages him saying things like “You’re not worth anything anymore.” Since he stopped making the Birdman films, Riggan’s self esteem and ego have completely dropped as he struggles with wanting to be famous. Another actor in the Broadway play was Mike Shiner, a highly acclaimed actor who thinks of nobody but himself. He is also constantly saying this to Riggan and that only make his self esteem worse.
Without spoiling the film, I do think Riggan comes to peace with himself, for better or worse. In the human life, coming to peace with yourself is one of the most crucial parts to sane, although it must be understood that everyone goes through difficulties in life. Now to end with one of the most cliche sayings of all time: nobody’s
In her story she uses sorrow as a theme, Jay was sad that he had an argument. She also shows sorrow when Bird’s stepfather leaves because her dad already left her and her mother. Another theme is love, Jay, Ethan and Bird are similar in ways of how their hearts are all hurt. Bird is hurt because both of her father's left, Jay is hurt because his brothers loss, Ethan has a health problem so his heart is physically hurt. Bird made friends with Jay and Ethan but she also became friends with an elderly lady, Mrs. Pritchard. Mrs.Pritchard was living at home alone because her husband had to move to a nursing home. Bird was very nice to Mrs.Pritchard and treated her like a friend, and gave her a friend she didn't have. A few other themes/feelings in this novel are warmth and kindness. CCBC calls this novel, “a strong and delicate story about love, loss, and letting
As a parrot our narrator is forced to come to terms with the fact that no matter how hard he tries to communicate with his wife or other people, it will prove useless and even if the context fit's the conversation, they'd think of it as an humorous coincidence. As our narrator hangs onto and tries to repeat every word to his "wife" says he demonstrates his frustration of being unable to communicate and his yearning for her to realize it is him. Butler also keeps this story very comedic with the fact that he is a bird with a grown man's education and allows him to still think and have emotions similar to a human. Our narrator's wittiness and male pride are still evident in his words no matter how subtle they are. For example, "up, cracker, peanut, open" and even changing the context from "pretty bird to bad bird".
When he bought it he whispered to the bird,”I know who will take care of you, little bird.” He was going to give the bird to his ill daughter to make her feel better. Like all of the other characters the man didn’t know what the swallow was saying. He placed the cage in the room and left. When the girl woke up in the middle of the night she saw the birdcage in her room and she realised how terrible it can be when a bird is in there. None of the characters understood what the bird wanted so badly but finally the bird has its chance. The bird slightly hesitated then opened its wings and flew away. Additionally, the girl said,”Will you fly for me, too, little bird?” stating that she can’t get free but she wants to feel free.
Although a lot of the story is pretty straight forward, she does use literary devices to help the reader understand the life of Birdie a little better. For example, in the end of the story she describes the vision of herself on the swing set outside of the hospital in saying, “Each time, the girl went fuzzy like an image on the television set with poor reception.” This simile allows the reader to really see what she saw or felt because we all can picture that type of image. Another time she uses a simile saying, “The swing is swaying gently, as if someone had just been on it.” These subtle literary devices help the reader to understand little things about the story in order for them to see the situation Birdie is in. However, there are not as many metaphors or a huge amount of other literary
Bird is a symbolic motif in Three Day Road that helps Boyden to establish character identities and relationships.
One of the women made the comment that Mrs. Wright used to be pretty and happy, when she was Minnie Foster not Minnie Wright. This is just the beginning of realizing that she was just pushed to far into depression and couldn't live up to John Wright's expectations anymore. The Wrights had no children and Mrs. Wright was alone in the house all day long. The women perceive John Wright to be a controlling husband who in fact probably wouldn't have children and this may have upset Mrs. Wright. They eventually find vacant bird cage and ponder upon what happened to the bird, realizing Mrs. Wright was lonely they figured she loved the bird and it kept her company. The women make reference to the fact that Mrs. Wright was kind of like a bird herself, and that she changed so much since she married John Wright. They begin looking for stuff to bring her and they find the bird dead and they realize someone had wrung its neck. This is when they realize Mrs. Wright was in fact pushed to far, John Wright had wrung her bird's neck and in return Minnie Wright wrung his.
Because of the supposed similarities between humans and birds, birds are a useful tool for authors wishing to symbolize human emotions or thoughts. Mynott offers that birds are often “distinguished partly by the different human emotions they seem to be revealing” (Mynott 282). He references several examples of the use of human-specific traits in the description of birds, such as “kind,” “stern,” and “astonished” (282). It is not such a huge leap from the attribution of such human characteristics, to “anthropomorphic misdescription” (282). The birds in The Ant of the Self are said to be looking “as though they [had] placed bets” on who would lose Spurgeon’s and his father’s confrontation. While Spurgeon is taking a stand against his father by ordering him out of the car and onto the shoulder of the road, the birds’ curious glances are exposing Spurgeon’s own thoughts. The birds, a symbol for Spurgeon, wonder whether he or his father will “go down in flames” (Packer 95). The caged birds, which are so capable of human expressions, are expressing Spurgeon’s thoughts. ZZ Packer endows the birds with a look of human quizzicality, having them glance from the nervous Spurgeon to his angered father. Spurgeon wonders whether he or his father will win, and the birds, as his symbol, express this.
The Birds, the movie was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was based on the short story "The Birds" written by Daphne du Murrier. If you would have read the book and then watched the movie, you would see that very few things are the same. In both the short story and the movie flocks of gulls, robins, crows, and sparrows join each other. This is really weird because different species of birds never work together. The story and the film both have the same climate. It is cold and chilly; "the ground is frozen and it will be a black winter." The climate gives the versions of the story a creepy and suspenseful feeling.
This man caused Louie to drink and to smoke, he became terrified to sleep due to the pain and the way he wanted so bad to get revenge. The Bird made Louie come extremely close to ruining his marriage and gave him an unsettling mindset from the thoughts of The Bird so intensely that he was scared he would injure someone in his sleep: “Louie was straddling Cynthia's chest, his hands locked around her neck. Through her closing throat, she was screaming. Louie was strangling his pregnant wife” (373). Louie was lucky, lucky he did not kill his wife, or hurt her, or kill his baby, he was lucky to have a wife as kind as Cynthia to stay by his side and not let him go. Luck once again was rushing through Louie’s life as Cynthia could’ve ended this marriage in a heartbeat, but instead took Louie to a preacher named Billy to retrieve him help so he would understand what wrong he is doing: “Cynthia stayed in the hall, listening to the neighbor. When she returned to the apartment, she told Louie that she wanted him to take her to hear Graham speak” (378). At the sound of God, Louie started to believe, he changed once more and went back to having a strong mind. A simple promise that Louie remembered to keep him strong and to keep him fighting to stay determined: “If you will save me, I will serve you forever” (382). Louie became a better man and from that moment
The birdcage symbolizes the Wright’s marriage. It is breaking and past the point of recovery. “ Looks as if someone must have been rough with it” (Glaspell 875). Minnie Wright represents the bird, who is trapped. She is trapped in this marriage where she is mistreated. Though, Mrs.Wright is not killed, but her spirit is. Due to the isolation and neglect, Mrs.Wright’s spirit is killed. David Galens summarizes this drama in his article “Trifles.” He mentions “Neither woman can recall whether she actually had a bird, but Mrs. Hale remembers that Minnie did have a beautiful singing voice when she was younger” (Galens). Mrs.Peters and Mrs.Hale find the dead bird with silk around the neck. Mrs. Peters is in shock: “Somebody—wrung—its—neck” (Glaspell 115). Mrs.Hale does not know the Wright’s well, so she says “ I s’pose maybe the cat got it” (Glaspell 875). Mrs.Peters knows the Wright’s did not have a cat; therefore, the cat is a metaphor to John Wright. This bird is valuable to Mrs.Wright, because it was her only company throughout the long days when her husband works. The loneliness without the bird called for revenge. Minnie is tired of the emotionally abusive man she married. Mrs.Wright wrings John’s neck and kills him for all the things he does to slowly kill
During the next two years, Louie endures physical and psychological torture by his captors. During this time, a major character is introduced, Mutsuhiro Watanabe (a.k.a. the Bird), who is a head Japanese captain at the camp where Louie is being taken to be held prisoner. He makes the creepy guard from The Green Mile seem like a guy you'd love to bring home to dinner. On the day Louie arrives to the camp, The Bird recognizes Louie for his Olympic performance and forces him to race against one of his soldiers; however, Louie is frail due to lack of food and water and is humiliated in defeat. The Bird is very hard on him, and is the predominant source of mental and physical abuse from which Louie suffers at this camp. Louie, being the strong-willed fighter that he is, continues to endure and remain physically and emotionally unbroken until he eventually catches a break when The Bird is offered a better job at another camp. After the war interferes with his camp, Louie is moved to a different camp, which ends up being the same camp where The Bird had transferred. The Bird continues to be ruthless and relentless towards Louie and directs his wrath at Louie far worse than any other prisoner, especially when he determines that Louie is attempting to boost the morale of other prisoners. In this time period in the book, hope and motivation are shown as Louie continues to fight through the abuse at the hands of his
Ever since the bird spoke into a microphone at a giant event he has been getting fans following him everywhere. Sometimes it gets annoying for the bird when fans are bugging him too much. Like the other day someone stole his favorite socks! But today that can't happen because he has to go to a special event that will boost his career. If fans bug him today his career will be ruined! Today is a special day for the bird. When the bird woke up, he put on his new tuxedo and shiny boots. He was so excited for the special event because he could possibly get an even better career. But he still loves his old job, but he just needs a little bit more money because it is hard for him to keep paying for the house he bought because his job pays minimum
During times of disorder, it is natural to feel a sense of fear and loneliness that requires you to search for control in your life. These emotions send you to the point of having to isolate yourself, as you believe if you do so, you have control over your life. In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 psychodrama film “The Birds”, Melanie is a young woman who travels to Bodega Bay to reunite herself with a stranger by the name of Mitch. Melanie uncovers that he had a romantic relationship with Annie, the woman she claims to have come to town for. Annie advises Melanie that her relationship with him did not last due to Lydia, his mother, fearing that he will leave her now that her husband has passed away. As Melanie and Mitch’s relationship begins to develop, birds within the town being to attack them along with everyone else who lives in Bodega Bay. Melanie, Mitch, and the town’s people begin to question why the birds are attacking them. Annie’s body is discovered outside her house as a result from her being killed by birds. By the end of the film, Melanie and Lydia have a close relationship leave the bird infested town with Mitch and his sister Cathy. Alfred Hitchcock uses the these three women to remind us that chaos will always enter our lives no matter what actions we take to keep order, but deep relationships will help overcome the feelings of fear and loneliness.
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.
The result of this, as might be expected, is a hilarious disaster full of outstanding performances. Robin Williams, despite his reputation for unfettered mania, is surprisingly restrained throughout most of The Birdcage, doing a little serious acting along the way. Nathan Lane, playing the effeminate Albert, is the real star, whether he's trying to swagger like John Wayne to act “manly” or costumed like a housewife. Gene Hackman has the straight man's role, into which he fits wonderfully. The only role that is over-the-top is Hank Azania as Aggedor, the houseboy for Armand and Albert. The film is so entertaining that it is easy for the unsuspecting viewer not to realize its hidden message. The structure of The Birdcage is designed to show us that there isn't much difference between conservatives and liberals, and on that note, straight and gay people.