Riggan Themes

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Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu utilises various literary techniques in order to convey the themes of greatness, power, and reality/madness in Birdman. Iñárritu achieves this through examining the actions of his characters, whose pursuit of their goals occur in direct correlation with these themes. Through the vehicle of Riggan, Iñárritu uses intertextuality and catharsis to explore the actor’s pursuit of greatness. Greatness for Riggan is the success of his play and the abandonment of his Birdman persona. One of the earliest images associated with Riggan occurs in the first shot of the film: Icarus, plunging to his watery grave, wings burning brightly in his wake. Subsequent intertextual references to Icarus hint to the audience Riggan’s hubris and inevitable downfall. Similarly, a reading from Macbeth suggests that Riggan’s alienation of his family in order to ensure the success of his play has been for naught. He is but ‘a …show more content…

None of this matters,’ Riggan attempts to shoot himself on stage. While Riggan botches the shot, he nevertheless achieves the fame he has sought after for the whole text – his ‘super-realism’ has launched him into stardom once more. His second “suicide” from the hospital window completes his journey of catharsis. Iñárritu uses intertexuality to highlight the initial futility of Riggan’s dreams, and later uses catharsis to perhaps hint at their actual validity and achievability. Adscititiously, this latter technique also generates pathos within the audience. Riggan may

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