Spoilers aheadAccording to one psychological model, there’s basically four areas you need to work on to feel life is purposeful. So when it comes to finding meaning, there’s nothing riskier than betting all your fulfilment on just one of these areas.
That’s what I think happens to Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton), in the film, Birdman.
#1 Social Support
First up, you need your social environment to be supportive. In Birdman, Riggan relies on the support of his lawyer (Zach Galifianakis) who feigns encouragement to ensure they can continue to bring in money. He is regularly chastised by his daughter, Sam (Emma Stone), and tormented by fellow actor, Mike (Edward Norton). Although he’s making an effort to rebuild relationships, his life as a Hollywood actor has left him with disgruntled and unstable relationships.
#2 Predictability
The second thing you need to secure before you can find meaning is a fairly stable and predictable environment. Riggan has divorced himself from the somewhat predictable yet superficial life as a Hollywood celebrity and has entered into the often cruel world of theatre.A critic (Lindsay Duncan) is ready to destroy him. The stage presents itself as chaotic as Mike throws tantrums on stage in front of live audiences. Riggan’s world has lost stability, which is why his hallucination of his fictional film counterpart, Birdman, constantly orders him to return to do a Birdman sequel.
#3 A Relevant Future
Even when your most immediate environment is stable, you also want your actions today to be relevant in the future. That is, you want to know that what you are working on is relevant and meaningful and not simply forgotten and abandoned after you die.In Birdman, Riggan is regularly reminded by Sam that human existence is essentially meaningless when considered in context of the entirety of time. Sam shows him a rolled out paper towel with markings. Each mark depicts a thousand years. Handing him one sheet of paper, she shows how the human race is only one sheet in an entire roll of paper. One individual’s life, thus, seems even more meaningless.
#4 Feeling Unique
In this meaningless world, Riggan clings to his legacy and artistic ability. This fourth source of meaning is related to the need to feel unique and special. Riggan wants to prove this on stage because he couldn’t obtain meaning making superficial superhero movies. The stage is his one chance to show his ability and find meaning.What happens to Riggan when this final source of meaning is robbed? After learning his play will be destroyed by critic, he takes the only step left to finally leave a legacy by attempting suicide on stage.
I’m not quite sure what the ending of Birdman means. After Riggan appears to recover his attempted suicide, he apparently dives out the hospital window.
We are left to ponder, is this a dream? A hallucination? Did he die? Did he really fly? Either way, he’s finally found a way to be unique and to be remembered.
