Warning: May contain spoilers.
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014, Iñárritu) masterfully portrays the crisis of an actor within the context of film (modern) vs. theater (old).
- This analysis will focus mainly on the actor Zach Galifianakis as Jake, the publicist and his role in trying to bring sense to the whole film. Let’s call him Publicist Jake.
The total length of the film is 120 minutes and Publicist Jake appears only 4 times. Each appearance is a relief for the audience to get back to reality and make sense of the film. The perception of what is real and what is not is blurry throughout the whole film due to great acting, subconscious flows, lighting and camera movements. That is why Publicist Jake is an important figure who helps the audience track the blurred reality.
1st Appearance: 00:11:00 “Finding a New Actor”
The publicist Jake first appears at 00:11:00 after we see a stream of consciousness scene of 10 minutes. Jake is so confused by Riggan’s actions and has a hard time in giving them meaning. Another important factor in this scene is that a new actor must be found for the play. This famous actor will be Mike Shiner. After Mike appears, Publicist Jake completely disappears from the film for 50 minutes. The audience is left with the new actor Mike, Riggan, his daughter, wife, inner voice and all the crazy events that follow.
2nd Appearance:1:01:30 “Riggan fights his Inner Voice”
The 2nd time Jake the publicist appears is 60 minutes into the film when he sees Riggan fighting his inner voice and he thinks Riggan is going insane again so Jake tricks him into thinking that his play is going to be a hit. He tells him that Martin Scorsese is going to join the premiere. He relieves Riggan as well as the audience, but this does not last too long.
3rd Appearance:1:16:00 “Underwear Scandal”
Just as Riggan is doing great in the play, he sees his daughter and Mike kissing. This triggers Riggan to drift away from the role while acting and he literally gets locked out of the stage roaming streets of NYC in his underwear. This underwear scene causes scandal and Publicist Jake appears again (3rd time) at 1 Hour and 16 minutes into the film. He has to fix this scandal in panic, but the play actually turns out really well and the underwear scandal becomes popular on modern channels like Twitter and Youtube.
4th and Final Appearance:1:45:00 “The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance”
The last time Jake appears in the film is 1 hour and 45 minutes into the film at the hospital. Jake is extremely happy because of the fame Riggan is receiving and shows him the title of the newspaper which is also the second name of this movie “The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance”. It is the title a really good theater critic gives to the play. Jake doesn’t see or understand the reality behind the suicide attempt and the film ends with a critical remark about theater, film and reality in general.
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