Anything Goes : Birdman by Helen Dearnley

There's a considerable amount of good films out at the moment - The Theory Of Everything is on my list - but the first film I went to see in 2015 was Birdman, or "The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance" with Michael Keaton. As an artist, blackbirds are a constant metaphor behind my practice, a persona that expresses my identity, and they appear within my work as well. I'm illustrating a graphic novel, and as I follow a lot of graphic novel and comics stuff, this is integral to looking at the genre, especially with regard to how the film takes a spin at Keaton's former role as "Batman", and superhero films. Turned on its head, the film is about an actor that plays a superhero, shot very creatively in behind-the-scenes and on-stage in the theatre setting in which Keaton's Birdman actor is working on a play. This is very Jean Baudrillard - here's the real actor behind a fictional blockbusting superhero movie, with his former superhero character plaguing him, or inspiring him, following him everywhere he goes, whatever he does, in much the same way that A-ha get plagued by their iconic Take On Me single and video, even though they produced far more interesting work after that. And you wonder about his mental state - is he schizophrenic (many superheroes have split personalities) or is the projection of his former character something that is constantly placed upon him by others? Something that became so huge, albeit fictional, it became real? In a lecture I attended before Christmas by Baroness Susan Greenfield, all about the mind, and how contemporary technology affects human development, it was noted that when you play a piano, certain areas of the brain come into play, and if you pretend to play a piano with your fingers, the same neurological connections happen as if you were really playing a piano. Creativity was cited as being able to imagine things, as being integral to human development, and the development of the mind. So if an actor were to play a fictional role such as Batman, or Birdman, he then becomes that character - Michael Keaton is Batman. He is also an actor playing the fictional superhero Birdman, so is it more real, or does it become second order simulacrum? In that Batman was originally a comic book character that became a film, and there have actually been Batman films, and you can go in any comic book store and buy Batman comics. But Birdman isn't a comic book character, and his role in the film is as a fictional superhero blockbuster such as Batman, Superman or Spiderman. In many ways he is more real, as Batman's public persona isn't the very actor that plays him. Other actors have played Batman, but no one else can possibly be Birdman! It's a real head job, that works on many levels, and is also very funny! I look forward to Birdman 2 :-)