The hidden shortcomings of modern life cannot escape Foucault’s sharp eyes. Imprisonment, mental illness, homosexuality, and medicine are all areas of Foucault’s research, but these seemingly marginal topics are precisely in Foucault’s exposition and become the most hidden in society. The original impetus to promote the operation of society at the grassroots level is the most sensitive and weak link in the social power organization. Therefore, Foucault's theory is a mechanism analysis of the operation of society. However, "Birdman" can be regarded as the film text of Foucault's theory.
In "Birdman", the bird loves small birds by nature and dreams of flying freely like birds. The cruel war bloody in front of him deprived a large number of birds of their lives. He began to refuse to talk to bird-killing humans. And curled up like a wounded bird. Birdman’s teenage friend Al has all the hobbies of ordinary people, such as pursuing girls and being passionate about *. However, he can understand the birdman and be with him. After the birdman was imprisoned in the hospital, Al, in order to cooperate with the hospital's treatment work-to restore the birdman to normal, and repeat the past to the birdman every day, in order to arouse Birdman’s memory and desire to talk to people. In the film, there are two completely different attitudes toward the weird nature of Birdman. Representatives of these two attitudes are Al and Weiss.
Weiss is the spokesperson of the rational world. He appears as a doctor, trying to regulate the crazy world in accordance with the rules of the civilized world. Al is the transition between rationality and irrationality. At first, he represented the rational/civilized world to carry out rescue actions against irrational/crazy birdmen. The difference between Weiss and Al was only from their treatment of birds. It can be seen from the different adjectives of people. Weiss said that Birdman is "crazy", while Ayer thinks Birdman is just "very special". After repeated efforts, he found that he was being assimilated by Birdman-the persuader was persuaded by the persuaded. (The cruel memory of the war is stimulating his nerves more and more intensely), he also began to curl his hands and feet like a wounded bird, and curl up his body. It wasn't until later that he himself realized an ulterior secret: "He said to Birdman:'If Weiss knows what I'm thinking, he will lock me up.'" At this time, he was already irrational and crazy. Unable to extricate themselves in the world of the world. He even apologized to Birdman and said "I shouldn't have left you." But at this time Weiss no longer believed that Al would continue to rectify Birdman according to his wishes. He had no effect on him. In other words, Al had already stood on the opposite side of the rational world. He was also treated like a madman.
Let’s take a look at Al’s reaction after becoming a "lunatic", that is, how he fights the rational world. He also refuses to talk to humans who are killing themselves, but unlike Birdman, he expresses it in the way of howling. He refused. When the nurse asked to talk to him with a gentle face, he said: "I have been talking since I came in, but no one will listen, even if they are not crazy." This sentence is actually establishing A righteous and stern expression on a complete set of value concept system formed by himself. He viewed the whole world around him with his own sober, utterly natural perspective. This is undoubtedly a whole world full of harm to others, neurotic, Depressed and crazy world. To some extent, this is a more "rational" rejection, a positive rejection, a conscious choice.
"I don't know if it's not me under those bandages. God I don't want a patchwork face." This society exists at the cost of stifling ideals and true freedom. This is the theme of this film.
From the image point of view, although it has not been described as a prison, the hospital shown in the film is obviously a place for imprisonment. The hut where the birdman lives is like a prison cell, but only has a small skylight that allows him to see the blue sky outside. This window is so small that he can only stare in one direction, while the skylight is also Barbed wire that denies freedom. A ray of blue light from the skylight enveloped the huddled birdman, this is his light of hope, and only this beam of light guards the birdman.
The billowing clouds in the blue sky and the dense barbed wire overlap paintings form a strong contrast, which also casts a tragic color on the film at the beginning. Birdman with its classic posture: toes that are raised like bird claws, hands curled tightly, naked, squatting on the railing of the bed like a baby, raising his head up, looking out the window, as if one is always ready. Prepare, always dream of a canary flying high.
Birdman uses his body against the environment in which he is imprisoned. The wild, unruly, speechless youth power displayed by his sturdy body reveals a free, liberated human existence. If these body positions imply their dreams, it is because these things particularly promote their unrecognized freedom.
Foucault said: People cannot confirm their sanity by confining their neighbors. It will take a lot of courage for those who are confined to be able to always insist on confirming their beliefs without being subverted by another kind of madness. At least, Birdman's madness is not a madness thrown into prison, but a madness thrown into the dark. In the dark night, he can only communicate with the most secret and lonely thing in his heart.
With this extraordinary attitude, what Birdman is fighting against is a mechanism for the generation and exercise of power, a custom of taming special people as animals in the circus, so that everyone in the world has this The posture is not the so-called agreement of that posture. A whole set of "management" skills that have appeared since the 18th century, and prison is only one of its manifestations and a deformation in the field of punishment.
In the hands of Alan Parker, a very perceptive and socially responsible director, a more direct intentional and symbolic film like "The Lost Wall" was born, and its postmodern way of accusing modern life. , Even a more direct roar.
The art works of the modern world frequently burst out of madness. This situation undoubtedly fails to show the rationality of the world, the meaning of these works, or even the connection and break between the real world and these artists.
"Where there are works of art, there will be no madness", this is the most fundamental reason for the existence of the postmodern film text "Birdman".
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