Birdman's Irrelevance

The most visible form of existentialism for me when watching bird man was the theme of relevance and trying to find meaning in ones life. I believe that an overall human condition that is often present in todays world is the search for acceptance in hopes to find the meaning of life or some kind of purpose. A scene that really resonated with me was Emma Stone’s monologue on Birdmans relevance and how just like all humans he is scared that he does not matter and that he will simply be forgotten after his death. I think that this driving fear is what pushes us to search out the approval and respect of our peers, because death is so impossible to comprehend that we try to focus all of our energy on making life last beyond the grave. Riggan struggles with his own relevance throughout the movie, which he feels he has lost after his role as the superhero bird man. He makes up for these feeling of irrelevance by trying to preform authentically in his play. This play i believe signifies the new era of art and thinking that he feels lost in after his era of super-heros and mindless hollywood movies. He uses this play as a ticket into a new era, which he hopes will allow him to be recognized and praised again, however, ironically, it is not until his actual suicide attempt when he has completely given up on life that he is actually praised and accepted like he wants to be. However at this point, he has reached a point of authenticity with himself that the acceptance and recognition of others doesn’t matter to him.