King Lear Birdman Analysis

Shakespeare and Inarritu explore the idea that human life and suffering is ultimately meaningless in the play King Lear, and the film Birdman, through the theme that the inevitability of death makes life meaningless. Using a solemn tone, both Shakespeare and Inarritu have indicated that their story lines possess tragedies, and suffering. Whereas Inarritu has used a modern America setting to show how human life is ultimately meaningless, Shakespeare has used England in the 700th BC, while they are in the middle of a war. Similarly, both Shakespeare and Inarritu have set King Lear, and Birdman in a time period where one man’s life and suffering doesn’t mean anything, as in both era’s many other people are suffering and in pain as well. Inarritu
Shakespeare has demonstrated this through the characterisation of King Lear, as King Lear is characterised as an old man who is too hasty in giving his kingdom away, “Shake all cares and business from our age, while we unburthen’d crawl toward death.’ Similarly, Inarritu has demonstrated this through the characterisation oh his main protagonist, Riggin, as he only cares about himself, “This is my chance to do some work that actually means something.”, and not the stress and pain he his putting his daughter through. Both Shakespeare and Inarritu’s main protagonists push their daughters away, disown them, and refuse to acknowledge their pain and suffering because they’re too ambitious in pursuing their own goals. Shakespeare and Inarritu are both using the blindness motif in their works of art to show that their characters, King Lear and Birdman, are blind to their faults, and to the pain and suffering they are putting family and friends through. Despite the similarities, Shakespeare’s King Lear differs from Inarritu’s Birdman in the respect that while Birdman focuses on one main protagonist, King Lear’s form has allowed for two main protagonists, with the use of parallel plots. The parallel plots allow the reader to explore the various tragedies, characters, and use of techniques that are explored throughout King Lear. Inarritu’s film has explored the use of Intertextuality between several other works of arts, and artists. For example the use of Zach Galifinakas, who normally plays a silly, yet hilarious actor. Raymond Carver’s, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and the actor Michael Keaton who played Birdman, also whom also played Batman. Another Intertextuality that can be connected to Shakespeare, is when the homeless man who is