Birdman Under Siege Of Pulp Superheroes

The pervasion of Hollywood superhero monomyth around the globe articulatesthe dominance of the American pulp heroism. In the light of postmodern theorist Fredric Jameson's elucidation on postmodern features, this thesis tries to present a thorough construal on the subversive idiosyncrasy of Birdman(The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), a neo-nior superhero narrative distinctive from the legions of pulp superheroes mass-produced by the contemporary film industry.This dissertation is composed of five chapters, with the first and the last chapter as introduction and conclusion respectively. In the introduction, basic information about the film Birdman will be given along with its intertextual reference of the Marvel Superhero franchise. Then by introducing and commentating on some former academic efforts exerting to decipher the Superhero genre and its later sub-genres, we will develop an overall view on the superhero motif. Several standpoints of critique on the 2014 film Birdman will help us to peep into its pecularity as a postmodern superhero movie. The research questions and thesis statement of this dissertation would be succinctly presented along with a brief theoretical framework.The body is divided into three chapters. Chapter Two is a ground-laying segment attempting to unscramble some cardinal yet equivocal concepts related to the thesis.The thematic core of superhero genre – heroism will be explored with an emphasis on demonstrating how late-capitalist heroism embodied in superheroes differs from its classical predecessor in mythologies. While the monomyth of the aboriginal mythical heroes is a spontaneous reflection of the dormant collective unconsciousness, the superhero narrative keeps running in the same old groove because heroism itself is now reified into a profitable property that can be modeled and mass-produced.Subsequently the conception of postmodernism and postmodernity will be distinguished and defined respectively so that within this dissertation, a criterion for the category of postmodern films and postmodern superhero films can be properly used within context.Chapter Three is dedicated to probing into the postmodern cinematic techniques employed in Birdman. Fredric Jameson has readily prescribed a list of postmodern traits including intertextuality, pastiche, and the unorthodox cinematography and music that drives filmic expression deviating from the classic Hollywood lingua franca.Chapter Four will continue to explore the film Birdman with an emphasis on contemplating postmodern film narrative, which is fraught with manifest discomposure and ailments. Postmodern symptoms like nihilism, schizophrenia, as well as aesthetic populism(the breakdown of the distinction between “high” and“low” culture) would be discussed.The last chapter is a simple conclusion to sum up the thesis and punctuate the sobriety of Birdman as a postmodern superhero movie that ruminates on and deplores the insubstantiality of the contemporary life.