Open AccessMental Debility as the Superhero Trait of Today's Real Human in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman
Author(s) -
María Izquierdo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
disability studies quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2159-8371
pISSN - 1041-5718
DOI - 10.18061/dsq.v39i2.6343
Subject(s) - debility , genius , exhibition , psychoanalysis , identity (music) , dream , aesthetics , sociology , psychology , art , art history , psychotherapist , medicine , ophthalmology
This article shows how director Alejandro González Iñárritu conflates notions of the mad-genius trope, mental illness, and the superhero in his film Birdman, exalting the mentally debilitated identity that is popular today under biocapitalism. It also explores how the film's concept of "real art" as dependent on the grotesque exhibition of mental debility is shaped by (and reinforces) our current biocapitalist notion of a real human experience.