LEXICON Volume 5, Number 2, October 2018, 95-106 Hierarchy of Expressive Culture in Birdman Dhania Putri Sarahtika*, Nur Saktiningrum Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia *Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT Despite the accolades that it has received, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) has not been thoroughly studied in the academic sphere. This research attempts to examine the hierarchy of expressive culture portrayed in the screenplay of Birdman using Lawrence W. Levine’s theory (1988) of cultural hierarchy. A sociological approach by Swingewood & Laurenson (1972) is applied to see the work’s relation to the society. Firstly there is highbrow/lowbrow categorization, followed by an analysis of the challenges to the hierarchy; each process includes comparison between the findings and the reality in the present-day American society to see their resemblance. Keywords: Expressive Culture, Film, Hierarchy, Highbrow/Lowbrow Dichotomy, Theatre. that such notion is rooted in the classification set INTRODUCTION in the present American culture. Smith’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of interpretation of the story contributes as a Ignorance) (2014), or Birdman for short, is an supporting argument for this paper. Even though Oscar-winning psychological drama/comedy film his article is not classified as scholarly, his directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. It argument is considered adequate. narrates a comeback story of a fictional washed-up Another article by O’Keeffe (2014) Hollywood actor named Riggan Thompson as he published in The Atlantic discusses the hostility makes his way into the theatre business, while at between two characters in the film, Riggan the same time battling with his common sense Thompson and Tabitha Dickinson. Tabitha since the role that he used to play has been Dickinson is a theatre critic who undermines internalized in himself, represented by the Thompson’s theatre debut even before she sees Birdman’s voice in his head and the constant the preview. O’Keeffe relates this matter to the “appearance” of Birdman around him. real-life condition of the present-day Broadway, Since Birdman was recently released at the which is now more money-oriented. end of 2014, there have not been many thorough Another article is “Birdman and the studies about it. Most researchers and critics wrote Intoxicating Alchemy of Cinema” by Brown about it in the form of articles published in (2015). Unlike the previous two articles, this one newspapers and magazines. highlights the capacity of cinema to shift between Smith (2014), for instance, wrote an article reality and fantasy and to attract the society. on an online magazine called Smash Cut Brody (2015) reviews the film in general. It Magazine. He says that in the story, there is a covers a range of things, from the cast’ acting, the scene where the Birdman character gives a rather long take used in the film, and not to mention the snide comment on the audience for their love of film-versus-theatre dichotomy. Brody criticises explosions and superhero movies. Smith argues that the issue of film-versus-theatre is unoriginal. Dhania P. Sarahtika & Nur Saktiningrum / Hierarchy of Expressive Culture | 95 96 | LEXICON, Volume 5, Number 2, October 2018 Since this article is a review, it is understandable his desire to change it. Thus the novel, that Brody criticises the film’s treatment on this as the major literary genre of issue instead of discussing more about the issue industrial society, can be seen as a itself. faithful attempt to re-create the social world of man’s relation with his Similarly, Thompson & Bordwell (2015) also family, with politics, with the State; it address the film-versus-theatre issue. According to delineates too his riles within the them, “The eternal Hollywood/Broadway family and other institutions, the opposition is sharpened in the light of new conflicts and tensions between groups entertainment trends.” They also assert that the and social classes (p. 12). duality in the film is not only about film versus theatre, but also the young versus the elders, and Therefore, it is believed that this the East Coast versus West Coast values. sociological approach is applicable in this research because the object of the research is the hierarchy The present research seeks to contribute to of expressive culture in the Birdman movie script the academic sphere by analysing the work. The and its relation to the present condition in the analysis of this paper is limited to the textual United States. material of the work and its social context. As a result, the analysis is focused on the script, so the More specifically, this study adopts the technical elements of the film—for example, theory of cultural hierarchy proposed by Levine mise-en-scene, shots, and acting—are disregarded. (1988). Levine tackled the development of various forms of expressive culture—such as theatre, In regards to the topic, the paper focuses on opera, music, photography, movies, and fine the hierarchy of expressive culture in the script of arts—-in the United States beginning from the Birdman and how it resembles the present society. 19th century. Levine claims that the “process of The paper adopts the theory of cultural hierarchy divorcing popular entertainment from the proposed by Levine (1998). In his book, Levine legitimate stage, which had been gradually at analyzes the emergence and changes in the work throughout the second half of the hierarchy of expressive culture based on how nineteenth century, came to fruition in the Americans have perceived them from time to twentieth” (1988, p. 936). In his book, Levine time. analyzes the emergence and changes in the THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK hierarchy of expressive culture based on how Americans have perceived them from time to This study adopts a sociological approach to time. analyze the movie script. Theorists of sociological approach agree that “literature is a social product, Although there is no clear definition of and thoughts and feelings found in literature are “expressive culture” provided by Levine, in the conditioned and shaped by the cultural life present article, it is defined as “processes, created by the society” (Jadhav, 2014: 658). emotions, and ideas bound within the social Among the many theorists of sociology in production of aesthetic forms and performances in literature is Swingewood (Jadhav, 2014). Accord- everyday life. It is a way to embody culture and ing to Jadhav (2014) Swingwood’s “sociological express culture through sensory experiences such approach to the study of literature is developed in as dance, music, literature, visual media, and the social and cultural context” (p. 4). Swinge- theater” (Burstein, 2014, p. 132). The forms of wood & Laurenson (1972) argue that sociology expressive culture are distinguished in a vertical and literature complement each other in manner by the society, which results in a understanding the society (p. 13). They further hierarchy. argue: Levine (1988) divides expressive culture into As with sociology, literature too is a dichotomy: “highbrow” and “lowbrow”. He also pre-eminently concerned with man’s uses other terms, such as “Elite” and social world, his adaptation to it, and “mass/popular” culture, also “high” and “low” Dhania P. Sarahtika & Nur Saktiningrum / Hierarchy of Expressive Culture | 97 culture. The emergence of the terms can be traced were used in cultural criticism only until mid- back to late 19th century: 1960s (Tyson, 2006, p. 296). Such distinctions have not been maintained since the rise of post- "Highbrow," first used in the 1880s to modernism (Cuddon, 2013, p. 386), which oblite- describe intellectual or aesthetic rates the “high/low art distinctions” (McEntee, superiority and "lowbrow", first used 2014, p. 2). Levine himself states that culture is a shortly after 1900 to mean someone or dynamic process (1988, p. 2885). There is always a something neither "highly difficulty to define a precise hierarchy (1988, p. intellectual" or "aesthetically refined", 2574) since high and popular culture have were derived from the phrenological influenced each other and renewed themselves terms "highbrowed" and "lowbrowed" (1988, p. 2702). However, Levine adds that even if which were prominently featured in the hierarchy of expressive culture is no longer the nineteenth-century practice of dominant, it continues to be present in every determining racial types and discussion of culture (1998, p. 2889). As a result, it intelligence by measuring cranial is still relevant to apply the theories of cultural shapes and capacities (Levine, 1988, hierarchy to analyze Birdman, not because pp. 2550-2552). whether or not it is still true that expressive forms Building from that explanation, along with are stratified, but in order to analyze the other descriptions in Levine’s book, a number of distinctions that are made evident in Birdman. criteria have been compiled for of each category. Thus, Levine’s theory is applied here to Highbrows consist of forms which are identify how the hierarchy of expressive culture is aesthetically and intellectually refined (Levine, portrayed in Birdman and to the challenges to the 198, pp. 2550-2552, 2616, 2622), and enjoyed by determined hierarchy afterwards and relates them the elites or people who are highly educated to the reflection of the situation in the United (Levine, 1988, p. 398). Among the expressive States. forms classified as highbrows are the theatre, opera, symphonic music, and fine arts (Levine METHODS 1988, p. 972). In contrast, lowbrows refer to the popular culture. Lowbrows are the forms having The method of research in this paper is a questionable artistic merit (Levine, 1988, p. 390). library research. The primary data is the script of The forms considered as lowbrows are “the blues, Birdman. Furthermore, the secondary data, such jazz or jazz-derived music, musical comedy, as journal articles, books, newspaper articles, and photography, comic strips, movies, radio, popular magazine articles, are taken from the library to comedians” (Levine, 1988, p.