“That’s what you always do, you confuse love for admiration” In the dark comedy ‘Birdman’ by Alejandro Inarritu, we are presented with many different relationships throughout the film. It is through these relationships that we get a sense of the true nature of some of the main characters, and get to understand the importance of forgiveness. The main relationships we see in the film are between Riggan (The protagonist) and his daughter Sam, between Sam and Mike, and between Riggan and his alter-ego. Forgiveness is a great attribute to be able to obtain and have, but quite often throughout the film we see a certain lack of such an attribute. Riggan's relationship with his daughter Sam is in tatters. Riggan is portrayed through the eyes of Sam as a terrible father. One who would neglect her, and then try to make it up to her by calling her special when she was …show more content…
Because of Mike's polar opposite character traits to her father, Sam finds him attractive. He is Sams ‘get away’ from her father's narcissistic ways and she enjoys it. Mike’s admiration for Sam comes from a desperate desire to be innocent again. In a scene between the two on the rooftop, Sam asks Mike “truth or dare?”. Mike responds with ‘truth’. Sam asks “If you could do anything to me right now, what would you do?” Mike thinks about it then replies with “ I'd pull your eyes out of your head and put them in my own skull, and look around, so I could see the street the way I used to when I was your age”. He is referring to sam's innocent views on life and society. Mike despises the society that he lives in. He hates the narcissistic ways and would like to see the world without his view being tarnished by the people he sees all around him. The fact that this relationship is positive reinforces the need for forgiveness. Forgiveness is an extremely important aspect of a relationship and this one accentuates the lack of forgiveness in Riggan and Sam’s