Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (analysis)

**** SPOILERS ****
Here is my take on “The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance”. It is explained and owned by Dickinson (the theatre reviewer character). It’s the title of her review that was so feared by Riggan before she ever wrote it. And it explains Riggan’s dichotomy.

Dickinson defines Riggan as a personification of Hollywood:

….I hate you. And everyone you represent. Entitled. Spoiled. Selfish. Children. Blissfully untrained, unversed and unprepared to even attempt real art. Handing each other awards for cartoons and pornography. Measuring your worth in weekends. Well, this is the theater, and you don’t get to come in here and pretend you can write, direct and act in your own propaganda piece without going through me first.

She’s telling him he is ignorant and she’s thinking he doesn’t even know it (he’s an untrained child). Ignorance becomes a “virtue of ignorance”, but it’s only virtuous when she sees he is actually honest in his performance and direction of the play.

Honesty is a virtue in acting. I think it is the thing that most divides Hollywood/film from theatre. The simplest thing can be honesty. It is possible to transcend both film and theatre as some great actors do. You might not expect that of an untrained, Hollywood comic book character player with no theatre background.

Riggin’s ‘virtue of ignorance’ is his ‘innocence’ (as a beginner on the stage), an unexpected innocence. I would add that the dichotomy between film and theatre is another strong recurring theme and mirrors Riggin’s own inner conflict of Divided Self and Disunity.

As Mike also eludes to it:

Do you have any idea who walked these boards before you? Geraldine Page, Marlon Brando, Helen Hayes, Jason Robards… And now you. Riggan Thomson.

And again later:

….Your stage? This stage belonged to a lot of great actor’s, pal. But you are not one of them.

Perhaps it is the explicit reflection of the implicit film/theatre disunity subtext that we also see personified in Riggan’s conversations with the Hollywood Birdman. If Riggin were to embrace and understand Dickinson’s meanings, he might come to terms with, and conquer his internal disunity. Perhaps her review was a letter to him.

As an aside, the film/theatre theme is carried out in the execution of the film itself. We watch Birdman, a movie shot in the style of theatre, where actors play out scenes in one uncut take as they would on the stage. This is the greatest advantage of the fluid Steadicam, no-cut, no-coverage, continuous take style. I think it should be the norm and not the exception when actors are involved.

Who are you?

Yes?

Is this Larry?

Who's calling?

I'm Wendy Ferguson, with Mutual Applied Assistance Care. We show you listed at 458 Temple Boulevard in Akron Ohio. Is that correct?

I don't know you and I never heard of mutual whatever.

Yes. Well we show that you have a balance of 35,886.51 on you college loan. Can we make some kind of arrangement to get this paid off?

I never made any loans with Mutual anyone.

Well, trust me sir. You do have an outstanding balance.

Trust you? Can I see your ID?

Well we're on the phone here.

OK, well email it to me.

Sir, I can't email you my ID.

Why not?

Look that's not the way we do business. I can't send you my personal information.

But you have my personal information, don't you?

Yes.

And I never heard of you.

Sir Mutual is a well respect agency accredited by the federal government as a loan collection agency.

So what? How do I know you're not lying? How do I know you really are Wendy whatever? How do I know your company even exists?

Well I assure you, any information you give me is kept in strict confidence. Our company does exist, and I am Wendy.

Really? Tell you what. How about you send me a copy of the loan agreement with my signature between me and Mutual.

Sir, I don't have that readily available. I can send you a copy of the information I do have in front of me.

Does it contain my signature?

No.

Well there you go. Any legal agreement for a loan requires signatures of both parties, does it not?

Sir this is not a legal call. I simply wish to make payment arrangements.

Tell you what. Tell me what you're wearing.

What?

Yeah, you heard me.

Sir this is inappropriate. I will have to report you if you continue.

Go ahead. report me. What color is your underwear?

I'm sorry I will have to terminate this call. Good-bye.

Have a nice day.

Mad Men Ending

Of course Don forsakes human interaction and love for fellow man by selling out to a Coke ad. That is completely in his character and certainly to be expected. No doubt, you along with most everyone was holding out for hope that Don comes to an epiphany, even to the point of suicide, because killing off the proverbial ad man, in his own realization that what he does has no substance except to subvert human growth into tooth decay and obesity (Coke by products), would be the most humane thing we could do for society.

And I liked Don. But he was never better than after he dumped his ad man life. Going back to it is a fate worse than death.

Of course he will ultimately fittingly die of cancer, just as he suffers for his wife at the hands of ad men like himself (they sold and still sell nicotine, yo). No ad men. No smoking. No cancer. And that's what Hollywood is all about. Happy endings at any cost. It makes the execs happy.

But ironically in this case, it exposes the reality of 70's hype that killed what the sixties stood for. And that is why it’s a great ending. It is truth. It is exactly what happens and what did happen. And you call that upbeat? Get cancer and see how upbeat it is.

got healthcare?

Full Movie:

The Perfect Smile

Are you a dentist?

No. But I do suggest getting some dental work as well. After all, what good is your smile if your teeth look bad.

My teeth look like teeth.

Yes of course. But just a few improvements here and there would help.

Ok. Forget the teeth.  What can you do for me.

First I must suggest you try every avenue you can to have your smile without any of the contrivances we provide.

What? Therapy?

Therapy, yes. But also, a vacation can help. Some people find peace in faith, spirituality, meditation...

I'm not religious in the organizational big money church sense.

No, I understand. Spirituality has nothing to do with religion. It's internal and personal. That's why I mention meditation.

You're saying to believe in myself.

Believe in yourself.

Ok. I get it. I do believe in myself. I'm spiritual. But in the corporate world, it's all about a false front. There is no honesty. It's all about face time, and anytime is face time. You close your eyes and meditate for 20 minutes; people will think you're on drugs or something.

Well that's why we're here.

So will this be permanent?

I think so.

You think so?

We haven't had anyone go through the procedure long enough to determine how long it will last. 

Oh great.

Not to worry, we do have a guarantee.  We think it will stay with you for at least five years.  After that, things may revert back. But I highly doubt it. Five years of the procedure will probably alter your internal muscle memory and you'll become so used it that it will stay with you. My theory is that it would take another five years to wear off.

Look, all I need is to get hired and maybe established for a few years. I'll worry about the rest when the time comes. So what is it that you do exactly?

In simple terms it the latest in plastic surgery. But we don't like to use that term. We call it physical mirroring. In other words, you will look as good as you feel, or want to feel, as the case may be.

Alright. You're going to plant a permanent smile on my face like The Joker.

Yes. That's very funny.

But specifically what are you going to do?

Plant a permanent smile on your face like The Joker.

Ha.

We will reshape your face, give you a permanent smile. Pull up your eyebrows a bit depending on what kind of look you're going for.

Oh right. I'm kind of torn between the wide eyed girl and the sultry lady.

Yes. Well those are very different looks. Perhaps somewhere in between.

You can do that?

Oh sure. And with the just the least bit of effort you will easily transfer from one look to another. One minute the bright eyed girl. The next minute the sultry lady.

Oh that sounds wonderful. That's exactly what I was hoping to do. Are there any side effects?

Well, climbing the corporate ladder, we hope. But seriously, nothing that mild medication couldn't help.

Mild medication?

Well if you prefer, a few shots or drinks after work, and even during if you can sneak it by. Maybe a joint at lunch, if that's your thing.

Sounds like going back to college.

There you go. Just let go of yourself. No more worries. No matter what stress or internal misery you're experiencing, you'll look like the happiest person on earth on the outside.

How about cost?

We do offer a payment plan through our credit affiliate.

Of course you do.

Moneyball, Written by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin

The Scott Hatteberg walk off scene.
This is a very typical sports underdog makes good scene, with a winning move at the climax of the movie. What’s interesting with Moneyball is that it’s main premise is that very thing, how overlooked underdogs actually have talent that can make all the difference. There is very little dialogue. Though we see the coach have to coax Hatte out to bat. Hatte isn’t expecting this at all. The build up is great. And in fact, it’s this sudden lack of dialog that makes us pay attention and gives the feeling of suspense and anticipation. Note that in the locker room Billy watches a MUTED TV, adding lack of sound to the lack of dialogue. There is something to be said for silence.

EXT. OAKLAND COLISEUM FIELD – NIGHT – BOTTOM OF THE 9TH 152

The scoreboard shows us that it’s still tied in the bottom of the ninth. Nobody’s out. DYE grabs a bat and walks to the plate. Then, inexplicably, Howe turns to-

ART
Hattie. Grab a bat.

SCOTT HATTEBERG actually points to himself and mouths, Me?

ART
Let’s go.

SCOTT pulls a bat from the rack and heads to the on-deck circle. He only manages a warmup pitch or two before –

INT. WEIGHT ROOM
Billy is watching on a muted television as he sees Dye fly out to right field. As Hatte approaches the plate, he kills the TV.

EXT. OAKLAND COLISEUM – SAME TIME
As ROY STEELE’s booming voice echoes:

VOICE OF GOD
Pinch hitting for Eric Byrnes–Scott
Hatteberg.

Scott’s wife, ELIZABETH, watches from the VIP seats. She clutches her face. SCOTT lets the first pitch go by.

UMPIRE
Ball!

Art Howe looks like he can’t stand it any longer. In the dugout, Koch looks like a psychopath ready to kill.
SCOTT steps out of the box to catch his breath. He steps back in and stares at the exact spot in space he thinks the pitch will leave the pitcher’s hand.

The pitch. SCOTT swings.

Crack! 55,000 erupt. The A’s leap to the front of the dugout steps and watch.

We see the ball ascending on a strong trajectory, but before we can know for sure where it’s headed, TIME SLOWS TO A CRAWL-

INT. WEIGHT ROOM – SAME TIME 155

BILLY’s sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, trying to breathe. He looks like he’s in pain. He can’t move.

He hears the crowd ERUPT outside. His Blackberry buzzes: “hatte homered. a’s 12, ryls 11″
Billy flips on the TV. With sound off, he watches silent images of his team swarming the mound in (archival footage) mixed in with Art Howe celebrating with them.

EXT. OAKLAND COLISEUM – SAME TIME

The place is going crazy. ELIZABETH is screaming as she watches her husband get mauled by his teammates at the plate.

Hacker World: Did you hear about the Sony hack?

That was you?

Hey, I was just having some fun man.

You busted open a major corporation. It must be worth billions.

What'd they ever do for me?

Look man, you could get jacked up for this. They think it's an entire Asian country that did it. This could start a nuclear war, man.

I can't help what the government does. If they start a war, they were going to do it anyway. This just gives them a scapegoat to blame it on.

Not cool man. Why you wanna be a freakin' goat?

I don't. But that's what they do. And this is what I do.

Man, you could bring down a lot of movies.

They suck anyway.

You should take a powder to Mexico or something till the heat dies down. Didn't you see what happened to that snow boy guy?

He hacked into the government. This is Hollywood. The government hates Hollywood. They'd probably give me a medal.

Yeah. I don't see anyone paying much attention.

There you go.

Look you can't talk about this to anyone. You can't text about it, email or anything.

Lighten up man. Don't be so paranoid. If they actually come after me, it means they don't have a freakin' clue. It will prove how retarded they all actually are.

Man, what's with you? Is this a vendetta or something?

You mean like the mask? Like "Anonymous?"

No. I'm not that stupid. I mean how dumb do people have to be to think a group called Anonymous exists and actually takes credit as an organization which is the exact opposite of what anonymous means?

It's genius. Isn't it? Any hacker can hack up a post that claims responsibility as "Anonymous," which throws off suspicion on real hackers and makes people think there's some kind of terrorist organization around. It's what people live for. It gets their blood circulating. And the news media eats it up. A perfect cover, with built in publicity and perpetration. Plus amateurs actually claim membership. Imagine.

Yes, and then get caught. This is what I mean. You can't go around talking like that.

Give it up man. Anyone who hears me will think I'm looney. In fact, I should probably talk it up as much as possible. What ever happened to "Anonymous" anyway? They seemed to have conveniently disappeared into thin air, and replaced by some newcomer called Guardians of Peace. Isn't that convenient as the name of a terrorist organization possibly connected to an act of war?

I suppose Anonymous finally decided to remain anonymous. God, I hope I don't have to bail you out, assuming they even allow bail.

Hey. There is no evidence. Nothing. It's the beauty of it. It disappears into thin air. The snow boy just has too big an ego and had to get his face in the papers.

They don't make papers anymore.

You know what I mean. He's all about vanity, ego, fame. I wonder if he stashed a fortune away somewhere before he decided to go all martyr.

Maybe he's actually proud. In most countries, he's a world hero. But you won't be. There's nothing heroic about hacking into a movie studio.

Hey, the extreme right loves it. How do you know it isn't one of them?

You're a closet right wing extremist?

No man. But why do you believe me when I say I did it, which by the way, I never said?

Yes you did, You said...

I said I was having fun. I never said if I did any hacking, was any kind of participant, or anything concrete. And if I did, all that is, is my words. There is no evidence.

Yes. You keep saying that.

Ok. I don't know it for sure. But I think it's quite obvious that if there were evidence they'd have the guy, or girl, by now. Unless it's a hoax or some kind of plant.

You mean like goat-scaping for war.

War is a huge business. That kind of money will drive people to try anything. If they can sell a war, you can bet they'll do it. We're talking tens, maybe hundreds of trillions.

I hate it when you make perfect sense. I hate you.

No. You love me because I just gave you an education.

Want to go out?

I'm tired. Been working all day.

I've been couped up in here all day. I want to go out.

Fine. So go out.

Fine. I will.

Fine.

Fine.

Fine, I'll wash up. Maybe a shower will make me feel better.

Need any help?

Mmmm. Well, yeah. But then we'll never get out of here.

Ok. Fine.

I didn't mean...

No. No. That's Ok. Take your shower. By yourself!

Fine! I will!

Fine!


....Feel better?

Yeah. Anything else you need to do? Wash the dishes? Do the laundry? Dust the blinds?

Ok. I'm sorry. Let's go.

Where are we going?

Where do you want to go?

I don't know. Where do you want to go?

It was your idea to go out.

Fine. We'll stay home.

I just took a shower.

Oh. So you only take showers when we go out, in case you see a hot girl?

No. Come on.

Oh yes you do. Like that time we were at Jake's and that woman with the skirt up her ass walks by and drops a spoon and bends over to pick it up? I thought you were going to fall out of your chair.

No I wasn't.

Everyone else saw you look at her too.

Hey. Can I help it if she made a spectacle of herself?

You didn't have to look.

What was I supposed to do? Make believe she wasn't there?

Yes.

Ok. Fine. Next time I won't look. I'm sorry. So you want to stay in then?

No. I want to go out. I've been couped up here all day. All week. You spend the whole day out there doing stuff. I'm stuck here.

I work all day. I'm not out having fun.

Oh really? You don't pal around with your friends or that girl, Angela.

Angela? How do you know about Angela?

Oh. So there is something going on. What is it? An office affair? You guys do it in a closet or something?

What? No. I hardly ever even see her.

But when you do, I'll bet it's hot and heavy for at least three minutes.

When did you ever hear about Angela?

You told me about her. She has a husband. They have an open marriage. They always talk about science and technology.

Oh yeah. Right.

Is that what you want, an open marriage?

What? No. I just thought it was interesting.

Well guess what mister? It ain't gonna happen. You want to have sex with other women then just go do it.

I don't want to have sex with other women.

So you're gay?

I don't fucking believe this conversation. Let's go out somewhere.

Where?

How about a gay bar?

Oh. So you know where all the gay bars are.

Yeah. Right.

I knew it! I see how all those gay guys looks at your with their gaydar.

Really? They do?

Yeah. You look good.

Oh great. Just what I need.

Women look at you too.

No they don't.

Why do you think that girl dropped her spoon in front of you. You guys are unbelievable. A woman has to sit on your face before you get the message.

What am I supposed to do?

Take me out once in a while.

Ok. So lets go.

Ok.

Fine.

It's raining.

Oh yeah. I forgot. That hurricane's supposed to hit.

Everything will be closed.

Great.

You took a shower for nothing.

No. I feel better. And I like staying in with you after being out working all week.

You want to stay in and I want to go out.

I'll take you out. Come on.

What are we going to do? Drive around in the rain in a ghost town. Everybody left for higher ground.

So if you knew that, why did you want to go out?

Because I'm couped up in here all week.

So lets go out and watch the hurricane.

Isn't it dangerous?

Nah. It could be dangerous here.

That's why everyone left town.

The hurricane lost a lot of ground. It's only gusting to like 65 miles per hour. It's not going to kill us.

Well lets wait it out and see if it passes by.

The cable is out.

Oh great. Where's that stupid beeping message that comes on in the middle of a movie?

Probably the people who made it somewhere safe, hundreds of miles away, are getting it.

Must be exciting for them.

Maybe we can go out and find one of those newscasters being blown around in the wind.

L.A. Car Chase

And now breaking news as we cut to Roger Irvine in our News 27 chopper. Roger?

Roger Shirley. What you are looking at is some poor lost soul sucker about to have this head beat in when we cut to commercial right after he gets caught. Whoa! Did you see that?

We sure did Roger. How fast do you think he’s going there?

Well Shirley, I’d say 97.3 to 99.2 miles an hour, definitely.

So he’s almost able to keep up with the people in the HOV lanes.

That’s right Shirley.

Roger, is he a white guy? He kind of looks like a white guy.

Yes, Shirley I think he is indeed. Once he’s caught we’ll be able to get more info after the cops beat it out of him, for sure. But yeah. Looks white.

Of course that would mean he’d be white trash then.

Oh absolutely. No typical self infatuated self entitled money grubbing white guy would dare to get caught up in a chase like this. Image is everything. You know Shirley, having money in the bank to make life easy makes all the difference.

Absolutely Roger. I know I could never get by with less than the low seven figures I pull in. And you do a nice healthy six figures too.

Absolutely Shirley. I don’t understand why anyone, especially a white guy like this, can’t pull themselves up by the bootstraps and get a job selling useless Obamacarea, balloon payment loans, or something. I mean if he were black or brown we’d expect as much.

That’s right Roger. As you know the majority of the prison population is black and male. What do you suppose drives people to drive like this Roger?

Well, beats me. The guy must be a looney tune. But I’m sure that beating the shit out of him will straighten him right up and send him off to jail where he can get the skills of real criminals.

Roger I see the police are holding back. Why don’t they deploy a spike strip or something?

Well Shirley, a spike strip at 95 miles an hour might cause one hell of a crash into a lot of cars besides the one the driver is in.

Right Roger. I remember the time they tried something like that and a young boy got killed.

Live and learn. Kill and learn. That’s right Shirley. Very bad PR for the cops and PR is all important you know. They have to be very careful to avoid being seen as racist or sadistic.

Well thank God for commercials. Ha ha.

These guys live for this stuff. They spend years waiting around doing boring police work, writing tickets and whatnot. And then one day the call comes. It’s huge adrenaline rush. Drugs can’t beat t.

And I just love the pretty flashing lights, and the sirens. Oh so sexy.

Shirley it looks like he’s cornered. Yup. The car has stopped. He’s on foot. Looks like the cops are catching up to him right now…

Roger, sorry to interrupt. We have to go to a commercial and we’ll be right back with more breaking news on the car chase coverage on the poor white guy.

Quit

Joe vs the Volcano, by John Patrick Shanley:
INT. ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT – DAY
Joe comes in. Dede is typing away. Mr. Waturi is on the phone. Joe hangs up his coat. He misses with the hat again because of Dede’s typing. He leans over and switches the typewriter off. Then he picks up his hat, dusts it off and throws it in the garbage can.

WATURI
(on phone)
No. No. You were wrong. He was wrong. Who said that? I
didn’t say that. If I had said that, I would’ve been
wrong. I would’ve been wrong, Harry, isn’t that right?

Mr. Waturi’s attention is split between his call and Joe, who is walking around the office like a tourist.

WATURI
Listen, let me call you back, I’ve got something here, okay?
And don’t tell him anything till we finish our conversation, okay?

Mr. Waturi hangs up the phone. Joe is looking at the coffee set-up.

WATURI
Joe?

JOE
Yeah?

WATURI
You were at lunch three hours.

JOE
About that.

Joe wanders away, into his office. Waturi looks after.

INT. JOE’S OFFICE – DAY
Joe is staring at the big wheel valve sporting the sign that says Main Drain. Mr. Waturi comes in as Joe moves forward and, with great effort, rotates the wheel to its opposite extreme. This scares Waturi.

WATURI
Joe, what are you doing?

JOE
I’m opening, or closing, the main drain.
Nothing happens.

WATURI
You shouldn’t be touching that.

JOE
Nothing happened. Do you know how long I’ve been wondering
what would happen if I did that?

WATURI
What’s the matter with you?

JOE
Brain cloud.

WATURI
What?

JOE
Never mind. Listen, Mr. Waturi. Frank. I quit.

Joe starts to take some stuff out of his desk. He looks at his lamp, gets the cord, plugs it in, and turns it on.

WATURI
You mean, today?

JOE
That’s right.

WATURI
That’s great. Well, don’t come looking for a reference.

JOE
Okay, I won’t.

WATURI
You blew this job.

Joe takes in the little room.

JOE
I’ve been here for four and a half years. The work I did I
probably could’ve done in five, six months. That leaves
four years leftover.

He’s been filling up a shopping bag with stuff from his desk: three books (Romeo and Juliet, Robinson Crusoe and The Odyssey), an old ukulele and his lamp. Now he’s finished. He walks out of the room without even looking at Waturi. Waturi goes after him as he exits.

Joe is walking towards the front door. Waturi follows him in. Joe stops at Dede’s desk. She’s typing. He looks at her. She stops typing.

JOE
Four years. If I had them now. Like gold in my hand.
Here. This is for you. (gives Dede the lamp)
‘Bye-bye, Dede.

DEDE
You’re going?

WATURI
Well, if you’re leaving, leave. You’ll get your check.
And, I promise you, you’ll be easy to replace.

JOE
I should say something.

WATURI
What are you talking about?

JOE
This life. Life? What a joke. This situation. This room.

WATURI
Joe, maybe you should just…

JOE
You look terrible, Mr. Waturi. You look like a bag of shit
stuffed inna cheap suit. Not that anyone would look good
under these zombie lights. I can feel them sucking the
juice outta my eyeballs. Three hundred bucks a week, that’s
the news. For three hundred bucks a week I’ve lived in
this sink. This used rubber.

WATURI
Watch it, mister! There’s a woman here!

JOE
Don’t you think I know that, Frank? Don’t you think I’m
aware there’s a woman here? I can taste her on my tongue. I
can smell her. When I’m twenty feet away, I can hear
the fabric of her dress when she moves in her chair. Not
that I’ve done anything about it. I’ve gone all day, every
day, not doing, not saying, not taking the chance for
three hundred bucks a week, and Frank the coffee stinks
it’s like arsenic, the lights give me a headache if the
lights don’t give you a headache you must be dead,
let’s arrange the funeral.

WATURI
You better get outta here right now! I’m telling you!

JOE
You’re telling me nothing.

WATURI
I’m telling you!

JOE
And why, I ask myself, why have I put up with you? I
can’t imagine but I know. Fear. Yellow freakin’ fear.
I’ve been too chicken shit afraid to live my life so I
sold it to you for three hundred freakin’ dollars a
week! You’re lucky I don’t kill you! You’re lucky I don’t
rip your freakin’ throat out! But I’m not going to and maybe
you’re not so lucky at that. ‘Cause I’m gonna leave you
here, Mister Wa-a-Waturi, and what could be worse than that?

Joe opens the door and leaves. Mr. Waturi and Dede are frozen. The door reopens and Joe comes halfway back in.

JOE
Dede?

DEDE
Yeah?

JOE
How ’bout dinner tonight?

DEDE
Yeah, uh, okay.

Joe smiles for the first time since we’ve met him, and closes the door again.

DEDE
Wow. What a change.

WATURI
Who does he think he is?

Notes: The first thing that strikes me is the honesty of the character in the dialog, basically merging the subtext with the action. He says what he thinks and feels. Usually this might be considered too ‘on the nose’ type of dialog. But it works here because we want to see him tell off his boss. Otherwise that tension of Joe needing to release, might take some other form, such as going postal or taking it out on someone else.

And he doesn’t do this at first. He’s about to walk out. But then he decides he will have it out. The whole time he walks around, the prelude to the monologue, we feel the building of tension. Something is going on inside and we don’t know what it is. But we can guess it has to do with his facing death and realizing how he’s wasted his time at this place (or maybe he’s just lost it). When he does talk, it comes out like some kind of classic scripture or epiphany about the meaning of what little time we have in our lives.

This scene marks the turning point that propels Joe into the adventure of the rest of the movie.
In a later scene Joe sits in amazement of the life he’s apparently missed and his companion Patricia remembers her father saying that most people in the world are asleep except for a very few who live in constant amazement. Here again we have a scriptural, spiritual sort of statement about life.
John Patrick Shanley also wrote Moonstruck which has life changing event themes as well. I think he is highly underrated.