writing

My name is Caleb Michael Sarvis. I’m a writer, a thinker, and currently a self-reflective incubator. Welcome to a blog series in which I’ll be analyzing both the practical and interesting ways imaginary characters can play in fiction, including The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien, 2014’s Best Picture Winner Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), and other short fiction.

Reason, Dreams, and Conclusion

Hemingway, Carver, and other post-Enlightenment authors championed realism in its most literal sense. If art is the representation of real-life then art must be as close to real-life as possible. Angels don’t exist in real life. Tigers don’t associate with six-year old boys. A deer carcass doesn’t orchestrate an existential crisis. These claims are fallacies. If not for imagination, then we’d have no fictions. In his “First Manifesto on Surrealism,” Andre Breton argues that we mistakenly dismiss the significance of dreams. Like the imaginary character, Breton believes dreams are a clearer representation of what we desire, and as a result, the dreamer is a more content man, Continue reading “Creating a Functional Interest (Part 7) by Caleb Michael Sarvis” →

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

The role of the imaginary character as both a means of interest and functional character is evident in the screenplay for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo. Throughout the screenplay, Riggan Thompson, the protagonist, continually argues with his imaginary counter-part, Birdman, who appears to represent the younger, happier version of Riggan. Riggan is a fifty-five year-old actor that used to play the superhero Birdman in a franchise similar to that of Ironman or Captain America. Continue reading “Creating a Functional Interest (Part 4) by Caleb Michael Sarvis” →