FILM BLOW UP ANTONIONIS CONVENTIONS OF REALISM

Film Blow Up Antonionis Conventions of Realism



Film Blow Up Antonionis Conventions of Realism

Michelangelo Antonioni's film classic Blowup consciously addresses the fundamental problem of realism, the relationship between sign and meaning. The film works on two main levels, as narrative and as a theoretical reflection upon the epistemology of film. Antonioni began making films like Il Grido within the Italian neorealist film tradition, but he then made his name with modernist/postmodernist works like L'Avventura and Blowup. In an essay from 1964, he writes, During the post war period there was a great need for truth, and it seemed possible to photograph it from street corners. Today, neorealism is obsolete, in the sense that we aspire more and more to create our own reality. This criterion is even applied to film of a documentary character and to newsreels, most of which are produced according to a preconceived idea. Not cinema in the service of reality, but reality in the service of cinema(Kock, 1983,, 36).

There is the same tendency in feature films. I have the impression that the essential thing is to give a film an almost allegorical tone. This means that every person moves in an ideal direction, which is irrationally in agreement with everyone else's direction, until a meaning is formed that also includes the story being told, but that goes beyond it in intensity and freedom of solutions.

Here and in his other writings, Antonioni suggests that meaning is discovered in the creative process rather than being determined by a preformed authorial intentionality. The mimesis of empirical reality is subordinated to a collaborative process involving the audience and actors. Modernism follows realism in questioning the role of the artist as the origin of meaning, reflecting the larger problem of cultural authority in market society. He's also negotiating the purchase of an antique store in a seemingly deserted part of town, but Thomas insightfully notices a homosexual couple walking their dog, and he anticipates that the neighborhood will soon become fashionable, allowing him to sell or develop the property for a substantial profit. He sees a propeller at the antique store and immediately purchases it, realizing its value as a decoration for his studio(Mredal, 1993,, 93).

The Sixties represent an important phase in the evolution of market society, a new stage in the liberation of desire. His job involves being at the cutting edge of the newest market trends. Although he doesn't actually design the clothes that his models wear, he markets these clothes and fashions through his job. In the modern world, everyone is an artist of his or her own life, and Thomas provides a practical model of how to do so. He aggressively seeks out and creates the newest fashions. The point is not simply to accumulate wealth but to become the object of everyone's desire. The propeller, for example, doesn't have any great resale value, but it says something important about its owner. He's not afraid to take risks and do outrageous things ...