Amanda: Blow Up

I thought the concept of the film was interesting, and certainly evokes many ideas and topics of conversation. The thought that perception and reality do not necessarily align is a gateway to thousands of questions, thus this film left many things unanswered and open to the interpretation on the individual. This tactic was very useful in blurring the line of perception and reality, yet in doing so, the story line was choppy and harder to connect with in certain parts.

One of the main aspects of the film that stuck out to me the most was the brief role of the two young girls. Their sudden appearance breaks up the main storyline of the film, and initially left me confused and upset that Thomas’ detective work was being interrupted. It wasn’t until his flat was broken into and the photos were stolen that I realized what was really happening in his interaction with them. The appearance of the young girls marks a large shift in the film’s direction, when all the clues come to a halt and the main character reverts back into his original state. Not only does this scene change the direction of the story, it is full of a lot of symbolism regarding the current and possible future situation for Thomas.

The most obvious of these symbolic moments was the very bizarre moment of tearing down the backdrop in the studio. Typically, backdrops serve as a means of controlling lighting, emphasizing certain colors, manipulating depth of field and preventing any scenery from taking away from the main focus of a photograph. When this happens in the movie Thomas doesn’t get mad, he laughs and joins in. The tearing of the backdrop could possibly be seen as his surrender of control, and his realization that not all situations can be manipulated in a studio under his direction, and that the real world is quite different outside of the shelter he had created for himself. The foundation or point of reference of his life is shifting and rather than turning away, he joins in. I took this as a representation of his realization of a world outside his camera, and his dark room, and overall area of comfort.

I can certainly understand his perception being defined through his camera lens, and am guilty of doing the same. In fact, one of the aspects that attract me most to photography is that it allows you to show others the way in which you perceived and interpreted something, and it allows them to reflect on their perception, and dialogue about the differences. The great thing about photographs is that the photographer can set a mood or send a message through an image without ever saying a word, creating an unspoken connection. It fascinates me that hundreds of people can take hundreds of different images of the same object, and on the other hand those same people will derive hundreds of different messages from one single image. Although this is a great form of expression and an exciting art form, it can also lead to misunderstanding and illusion, as we see in the film.

Overall Thomas struggles with his role as a photographer, and his role in society throughout the film. I believe that he purposefully did not take this camera to the park the first time after the shooting because he was still in denial about it and was afraid that taking a picture would make it real. This would then lead to questions of morality and responsibility, which is far from the fantasy world that can be created in a dark room. When he loses the images and reality is questioned in his own mind, and this connection that he had with something outside himself is taken. He is then very eager to take a picture, and to later show his friend the body, to ensure that what he felt in those moments racing back and forth to the dark room was real, because he is no longer sure that the events actually took place. The film maker purposefully does not conclude the story in order to leave the fate of the photographer in the audience’s hands. To me, the fact that Thomas disappears in the last second suggests that the filmmaker wanted viewers to question their possible illusions in perception and motives of escape from the “real world” in order to overcome them and find actual truth and reality.