Blow-Up - AHB

As a preface, it is interesting to me that "Blow-Up" has been blogged about more than any of the other films. This may be a matter of accessibility in terms of film structure and style. "Blow-Up" feels similar to Hollywood movie but it is also unique in many aspects.

One things that I found interesting in the film is the photographer's paranoia (let's call him "Bloke" from now on). It is not too important which of the events that he saw actually took place, in his mind it was all real. I just finished reading "Othello" for the first time. Shakespeare's classic has some interesting parallels with this film in terms of the human perception of reality. Obviously the key difference lies in Shakespeare's character Iago. He is the one who creates the entire problem in Othello so that he can depose the great Moor. It is through his chicanery that he convinces Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio, and Othello goes mad with jealousy even though Desdemona was always a paragon of marital fidelity.

"Blow-Up" deals with similar themes of paranoia but there are no secondary roles. Like we discussed after the film, Bloke subconsciously invents all of the drama as a way of injecting purpose in his life. It is clear that he is tragically bored with his art and the women that constantly surround him. The symbol of him buying a propeller could be taken as a sign of the missing part of his life, propulsion. It is dangerously depressing to become bored with everything in one's life. Perhaps the mind had to create the murder just to inject order back into the process.