AS FILM STUDIES Section B: Cultural Study BLOW UP 1966 Antonioni

Movie Rapture analysis
Click on the above link for a review and analysis of the film.

Think about how Blow Up contrasts to A Hard Day's Night.  A Hard Day's Night looks like an advert for the decade -selling an idealistic world to an extent.  It is optimistic, upbeat, exciting, fun.  Blow Up is much darker and pessimistic.  The lead character (Thomas) and many of the other characters we meet are narcissistic, difficult to like, selfish and arrogant.  Remember the quote from Time Out stating how "ugly" and self-obsessed the swinging sixties was - perhaps Blow Up is an example of that.
The characters are very much a part of the sixties (fashion, music, relaxed attitude to sex and drug-taking).

We see the changing face of Britain; the new concrete tower blocks being built alongside the terraced housing, the students celebrating rag week, the street protestors, the gigs, the world of fashion and photography.  The characters are privileged middle class representations.
The style borrows from European cinema.  A counter-culture film challenging the conventional narrative of classic Hollywood cinema or mainstream cinema.

Compare music / concert scenes of the 2 films (Yardbirds and The Beatles - study crowd response and reasons for the different responses.)

Compare the subjects of the 2 films (The Beatles versus Thomas, the group versus the individual, the working class versus the middle class, the northerners versus the southerner).

Compare the narrative events of the 2 films.  Consider the content, the messages and the values.

Compare the genres of the 2 films.

Compare the pace of the 2 films and how they therefore reflect life in the sixties.

Consider the target audience for each of the films.