Last time in Donna and Eric's film class, we watched Blowout, directed by DePalma and starring John Travolta. In summation of the film, John Travolta's character, a sound guy for a C-movie production company, witnesses and records the sound for a high-profile car accident resulting in the death of a presidential candidate. Travolta's character discovers that the accident was no accident at all, but rather an assassination by John Lithgow. Travolta then attempts to make the assassination public, aided by the candidate's would-be blackmailer.
Throughout the film, DePalma makes cinematic references to multiple iconographic directors. Beautifully smooth dolly shots and extreme closeups mark DePalma's adoration of Alfred Hitchcock. DePalma's use of suspense also rings familiar with Hitchcock fans. DePalma is also a fan of Italian director Antonioni. Antonioni's 1960s film Blowup not only sounds similar to Blowout, but also has a similar plot. In the everyday, this would be called either cheap or plagiarism. However, in the film world, this is called an homage. This eerily familiar setup is intentional and used to pay tribute to a respected director. It is used to signify that a director respects work that has been done. In DePalma's case with Blowout, the similarities are too numerous and blatant to be anything but intentional.
Throughout the film, DePalma makes cinematic references to multiple iconographic directors. Beautifully smooth dolly shots and extreme closeups mark DePalma's adoration of Alfred Hitchcock. DePalma's use of suspense also rings familiar with Hitchcock fans. DePalma is also a fan of Italian director Antonioni. Antonioni's 1960s film Blowup not only sounds similar to Blowout, but also has a similar plot. In the everyday, this would be called either cheap or plagiarism. However, in the film world, this is called an homage. This eerily familiar setup is intentional and used to pay tribute to a respected director. It is used to signify that a director respects work that has been done. In DePalma's case with Blowout, the similarities are too numerous and blatant to be anything but intentional.
I thought it was really interesting to watch the entire movie Blow Out and not realize that de Palma had taken 99% of the movies shots and ideas from previous films and directors. However, he still managed to do it in a way that made it his own. :)
ReplyDeleteVery much so. I find it endearing and utterly fascinating that De Palma lets all his influences be out there so utterly nakedly ... it's like a peek inside his head.
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