Ninth International Conference on The Image

Abstract

The construction and reception of visual images are very different in Still Photography and Cinema, yet both art forms contain a degree of self-reflexivity. In particular, Alfred Hitchcock & Michelangelo Antonioni both narrativize still photography in remarkably similar ways in their respective analysis of Scopophilia in Rear Window and Blow-up, respectively. Both films focus on still photographer protagonists who believe they have seen evidence of a murder through their lenses. Their respective attempts to prove the reality of their ambiguous observations lead to deeper and deeper revelations about how to create and read visual images. In addition, the photographer protagonists both can be seen as self-referential avatars for their respective filmmakers.