Who blew up the house?
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thomas_nielsen72 — 19 years ago(October 08, 2006 07:08 PM)
It is so disturbing to read how ignorant and arrogant people can be. And to read their response to a movie which does not apply to the quality of their intelligence is even worse. How come some Americans are so blind to the views of other cultures and nationalities? Is it because these Americans, so absorbed in their own trivial lifes, think that the American way is the only way? ZP truly shows how wrong it is - and stupid!!! Like when the cops shot the leading actor in the plane. America as a whole is degrading, only protecting property of the rich, exploiting everything since the arrival of the pioneers, and protecting their own interests in any way possible. Remember that the nukes which took out Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not necessary for the Japan campaign. It was to show their might to the entire world. One which has turned "The American Dream" into a "Global Nightmare". Blowing up the house was in comparison to the contemporary propaganda footages of nuclear tests in Nevada, with multiple angles and high-speed cameras. I think he tried to get back at the American Way with the same strong visuals, reminding the audience of how fragile materialism is - and maybe urging them to find a more stabile future.
P.S: I am Danish! I'm sure some Americans will be enraged now, but I tell you what. My country is not to celebrate either. Espeially not now, where Danish culture and values are being interupted by neo-Capitalist, neo-Conservative, neo-Liberal and even neo-Fascist views of the American Dream. For me the movie is still as contemporary as it was back then - and Global. The world has truly stepped back a couple of steps, and it is time to learn the lesson and use inspiration such as this movie for a better future. BLOW UP THE HOUSE!!!
Muhahahaha -
ltarex — 18 years ago(December 10, 2007 11:34 AM)
I'm from Hungary. Some blonde American sl*t in "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" didn't even know it's a country!
Zabriskie Point was shot in their idiotic country, but they still cannot comprehend it. It's not my favourite Antonioni-film it's not even in my best 5 list of his films, but it's a great artistic vision far better than any that the US movie INDUSTRY made in the last decade. There isn't a single car chase, gunfight, rap "song" or CGI effect in it (although there is a WAY cool explosion!
) and it's not a remake, so Americans simply cannot understand this film.
"A voice from behind me reminds me. Spread out your wings you are an angel." -
fschuster — 18 years ago(December 30, 2007 09:45 PM)
The true purpose of the film to me seems to be to show that the hippies that could really bring effective change were those who made ART and NOT war just like the "pigs". Antonioni's point is not to glorify the student movement or the counterculture as many of you have already deduced, they were quite boring and just as clueless as the "straight" people. The true revolutionaries were those who saw BEYOND that and instead made beautiful art that transcends concept or entertainment and taps into a transcendental humane state of communion and understanding of the world separate from any ideological belief. Antonioni doesn't want you to "get" anything, you're just supposed to "look" at the movie, that's what's it's about, there's barely any dialogue and whatever is there is quite laughable and childish. This is a purely visual, cinematic exprience or expression from the filmmaker that does not only criticize western values (not just american) as a whole, but also the tactics of most of the counterculture's revolutionary upheavals.
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pninson — 17 years ago(April 07, 2008 10:30 PM)
ZP shows an accurate picture of America at the time as seen by Antonioni. Yes, the hippies and the "revolutionaries" didn't overthrow the consumer culture, and in fact were consumed by it. I think that's pointed out in the film. The house explodes and the air is filled with consumer products and then Daria turns and leaves. The house is still there.
Perhaps Antonioni wasn't saying that the hippies would rise and bring freedom to the Earth just that they thought that would happen. This is accurate. I was there, and young and dumb enough to think I had the answers. Now we're the biggest consumers of all.
But it's not as if nothing has changed. In a lot of ways the idealism of the 60s continues, even as the political culture has gone steadily downhill since 1968. Real change takes time.
We report, you decide; but we decide what to report. -
AlbertTheFlasher — 17 years ago(April 27, 2008 11:05 AM)
Comic Book Guy wrote:
"And yet, as history has shown, most of the Baby Boomer generation sold out in the 80's, trading in their VW microbuses for BMW's, their youthful idealism for traditional values and their socialism for captialism."
Here's a perfect example of this. Years ago I was watching a Best Of Phil Donahue clip show and they showed a 1969 clip of Donahue interviewing a typical hippie; he had bushy hair, a bushy mustache and a flowery shirt, if recall correctly, and I believe his name was Jerry. Anyway, he and Donahue started getting into an argument and he was saying something like "Like, hey man, I don't have to be on this plastic talk show with a plastic host like yourself!" Then they showed a 1984 clip of Jerry on the Donahue show again, but this time he had short hair, was clean shaven, and was wearing a business suit. They indicated that Jerry was now a successful stockbroker, and he was giving a speech to the audience on how yesterday's hippies are today's yuppies.
So I guess the attitude of the Baby Boomer generation eventually became "When we were radical youths, we did our best to change the world, had some great ideas, and we made our point. But now the time has come to grow up and face reality, and get on with our lives." -
WarpedRecord — 15 years ago(January 30, 2011 11:51 AM)
That would be Jerry Rubin, and though he sold out in the '80s like so many hippies and yippies did, he died doing the ultimate act of nonconformity: He was hit by a car while jaywalking. Some principles are just not worth fighting for, and some laws are good.
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creaturefeeture — 14 years ago(November 07, 2011 03:41 PM)
I just saw the film as very metaphorical. The explosion was a metaphor for the turmoil inside of her at that moment. She saw how her society valued trivial materialistic things like a plane over a human life, she saw how the people she was working for were selling a way of life that wasn't living, just consuming empty trivial things, and she was enraged.
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daniel_lalla — 9 years ago(November 20, 2016 12:22 PM)
Not so metaphorical - I find it explicitly calls out shallow American society, the destruction of the planet and resources for money, the Vietnam war and counter culture protests. I'm not sure the house blows up. After the music cuts, she calmly drives away and it's silent. I think it's imagined "ideal". And if America doesn't 'get' the film, it makes the point even more. I'd say the election of Trump is just a modern day example of ignorance and American greed, no matter the consequences.
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nextwooden — 14 years ago(December 16, 2011 12:59 AM)
This is who blew up the house:
http://www.imdb.com/board/20566729/
Duh!
"You paid for parking? For me?" -
Red_Barn — 13 years ago(June 16, 2012 02:45 PM)
The hotel/house was full of people wanting to exploit the planet, people who were the symbol of the mindset that puts property as more important than a human life. So in her mind, she blew it up. The film is named after an incredibly beautiful natural place, a place that the people in the hotel want to exploit for money. "They should build a drive-in here".
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jmillerdp — 9 years ago(November 20, 2016 12:54 AM)
To quote Big Jim McBob and Billy Sol Hurok of SCTV's "Farm Film Report and Celebrity Blow Up": "Woooo! That blow'd up good!" "Yeah, blow'd up real good!"
I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! [slurp!] I DRINK IT UP! - Daniel Plainview - There Will Be Blood -
elephuntingun — 9 years ago(November 20, 2016 05:21 PM)
I thought nobody blew up the house.
It looked like she was imagining it.
http://tinyurl.com/9-simple-easy-guacamole-recip