Vanishing Point is a term in art that refers to the point in the piece where most lines are drawing your eye too. The movie describes the point on the screen where there is a dodge charger doing 165mph.
The beginning of the movie gives us the false sense that movie will involve magical realism or something to that effect. There is a car chase with a couple of bulldozers and he turns around finds a car grave yard and then Sarafian gives us a still frame in which the car disappears. Weird right?
The white beauty of the movie is actually a suped up 1970 Dodge Charger. The car's technology has been advanced and sets the bar for other technology in the movie. We instantly get this fix of 165mph and how this is the kind of car that breaks records. The journey starts in Colorado and makes its way to California.
The first taste of the p0lice that we get in the movie are the motorcycle cops. There motorcycles cannot even begin to compare to the technology of the Dodge Charger.
As the movie progresses we see more cop cars and their prospective bases. The bases start out as extremely primitive and as the movie progresses the amount of technology increases along with the amount of close calls Kowalski has. The California base has tons of high tech, for the time period, devices and such in their base. The base is also run by mostly women and the occasionally old man. This modern base is supposed to stand out as a modern progressive technological marvel compared to all the other displays of technology that have tried to apprehend Kowalski up to this point.
There is one aspect that defies the technology and that is Super Soul. Super soul who still is a pawn to technology, to be able to communicate with Kowalski, but they also overcome the technology of the one way communication. Super Soul is able to read Kowalski through his 'Super Soul.' This relationship helps Kowalski to avoid the police and remain on the road. free. I couldn't find a picture, but there is a stop sign visible outside of Super Soul's window. 
A lot of the time we are left with these images of signs that tell people what to do on this long road that is supposed to symbolize freedom. Kowalski ignores these signs, just as much as Super Soul ignores the one outside of his window.Vanishing point is a great movie for someone looking for speed, technology, and naked women. The next step to this movie would be the 2007 film tansformers. How much cooler would this movie had been if the cars started fighting each other! til next time!
I enjoyed your aspect which you decided to write about which was technology. I never really put much thought into that aspect and how insane a '70 (i think it was a challenger) really is compared to the police cars(which I think were also Chrysler products) and how much ass a challenger would kick.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the whole talk about technology within the film I never really thought of the car as being this super machine that the cops were just not able to catch because they were not as advanced as Kowalski was. now that I think back to when I was watching the film, I do remember getting the sense that this car that he was driving seemed to be godly in a way...just unstoppable to bad it exploded haha. anyway I really liked this post nice comparison.
ReplyDeleteI like how you chose a topic other than the ones we’ve been discussing to center your blog on. I, like other people have been saying, didn’t even think about this aspect of the film and will definitely have to re-watch it to fully understand and realize some of the points you bring up. This idea of progression is really intriguing, and I like how you’ve pointed out that this progression is representative of and comments on our society as much as it builds up the tension and drama of the film.
ReplyDeleteI also liked your comment about Super Soul and the stop sign outside of his window. When you mentioned this in class, I thought that it was a very accurate observation. I may be too much of a film geek but it always feels good to hear or realize something about a film, even if it’s the smallest detail, that seems as if it was consciously put in there by the filmmakers to say something more than what is clearly shown on the surface.
Very interesting that you chose to focus on the technology! Also, as I've responded to many of your other blogs, you really seem to notice small thing about these films that are important that people like me inevitably miss, like the stop signs. I also really like that, to go along with your point, you said that in a way Super Soul goes against the technology of the rest of the movie. Kowalski ignores the stop signs, and Super Soul can't see them to begin with-- both of them go against the grain to try to achieve some sense of freedom.
ReplyDeleteWow. Very interesting, and very good. I was noticing a lot of odd details about technology this time--the cold war high tech police station (which was surreal after Dr. Strangelove), the oil derricks or whatever they were that the girl ran past when she was rescued from being raped, the oddly ridiculous and ineffectual motorcycles, and yes the mystical white Challenger. I liked your point about Supersoul's anti-technology too (though he does use radio technology to talk to Kowalksi). There's an essay here, and a good one. Maybe you could do your final on technology and cinematography, if you don't have other plans already? I'd really like more on this topic.
ReplyDeleteI'd have liked to see you pull the reading in though, with its points about the highway system. It works with what you seem to be going for.