IN SEARCH OF THE REVEALING GESTURE: THE REAL AND THE ATTEMPTS AT ITS TRANSLATION IN JULIO CORTÁZAR'S “LAS BABAS DEL DIABLO” AND MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI'S BLOW-UP

Loaces G.R. · Metafora (2026) · DOI: 10.36286/mrlad.v3i6.262

Resumen

This essay analyzes the film Blow-Up (1966) by Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni and the short story “Las babas del diablo” by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar with the aim of explaining and reflecting on the dialogue established between these two artistic works regarding the conflictive relationship between the subject as a translator of the Real in Lacanian terms. After reviewing the adaptation character attributed to said film, it is proposed that said conflict and the resulting disorientation are present in two dimensions: on the one hand, in the relationship between the spectator's act of "seeing" and the gaze in Lacanian terms that is proposed in the film and in the short story; on the other hand, in the protagonists' obsession with the “truth” hidden behind the photographs they take. It concludes that Blow-Up and “Las babas del diablo” share the same spirit: a reflection on written and photographic language as symbolic tools in the attempt to grasp the Real.

Instituciones: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú