It looks like I may have a few days in London coming up. This time, I’ve promised myself that I’ll take the camera to Maryon park in Woolwich–the site of the pivotal scene in the movie Blowup.
Has anybody been to this park recently? Does it look anything at all like it did in the movie? Did it ever? Antonioni was notorious for doing things like painting the grass in his films, so I wouldn’t be surporised if the park has always been completely different from how it looks on film. Are there even going to be any leaves on the bushes in November?
Finally, how busy is this park? I’m assuming it will be pretty empty during the week in autumn. Actually, I’m hoping it will be a little like Rome. You know how they have the fake gladiators hanging around the Colossseum waiting to pose for pictures? It’d be great if there was a fake gunman hanging around Maryon park who’d hide in the bushes while I took some photos. I’d gladly pay a few quid for that service.
OK, so you want to go to a nondescript park for Hollywoodesque reasons…ok…
Anyway, given you’ve got as far as Greenwich, you should at least check out the decent attractions…the Royal Observatory (yes you can stand across the Greenwich Meridian). and the Cutty Sark, an excellent exhibition of how the Briitsh Empire really did manage to rule the world…
“Hollywoodesque”? I’m not sure what you mean here. Blowup was released (via a subsidiary) by MGM, but I don’t think you can really call it a Hollywood film.
And, anyway, what’s wrong with visiting the place where a piece of art was produced? Lots of tourists go to see where Shakespeare staged his plays or to the “nondescript” house where Dickens wrote a few of his novels. So what’s wrong with visiting the spot where Antonioni shot one of the most famous scenes in 1960s cinema? Or is film too lowbrow for that?
Been there, done that.
Is it my imagination, or do the English sometimes get a little miffed when tourists stray from the “standard” attractions? I mean, the Tower of London is nice and all, but do I have go there every time I land at Heathrow?
Nothing at all, but if the place was your back yard when you were growing up it seems strange that anyone would deem it visit-worthy. I can’t see why Antonioni would choose Maryon Park when just up the road there is Shooters Hill which is way more interesting.
I’m sure we don’t mind where you go, and most of us would probably steer you *away * from the obvious destinations.
S.C. Who grew up in Woolwich and thinks Maryon Park is nothing special.
Anyway, sometimes the triviality of a landmark is the appeal. When my nephew visited Mr. Rilch and I in LA, he was less impressed with the stars on Hollywood Boulevard and the footprints in front of the Chinese Mann than he thought he’d be. But Back to the Future is one of his favorite films, and he was stoked beyond belief when Mr. Rilch casually mentioned that the street we were on (in our own neighborhood) was the same one Marty skateboarded down on his way to school at the start of the film.
I think the difference was that the stars and the footprints were put there for the purpose of being ogled by tourists, while that street, “with the Burger King and everything!” was an otherwise ordinary street, except that he’d seen it before in a different context, and here it was for real.
