The Decline of the American Empire (1986)

Blowing Up is an honest, down-to-earth representation of grief and how battling it affects people differently. Director A.J. Fitzgerald paints us a vivid picture of Janine’s perspective—her grappling with her grief as society urges her to move on even when she’s not ready to do so. The blow-up doll is an interesting and clever metaphor—showing how Jan’s been bottling everything up, becoming a husk of a person because when she’d spoken out before she was deemed too tiring and troublesome for those around her.

The short film opens with Scott (Don-Dimitri Joseph) speaking to an off-camera Jan (Maria Todero). Within the past year, Jan’s father had passed away and Jan had fallen into a deep depression as she grappled with the grief. Despite this, the audience already gets a sense of bitterness from Scott towards Jan despite his kind tone. He says that the lack of intimacy between them is her fault and that he’s scared to talk to her about it due to how her grief changed her as a person. He then expresses hope that the hangout later for her birthday will perk her up and raise her spirits. When Jan goes to work, she receives the same kind of sentiment from her best friend Miranda (Danielle Rodd) and her boss at work (Tenaya Cleveland). Miranda implies it’s her fault for not talking about her feelings anymore while her boss implies that it’s her fault for staying sad—and both hope that her birthday celebration will snap her out of her grief.