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       Julio Cortazar and Michelangelo Antonioni have similarities and differences in their uses of Magic Realism for their works; the short story and the movie respectively. The binaries used are: real and imaginary, life and death, and past and present fused.

          Firstly, in Cortazar’s story the protagonist trespasses the boundaries of time, different imaginary worlds, and the binary of life and death as the story evolves. On the other hand, in Antonioni’s movie the main character appears as it is from the beginning and he does not change worlds, or travels in time. To illustrate, his blue house in contrast with all the red houses surrounded it can be a sign that the protagonist personality is a little arrogant and distant. Another example can be that in the first scenes of the movie when he is in his photo studio, the way he treats his models gives the reader an assumption that he might be a ''womanizer/player''.

      Secondly, in Cortazar’s story the narrator is the one who reveals the plot and the imaginary worlds, entirely under his point of view, based only on his "mental work" as: assumptions, reflections, interpretations, etc. Similarly, the movie of Antonioni also gives great importance to the unsaid, with long silences and a emphasis on non-verbal gestures. Another important point in the Cortazar’s story is that there are three narrators of the plot. First is the authorial narrator in first person (which does the reflections). The second one is in third person (to present Roberto Michel). Lastly, an ultimate first-person narrator, which participates in the events associated with Roberto Michel. Quoting Cortazar to illustrate this: ‘’It’ll never be known how this has to be told, in the frist person or in the second, using the third person plural or continually inventing modes that will serve for nothing’’. This is a very unusual way to begin a story but yet this way to attract the attention of the reader creating new realities is a very important aspect of Magic Realism.

Thirdly, there are different worlds in Cortazar’s story, which is another characteristic of Magic Realism. The three narrators are interchangeable and there is a possibility that both first-person narrators are the same. In contrast, in the movie from the beginning, there is only one world and everything revolves around that one character.