New conception of the Original
Modern Filmmaking
- Film has changed so much that is questions Benjamin's conception of the media as a copy of a stage performanct
- Film: depth of field, CGI, etc.- impossible to create on a stage
- Everyone has their own persepective of a film
- Media is designed to exist as a plurality
- A new definition of "original" is needed to describe this new aura
- Originality: a unique creation that can be viewed equally well through each copy- a world looked at through a series of windows
- Aura is lacking in the reproducible art today
- Cult value is still flourishing besides the use of technology to disseminate and view these forms of art
Modern Perspective
Cult Value
The Original
Cult Value of Art
Biography of Walter Benjamin
- Benjamin associated the aura with the "cult value" of art
- Before the advent of photography, art was designated as such based only on its cult value
- It was a near-religious awe or reverent experience to the audience (in the presence of an original piece)
Photography
The Aura
- Marxist philosopher and novelist
- 1892-1940
- focused on understanding changing values of art in technology
- example: photography and film
- Benjamin's most influential theory was the definition of "aura" of art
- To account for the strong emotional reaction of audiences towards unique works of art, the cause of the reaction was a property of the artwork itself
- A combination of: the work's existence in time and space, physical alterations, and authenticity
Exhibition Value
- The "exhibition value" is work that describes its utiltiy as an object to be presented without an expected mythical reaction
- Artwork that possesses only exhibition value can be taken from its original setng and placed with the viewer for examination
Painting
- Strong aura and originality
- Viewers are impressed by the handywork of a famous artist
- Especially when they are centuries old
- Early photography, according to Benjamin, had the same strong aura as paintings
- Portraits of loved ones were the most common
- Were treasured long after their death
- They were rarely copies and kept a sense of orginality
- The authenticity of a paintings depends on if its an original
- An object with cult value is an original
Stage Vs. Film
Non-Mechanical Reproduction
Mechanical Reproduction
Benjamin's Marxism
- Benjamin saw stage productions as prototypes for film
- Actors and their interaction with audience gave the theater its aura
- In contrast, film was a form of "surgery" where an editior creates takes bits and pieces to make a final cut to present
Mechanical Reproduction
- Technology causes the detruction of the aura
- Detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition
- Making many reproductions subsitutes the plurality of copies for uniqueness
- Leads to the loss of originality and aura
- Like Benjamin's theory of reproduction, there is a distinction of mechanical and non.
- A painting copied by the hand of another artist is priginal with its own aura
- This is because of the imperfections and differences in each technique
- Benjamin was excited at the prospect of a break from tradition that the loss of aura entailed
- Cult value was capitalistic and he opposed traditional societies
- From that, he saw the decline of cult value and the resulting shift in favor of exhibition as a good thing
Walter Benjamin on the Aura of Art