The Work of Art In the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Benjamin, Walter. Trans. Harry Zohn. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.

            Web. 8 Sep. 2015. <https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm>

This article considers how the physical presence of a work of art is categorically different than the presence of a reproduction. The copy exists unattached to the physicality of the original object, unattached to its specific relationship to space and time. This disconnection, motivated by a need for democratic access to objects across space, results in disenchantment, a loss of the “aura” which belongs solely to the original. Film has this disenchantment built into it, Benjamin elaborates. By involving a mechanical device from the start, those portrayed are, even while in the act, disconnected by experience from the result. It has no connection to their life as experienced first-hand. In addition, the capabilities of the eye of the camera open up entirely new fields of perception. We see things in ways impossible to the human eye. Time stops, space takes on new proportions, new angles. At the same time, it opens up a new field of appreciation in which the viewer is put in the privileged position of heightened awareness by the camera’s viewpoint. It represents a prepared general reality which requires nothing of the particular viewer. This is a far cry from a painting, which is a solitary window into the mind of another, not tailor-fit to the perceptual powers of the mass.