The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Walter Banjamin's polemic is a long, though interesting argument, culminating to a resounding explanation of the society we currently live in. He begins by assigning the role of art in ancient societies as filling a ritualistic, spiritual capacity. As society and civilization advanced, works of art were taken from their natural, vernacular settings and displayed in exhibitions to a mass audience increasing both in size and in absent-mindedness. He argues that with the age of mechanical reproduction, something is lost in the object that is experienced. He likens the photographer to the surgeon. The apparatuses of still and moving cameras invade the subject with an antiseptic, scientific lense that destroys what he refers to as the "aura" of the real thing. The duplicate is consumed passively by a distracted masses that are easily manipulated into hegemonic thought, while at the same time believing they are critics, or experts in the field, due to their proximity to the media (especially with the advent of the newsreel). He also assigns a shock value or violence to film, which at once puts the audience in a submissive role and which assaults their senses, visually. Walter finishes his argument with the Epilogue, which takes the correlation between new mechanically reproduced media and violence a step further: war.

"Fascism attempts to organize the newly created proletarian masses without affecting the property structure which the masses strive to eliminate. Fascism sees its salvation in giving these masses not their right, but instead a chance to express themselves. The masses have a right to change property relations; Fascism seeks to give them an expression while preserving property. The logical result of Fascism is the introduction of aesthetics into political life. The violation of the masses, whom Fascism, with its Führer cult, forces to their knees, has its counterpart in the violation of an apparatus which is pressed into the production of ritual values...

If the natural utilization of productive forces is impeded by the property system, the increase in technical devices, in speed, and in the sources of energy will press for an unnatural utilization, and this is found in war. The destructiveness of war furnishes proof that society has not been mature enough to incorporate technology as its organ, that technology has not been sufficiently developed to cope with the elemental forces of society. "

The end of the essay is so insightful and on-point that I am glad to have read through all of the preceding "technical jargon" . This is not where I expected to end up with this reading and I am left feeling a deep appreciation and respect for Benjamin. Academic thought with real-life importance is always a relief!