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Trina Askin - Response to Benjamin's Article --taskin, Thu, 25 May 2006 09:01:20 -0400 reply
Trina Askin English 693 Response May 24

1. In Section Four of The Work of Art in Mechanical Reproduction, Benjamin discusses the loss of the value of authenticity when it comes to the art of photographs. He argues that one does not ask for an original copy of a photograph because prints have the same value in that it shows the same picture. In a culture filled with mechanical reproductions and technological mediums, how do we define authenticity and understand our desire or lack there of for authenticity?
2. In Section Five, Benjamin argues, “by the absolute emphasis on its exhibition value the work of art becomes a creation with entirely new functions, among which the one we are conscious of, the artistic function, later may be recognized as incidental.” How then does technical reproduction of visual art coincide or fit with Elliot’s views on the depersonalization of the artist. Does it go even beyond Elliot’s view in that the depersonalization of the artist’s process detracts from the value of the art itself?
3. Benjamin brings up an interesting point in Section Eight saying, “The artistic performance of a stage actor is definitely presented to the public by the actor in person; that of the screen actor , however, is presented by a camera, with a twofold consequence. The camera that presents the performance of the film actor to the public need not respect the performance as an integral whole.” This idea makes me think of the unevenness of the roles which bring the story of the movie to the masses. What then is the definite or most crucial medium for the movie to the audience; the camera, the theatre, the DVD, actor (s), screen play writer, critic, director, etc.?
4. Although Benjamin mainly focuses on the mediums of photography and film as a way to show the technological advances of artistic reproduction, his arguments seem very relevant for a society not only caught up in those forms of mechanics but also one dominated by computer communications. When reading about the continuing reproducing of photographs and distribution of prints so they are no longer authentic, I immediately thought of how photographs have found a way onto the internet. Perhaps in this case photos are even more losing their authentic value. Photographs are being taken out of the family albums and year books and put on “personal web pages” viewed for the public. I question then if the photo, although a print was somewhat authentic because it had a place of belonging within something such as a family treasure chest, an appropriate storing place for family vacation pictures. Now these photos of the trip to the beach are no longer prints within the family, but digital disk savings to be posted on a web page. Benjamin discusses ritual as a way in which art once was valued. This refers more to the artist’s process engaged in creating something as a sort of religious ritual. Benjamin writes, “Artistic Production begins with ceremonial objects destined to serve in a cult (Section 5). Therefore back to the idea of the photograph I believe it does have authenticity in its place of meaning, a sort of family or relational ritual , but once taken from that through mechanical reproduction such as on the internet so that it is viewed by people who have no understanding or relationship to the picture, it is then just a print with no real value or at least not the same personal value that comes from personal understanding both from what the light has captured in the picture and the knowledge of the photo being in one’s “home.” However, to turn the idea around in relationship to movies. If movies are created for the public to view in masses and critique even “absent mindedly,” as Benjamin says, where does that leave home movies and even internet films. Now you can even put mini films on cell phones. Then, what is more authentic, a camera that has captured a series of scenes by scripted actors to be displayed in front of a crowded theatre of strangers with no relation to one another or a scene from a birthday captured on a cell phone video later to be shown to guests who were at the party. Benjamin states, “the distracted mass absorbs the work of art” (Section 15). Would viewers of a film they know actually took place and they were part of be distracted or more likely to concentrate. Perhaps their distraction would come from the remembrance of the actual birthday party , so they are not really paying attention to the cell phone film clip but their own hermeneutics, just as a public theatre is filled with audience members interpreting the movie in relation to their own lives; and what is familiar to them. In many of our readings and class discussions including Benjamin’s article, there has been an idea that art’s attractive quality comes from being able to be familiar and present itself as having historical awareness. This makes me wonder though if the exact replica of something personally familiar such as film and photos are destructive and spoiling, because they can erase one’s interpretation. Also perhaps the convenience of having access to these mechanical reproduction takes the special quality of the interpreted memory, therefore it is the access of mass productions of the picture, that loss of authenticity for the actual moment. Relating this to Oedipa in The Crying of Lot 49, she seems to find value in the symbols (words and Pictures), but when “plot” not only takes over with the relationships she has with the characters but also the symbols, that seem to drive her crazy they become more and more meaningless. The more she finds out through access of interpretation, the more the symbols don’t make sense and lose their authentic value.