The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin discusses the idea of “aura.” Benjamin defines aura as uniqueness, and refers to the authenticity and originality that pieces of art contain. Even with the introduction of film, photography and the computer, aura still plays an important role in pop culture today.
“Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.” This is something that lacks in art today, it is hard to find aura when almost everything is being duplicated and there is no “original” copy. When talking about a photographic negative, no one asks for the authentic print because numerous prints can be copied and will all contain the original negative. Because lots of new media can be copied without a problem, aura is even harder to find than in the past.
People travel to museums and art galleries all across the world to get a glimpse at original pieces of artwork. Why is that? It is because of the aura. If you were to look at a copy of the Mona Lisa on your computer, it wouldn’t be the same if you were to see it in person. When reproducing art, the time period and space where it was created is lost. Art can have a different meaning if you were to view the original in comparison to a replica.
When watching a performance in person, the stage actor is presented to the public in person, but a screen actor is presented by a camera. The camera can change its position and can use special camera angles and close-ups. If you were to watch an actor in person, on a stage, you would not see the different angles presented by the camera. Once the camera (film), is introduced, the aura is not there. You would see the performance presented in a very different way if you were to compare the film and original performance.
Machinima is the use of three-dimensional graphics usually taken from video games that are used to create storylines and additional videos by fans. When machinima is made it is not the original video game, suggesting that the aura has decayed. But, one would also think that the aura is not lost because the original art is still being used, just in a different way. A new form of media is being created here, which can also suggest that a new aura may be formed.
For example, avid media consumers are creating fan fictions daily. When creating a fan fiction, the original characters and settings are usually used, but the storyline changes. People often create these if something does not go the way they want in the form of media they are watching. If watching a television show, one may want a relationship to happen that doesn’t work out, but instead create a fan fiction where these two characters are together.
Today, art seems to be almost always duplicated. It may be hard to find art in its original state because new forms of media keep emerging. Photography, film and the computer have affected ways that art can be produced and how aura can be created or destroyed.
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I think you make a good argument but I disagree with you on one aspect of it. You mention that film in comparison to theater lacks aura, but perhaps both film and theater may contain aura, just different types. I do believe that a film camera has the ability to manipulate the audience into seeing only what the director wants it to see, but I think that brings a certain aura to the production. The transformation of a play into a cinematic art is something I find to be fascinating. Most everything created today comes from something that was previously created, but I find that people are simply elaborating and altering ideas from the past and, in the end, building on each other’s work and knowledge. Perhaps I am wrong, but just because an idea is taken from another person and transformed into a newly developed idea does not mean that it lacks aura—it simply contains an aura different from that of the original.
ReplyDeletegood job lindsey! i like ur definition of aura! you did a great job at answering all of the questions for the analysis! and a really good job at analyzing benjamin's reading.
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