Response to Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" - Homework 5

Walter Benjamin's essay, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" focuses on the effect mechanical reproduction has on art forms. Essentially, with the development of mechanical reproduction, the copies of the art began to matter more than the originals. Benjamin claims the power of traditional art was in its "aura" - its unique ability to be authentically in a single space. The art was selective. He continues to argue that because of mechanical reproduction, art was moving from the traditional into the political, liberating itself from aura. Because of the speed art was (and still is) being reproduced, it was able to be spread to a much wider audience. Therefore, people were gaining access to what they could not before. Just as importantly, the art was able to go wherever the viewer was, which not only meant that traditional viewing spaces of art (i.e. museums, rich people's homes, churches, etc.) were no longer relevant, but it leveled the "playing field" between the upper and lower classes. This is where propaganda comes in. Propaganda is biased or misleading information used to promote or publicize a particular point of view. Propaganda is generally thought of in the larger terms of World War II Nazi vs. American posters or political campaigning for example, but even simple advertisements are forms of propaganda. As said in "Art & Color", "Advertising almost always starts with something true". Meaning, it begins legitimate, but often ends draped in misleading/biased information used to promote a particular point of view (about a product). Classic Propaganda. What makes propaganda so successful is its ability to reach extremely wide audiences, which is almost entirely due to mechanical reproduction. As stated, because of the emergence of mechanical reproduction, art (which also includes advertisements of various sorts) was able to be placed almost anywhere and seen by any(every)one. This meant billboards, magazines, the internet (later on, obviously), etc. And because everyone had access to the art, they were able to be bombarded with the advertising (which has only gotten worse over the years). The widespread art advertising was able to influence people like it never had before. This was exemplified in fairly harmless ways, such as 1960s posters for Kellogg's corn flakes, or Campbell's tomato soup. But it was also shown to be extremely harmful, such as the strength of the Nazi Party after "Triumph of the Will" in 1935, which, essentially, led to the second World War. The advertising/propaganda rampage perfectly embodies the effect of mechanical reproduction on art.