Description of the Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction - Essay Example

Introduction: There occurred tremendous change in the history of the world during the nineteenth and twentieth century. This change was due to the advancement of the technology. The booming technology influenced all spheres of life like the health care sector, the transport sector, communication system, education system, automobile industry etc. Now, every thing is interpreted in terms of technology. Same happened in the case of art too. Art is the reflection on a particular time, culture and civilization. The pattern of art in the older days was quite different from that of today. Film and photography are the main medium of art in the contemporary scenario. Besides these, there are access to the internet, email and television. In this paper, the writer attempts to give a brief description on the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. This is one of the works of Walter Benjamin that deals with technology based art production. A number of people refer to his work these days. His works are gaining popularity now than ever before. He has given explanation for mechanization of art such as film and photography. He lived at the time of the growth of communism and fascism. So he had observed the politicization of art. Then the impact of technology on art is also discussed in this paper. The work of art in the age of Mechanical reproduction: “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, published in 1936, is the work of Walter Benjamin who was a German and most of his works are very significant in the contemporary world especially in the field of art and his popularity is increasing by day. This work has been considered as the standard reference in the analysis of art today, since it speaks about the mechanization in art like in movies and photography. Benjamin was so intelligent and he was influenced by the culture in which he lived. He was born in 1892 in a middle class family that had a close relation to art since his father was an art dealer in Berlin. He could not earn an academic employment due to some incidents in his life. One among them was that his doctoral study was rejected, as the subject was not comprehendible and the second incident was, criticizing and attacking one of the members in intellectual circle. His writings are supposed to be excellent works in explaining on the mechanical reproduction of film, photography etc. Mechanical reproduction: Undoubtedly, we can say that technology-based production of art spoils our creativity, newness, uniqueness and authenticity. Today, one of the means of art is film production and cartoon movies which are at the fore front. Benjamin in his book “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” analyzes how mechanical reproduction destroys the uniqueness and authenticity, the “aura” as he labelled it, of the work of art.” (Kazis). He was of the opinion that film has to be used in revolutionary ways to express the social reality and he was disheartened on seeing movies which were meant for commercializing the industry. One thing that is important to analyze here is that these developments occurred under capitalism. This is one of the finest works to analyze the development in the field of art, technology and politics at the time of capitalism. It will be a useful work for the people who are more interested to understand the impact of technology on art. Transformation in Art: Art is constantly changing, rather evolving, with respect to the changing technologies as it happens in every other sphere of life. The production, distribution and reception of art were done in the conservational and traditional way till two centuries back. But the historical conditions of these factors are being influenced by various external factors due to the advancement in technology. The sound recording in a movie turned out to be so perfect ever since the industry used advanced sound engineering technology. Same happened in the case of photography also. Now it is possible for a director to complete the movie pretty fast. This is because of the use of technology. But Benjamin is of the view that historical conditions of art have been changed ever since technology got associated with it and he admits that he is one of the strong supporters of this transformation. Today, we are living in a scenario where everything is explained from the consumerist’s point of view. Film and art are also consumed in the market due to the change in the perception of the people made by the advancement in technology. Benjamin is on the opinion that the mode and form of art must be changed as the content of the art is undergoing a drastic change. “Benjamin saw that It is not enough, for example, simply to make people aware of human misery: photography can “make human misery an object of consumption” and can even turn “the struggle against misery into an object of consumption” (Kazis). There are a lot of medium of art that brings to light or generate awareness regarding the tragedies and miseries of human existence. Art: Art reflects a number of things in connection with our social reality. There are a lot of modes through which an art could be figured. Literary works are one of such means like books, novels, drawings, painting. Other than this, sculpting is evolving to be another art form that deals with societal images. Art is the best way to explore our culture and civilization. These were the modes of ancient civilizations through which they revealed their culture. But now, the modes are different. Today art is reflected through films, photography, books and internet facilities. Art depicts the social reality but at the same time it reveals about the technology that is used in the depiction of art. Therefore art should be analyzed in relation with technology. “For Benjamin, art must just not be evaluated in terms of its depiction of the social reality of class antagonisms (as Lukács suggested). Art must also be analyzed in terms of its technique, in terms of its position within the literary production relations of a given era.” (Kazis). He was of the view that the artist is not innocent because he had witnessed the artists taking sides of the communist politicization of art and the fascist side. What communism did for art is that it demystified the content and different elements. When we consider the politicization of fascism, what they did was to give it the freedom to express instead of giving claims over their rights. Photography: Benjamin was like a photographer who focuses on the moment. That moment will not be repeated and lasts for that time only. We may come across a number of scenes like this in our lives. We think most of them are not important and so we forget those unimportant moments in our life. But there is nothing else left in our lives other than such short moments. Because each moment is unique for us and it will teach us something. “In a single day, how many really non-signifying fields do we cross? Very few, sometimes none. Here I am before the sea; it is true that it bears no message. But on the beach, what materiel for semiology: Flags, slogans, signals, signboards, clothes, suntan even, which are so many messages to me” (Kazis). Every moment in our life is equally important and with this view we should live up. So we have to penetrate into the things that we see in our daily mundane life. This is what Benjamin did, and he has pointed out it to one of his friends Brecht “that “penetrating into depth is my way of travelling to the antipodes.” (Kazis). We should focus on the moment when it happens in front of our eyes because after that moment it will fade away and will not be repeated. Therefore, we should be keen to our surroundings and should have sharp senses. “Benjamin’s sensibility was akin to that of a photographer. His eye focused on the moment, on the wonder of appearance as it is now and shall never be again, on the uniqueness of the historical present.” (Kazis). Every scene happens in connection with other scenes, but we see only the fragments of it. It reveals the broader social realities in which we live. This is what Benjamin has done by focusing on “fragments meant to relate those fragments to the broader social reality.” (Kazis). Benjamin demands on the skills of a photographer which calls for newness and creativity at every turn. “What we must demand from the photographer is the ability to put such a caption beneath his picture as will rescue it from the ravages of modishness and confer upon it a revolutionary use value” (Kazis). Film: “The mode of artistic production and communication in a given era is determined in large part by the level of technological development at the time.” (Kazis). A film is produced with the help of technology. As technology advances, the nature of the film also improves. Earlier, the first film did not produce any sounds. But later, the film could give sounds according to the development of the technology. A film is an art of modern man and this is why Benjamin supports the technology based art. “Benjamin explores the interrelation of art and the history of technological development under capitalism; he deals specifically with film as the art form for modern times.” (Kazis). The production, distribution and reception of art are done through technology. Benjamin has referred about this in his writings. That is why more people are opting for his writings. Politicization of art: The art presents a revolutionary idea to be free from the clutches of tradition. And the technology advanced under the capitalism. There is a tendency among all parties to politicize art. Here is where Benjamin spoke about communism and fascism because he could know about this trend since he lived at that time. “Communism responds by politicizing art, by demystifying the production, the distribution, the form, and the content of art, in an attempt to make art serve the cause of the masses and not vice versa.” (Kazis). The Broken Distinctions: There were a lot of distinctions in the field of art and all these distinctions were broken down by the advent of the technology based arts. “The distinctions that normally are considered important in art are blurred and even exploded by means of mechanical reproduction on film. The actor/audience distinction, the art/communications media distinction, and the artist/public distinction—all are broken down.” (Kazis). Now there the distinction between the artist and the public has been reduced. The public can approach the artist or the public can view the artist through various means like Television, news paper etc. Also there are innumerable modes of communication regarding art. The books, films and other types of art are communicated through different means. The distinction between art and audience also reduced. From these facts, we can understand one thing that the mechanical production of art made the lives of people easier and it made the communication of art also very easy and lucid. The impact of technologies in art: Modernism in history started as a perception. In the era of modernism, there was a great change in every filed. Modernism tried to define every thing. Development of the most of the technologies is the special thing related to modernism. There started industrialization after the invention of technology. With industrialization, there was a tremendous change in the perception of the people. This changed the world entirely and the human being tried to apply technology in every field. Production, distribution, education sector, health sector, administrative sector made use of the advanced technology. The advent of the movie and photography can be traced to the twentieth century. Movie is the mode of art of the modern man because it is the invention of the twentieth century. Film is art and it can be produced only through the help of technology. With the advent of the computer, internet, email, blue tooth, the technology has gone over the top. Because of the invention of these communication means, the communication of films was made so easy. Now a movie can be watched through, internet, television etc. Before twentieth century, the audience must go to the theatre to see a play. Today, when a person feels to watch a movie, he has access to it through different means. People could not read books, writings, and articles in older times because there was no access. But today, we can refer to any materials, books and articles in the internet and we can watch various art forms such as photos, paintings etc. The main impact of the development of technology is the decrease in the distinction between the artist and the public, art and the audience and the communication between the audience and art. This kind of technological and artistic development occurred at the time of capitalism. Capitalism lead to industrial revolution and so capitalism is the cause of the technological development at that time. “His 1936 essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” has become a standard reference for any attempts to analyze and understand the interrelation of political, technological and artistic development under capitalism. His insights are especially useful for the political analysis of film.” (Kazis). Conclusion: Benjamin is one of the prominent essay writers who have written a wonderful work on the mechanical reproduction of art. Nowadays, he is more glorified for this work and more people refer to this work. One thing which is observable here is that there is a loss of authenticity of art with the advent of technology. Benjamin in this work analyses the authenticity of art pointing out some of his views about it. He tells that film is the art of modern man since the film cannot be produced without the help of technology. Today, the sophisticated technology is used in the field of film to get the finer effect of sound and vision. There are a number of changes with the advent of technology in the field of film and it reduced the distinction between the audience and the art, the artist and the public and communication and audience. People across the globe do take this work as standard reference in the analysis of a film, art and their relation with advanced technology. Works Cited Kazis, Richard. Benjamin’s Age of Mechanical Reproduction. JUMP CUT. 2004. Web. 28 May. 2010. . Read More