Francesca, Benjamin

Technological advancements and political processes have had an undeniable impact on the evolution of artistic expression. In his essay, “Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, Walter Benjamin focuses on the predominant ramifications and potential consequences such influences have had and may render on art. With the genesis of film production and photography, the question of authenticity became paramount. In an age of increasing consumerism, the integrity of expression seems to have taken a backseat to marketability. As Benjamin wrote this essay prior to the overwhelming proliferation of reality television and post-MTV age, his theory now serves as the stop sign our Hollywood-obsessed culture rolled through nonchalantly. Yet, as hindsight bias is 20/20, the increasingly indecipherable line between the genuine and the imitation of 1936 is now starkly evident in 2007. Capitalism is the hamster wheel society is spinning to the dismay of the American Heart Association. Thus, Benjamin’s nightmare has been manifested into a humdrum reality.

Furthermore, rendering this irrevocable damage was achieved subtly. The brilliance of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction lied in its perceptive recognition of a warning sign within an unpredictable realm. The art of film production possesses the ability to manipulate a mass audience. Benjamin writes, “The instant the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to artistic production; the total function of art is reversed. Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice-politics.”(23) As there is no paradigm for a film to be based upon, the practice of its production is a novel circumstance. Benjamin foresaw this lack of authenticity to pose a threat to discernable lines between that which is real and mimesis. As this means of expression has evolved, the marketability for fantasy has supplanted a need for reality. If you don’t believe me, just watch VH-1.