Mass-Produced Art

Article Review # 103927

Art > Photography
Film

Mass-Produced Art

An examination of the essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" by Walter Benjamin.

2,326 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper explores Walter Benjamin's, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" and looks at how digital cinema may be interpreted as a classic instance of technology democratizing the creative and artistic process. The paper discusses how the camera in general is a tool that can become exploited by those with political objectives in mind. Finally, the paper looks at the redemptive aspects of modern mass-produced art. The paper shows how the age of mass-produced and mass-replicated art offers much that is promising and redemptive, but also presents some genuine challenges.

From the Paper:

"Benjamin begins by writing that works of art, at least in principle, have always been reproducible. To wit, man-made creations could always be replicated by man - such as students in an art studio creating copies for the honing of their craft. In the age of mechanization, however, the mechanical mass-reproduction of art meant that an item could be replicated at an astonishing speed - indeed, with a speed that previous generations would have found bewildering (Benjamin, 2). Suffice it to say, digital cinema intersects with Benjamin's observation to the extent that this commonplace piece of contemporary technology now makes it easier than ever before for someone to capture an object - be it a painting or any other form of art - and to distribute said image to whomever and wherever they wish (via electronic transmission, of course)."

Sample of Sources Used:

Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Pp.1-15 (additional bibliographic information not provided by client).
De Chaine, D. Robert. "Magic, Mimesis, and Revolutionary Praxis: Illuminating Walter Benjamin's Rhetoric of Redemption." Western Journal of Communication, 64.3 (2000): 285-307.
Stern, David. "The Man with Qualities." New Republic, 212.15 (1995): 31-38.