Assignment 6

What does Benjamin mean by "aura"?


I think Benjamin means that art (films and photography) produced before the era of technology has a reality that modern art can't capture. He says that old films and photography had an originality; now everything is a picture of a picture. He bemoans the progress of technology because it has taken away the beauty of the art and replaced everything with machines.


Do you agree that mass-produced products lack an aura?


I definitely agree with this. However, growing up in a time where everything is mass-produced, I've never been able to see anything that was produced in its original form. So, I actually should say, "No, I don't think mass-produced products lack an aura" because I have never seen anything that isn't mass-produced. Nothing seems to be original anymore, and it makes sense when people say that every idea has already been thought. There are no more original creations; everything invented now gets it inspiration from something earlier. Even though I know I've been a victim of mass-orudced products, I still believe that the original works would be captivating. For example, Da Vinci's The Mona Lisa. I've seen pictures of the painting but never the painting itself. To be honest, it's not that impressive in photographs. But I think that if I saw it in person, I would be massively impressed and fascinated by it.