Aura and Cultural Industry

The writer Walter Benjamin in his article Illuminations talks about the relationship between art and reproduction. Benjamin begins his discussion by introducing the history of mechanical reproduction and its effect on the traditional arts. In this discussion, one term is used a lot in his article. That is, “aura”(Benjamin 222). Benjamin uses this term to describe a unique situation in which the art is created, by which the art is original and has its “authenticity” (Benjamin 220). This means that the mechanical reproduction of art loses its “presence in time and space” (Benjamin 220). The writer primarily uses photography and film, two of the most dominating form of mechanical reproduction of contemporary art form to discuss and support his points of view. He mentions that there are two types of appreciations of art: “cult value” and “exhibition value” (Benjamin 224). Because of the emphasis of exhibitive functions of mechanical mass production, it disrupted the balance between those two values and makes the viewers’ appreciation relies much more on exhibition value. Therefore, the “quantitative” (Benjamin 225) nature of mechanical reproduction in photography and film fits the audience and that is how the “human sense perception changes” (Benjamin 222) according to the writer. Throughout the article, the readers can easily find the writer is not in favor of mechanical reproduction. In the end, Benjamin argues that our society in general has not been “mature enough to incorporate technology as its organ” (Benjamin 242). In other words, we are still not capable enough to master the mechanical reproduction and to deal with its consequences. The writer shows his concerns of mass reproduction and he says the only way to solve this “technology fascism” is through a revolutionary war against this transformation.

Horkheimer and Adorno take another point of view in their article Dialectic of Enlightenment concerning the mass production of culture. In this article, they primarily use a term called “culture industry” which can be seen throughout the essay. They argue that the society in general is under the “false identity of universal and particular” (Horkheimer and Adorno 95). In other words, the culture industry, based on its richness of people involved, was required to have a standardized approach to meet the need of people from various locations. Also, they mention that with the aid from technology, as well as its reliance on economic power, culture industry dominates the society. Both writers agree that our world is under the “filter” of culture industry (Horkheimer and Adorno 99), which results in the lack of diversity. However, they also notice that even through the culture industry has a lot of disadvantages concerning culture diversity, it remains the “entertainment business” (Horkheimer and Adorno 108) all around the world.

Work Cited:

Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Rev. ed. New York City, NY: Schocken Books, 1968. 220-50. Print.

Horkheimer, Max, and Theodor W. Adorno. Dialectic of Enlightenment. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002. 95-108. Print.