Aura and Culture Industry.

“Aura” is the effect that an object’s presence has on its surroundings. With that being said, the cyber-aura of an individual is the experience people go through when they first witness another person's online videos and other cyber content. According to Benjamin in Works of Art in the mechanical age; every piece of equipment or art by mankind has a specific aura to it; which can only be experienced when the audience is standing very close to it; in the appropriate position. An example of this would be an aura of fear created by the presence of a lion; of course a lion would not be as intimidating if one was to see it in a movie. Do remember that Aura is subjective however. When we looked at the picture of an Iranian woman in class, I was surprised to see that a lot of the students emphasized on her head scarf and how it represented oppression; it was the first thing they saw. Someone even went to the extent of saying that women aren’t allowed to do anything in Middle East (Which is surprising because Middle Eastern and Asian countries such as Pakistan and India have had female presidents for almost 10-20 years out of the 50 years of independence they have had).

I on the other hand noticed how she held her head high while her kids were holding her hand, the father sitting to her left looking on towards the horizon as if he were waiting for her to make some sort of decision regarding their life ahead. She also seemed more literate and well kept compared to the husband; I saw her as a powerful figure in that picture. It’s almost as if every person has a receiver built in, able to pick certain wavelengths faster than others: not everyone experiences the same aura around them;we often end up finding what we are looking for to begin with.

Culture industry basically means mass production of literature, paintings, newspapers and other forms of arts and entertainment in our current society. Because of culture industry, the aura of art is slowly becoming more and more limited because it’s catered towards mass producing and satisfying a large % of people at a given time, eventually leading to lack of variety between content. But then again, culture industry also gives room for new artists to emerge; easier and quicker. So overall it’s a double edged sword. On one hand we have people complaining that our society is being destroyed by internet because everyone has an opinion all of a sudden, on other hand we see all of middle east being coordinated and revolutionized because of a simple invention which allows people from all over the world to connect together and share/compare their notes on democracy, and pursuit of happiness. While we don’t have Shakespeares writing plays or Charlie chaplains making movies, we do have the average man making pictures such as the one below; which in my opinion are equally as entertaining if not more.

Source:
1- Benjamin, Walter: “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, Illuminations 1961.
2- Adorno, Theodor. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception”. pg 94-98.
By
Shahnawaz Syed