Aura is a feeling you develop by being physically present at an event. The presence and liveness that you feel make the experience one of a kind, which differentiates you from people who were not present at that specific point in time. While the idea of aura is still special and unique, it seems to have lost some of its value due to technological advances over time, most noticeably, the internet. Cyber Aura has played a major role in helping to downplay the overall significance of aura. Currently, more and more people have the opportunity to be a part of something without actually having to be physically present, which is special in its own and unique way, but at the same time, takes away from the idea and value of aura.
The ideas of presence and liveness still have significant impact in the world today, but to a lesser extent than many years ago. In saying this, there is still a considerable difference between being present and seeing an object through the media: “Unmistakably, reproduction as offered by picture magazines and newsreels differs from the image seen by the unarmed eye. Uniqueness and permanence are as closely linked in the latter as are transitoriness and reproducibility in the former” (Benjamin, 223). [1] As the internet and other technological devices become more and more accessible to people around the world, the value of aura will continue to decline.
The media industry has changed quite drastically over prior decades and has seemed to put business at the forefront. Some have began to question whether the media is serving its intended purpose: “Films and radio no longer need to present themselves as art. The truth that they are nothing but business is used as an ideology to legitimize the trash they intentionally produce. They call themselves industries, and the published figures for their directors’ incomes quell any doubts about the social necessity of their finished products” (Adorno, 95). [2] In comparing these forms of media that Adorno touched upon, to media in cyberspace, they have a very similar agenda. Biases and other personal feelings that have been injected into the news have forced many to change the way they take in information, but not all of have changed their ways. This begs the question as to whether the public itself might be the reason for the way the media industry is today: “The mentality of the public, which allegedly and actually favors the system of a culture industry, is part of the system, not an excuse for it” (Adorno, 96). [3]
[1] Walter, Benjamin. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”. pg.223.
[2] Adorno, Theodor. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception”. pg 95.
[3] Adorno, Theodor. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception”. pg 96.
I keep finding different responses to the idea of technology being 'good' or 'bad' for the aura. Your blog entry is quite simular in thought to mine, but still ends with a 'decline' of aura, and I will agree with this statement. One will never know the feeling and excitement of an event if he/she never experiences it, nor would these events have that aura about them if no one was there. With that said, we must also see the importance of being able to watch and listen to events we cannot see. So, the qustion is.. now that we can observe these events over the interenet.. does this mean there are less amounts of people attending?
ReplyDeleteYour title says it all, very good write up on the significance of aura.