When I first read “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” I, at first glance, assumed the ‘work’ in the title referred to something like a piece or creation (i.e. great ‘works’ of art) but then realized that he is instead referring to the the actual work that art can do in a new era where art can be rapidly reproduced, circulated, and accessed by the public. The piece argues towards a theory of art that allows for the creation and reproduction of art to work as a sort of revolutionary praxis; Benjamin wants to develop a theory that is useless for the purposes of fascism, but “useful for the formulation of revolutionary demands in the politics of art” (1052).

Benjamin states that the age of mechanical reproduction has changed the way that society looks at and interacts with different forms of art. This is particularly because the ability to mass reproduce the image of paintings for example, has diminished in the painting what he calls the aura, which is found in the “uniqueness and permanence” of the painting (1055). As the image of the painting is reproduced and made available to the masses, the aura of the original painting is diminished and there is no aura to the reproduction; it is able to be engaged with, touched, made available to the public. For example, it’s likely that if you go to see the Mona Lisa in Paris, you have already seen the image of the Mona Lisa reproduced multiple times in your life, on coffee mugs, on calendars, on brochures.

Benjamin particularly recognizes film as a medium which has revolutionary potential because there is no ‘authenticity’ or ‘aura’ to film, its sole purpose is to have an audience participating with it. As opposed to a painting, there isn’t much of a ‘true’ original for film; potential opulence of a premiere aside, whether you see a film at its first ever screening or you see it months later in your local movie theatre, you are going to see the same movie.

I’m interested in film, so I particularly like this essay because of its analysis of cinema as a medium. A favorite movie of mine is Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy which is very obviously influenced and inspired by Benjamin’s essay. One of the main components of the movie is centered around one of the main characters’ book, which is called “certified Copy.” It’s quite clearly a riff of Benjamin, though with some differences, where the character, James, argues that the art history world should not be concerned with issues of ‘authenticity’ vs. ‘forgeries’ or ‘copies’ because every work of art is, at its very basis, a copy of something else. Even the Mona Lisa, he argues, is a copy of the woman who modeled for the painting, or of the image of a woman that Leonardo had in his head while painting it. However, what’s most interesting about the film are the interactions between James and Elle, played by Juliette Binoche, who is an antiques dealer that James meets while promoting his book in Italy. While traveling through Tuscany to sightsee, they are often assumed by strangers to be husband and wife, which, as the movie goes on, also starts to be a problem for the viewer. It becomes increasingly more difficult to discern whether the two are themselves an ‘authentic’ married couple or a ‘copy’ of one. As a film it’s a bit meandering and minimalist if you’re not used to that type of thing, but I think it’s really brilliant and lovely to watch, and interesting to consider in relation to this Benjamin essay.