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- Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
Summary
Mechanical reproduction destroys the dependence of art on rituals to politicize (democratize) art as never before possible.
Questions
Selected from questions by Florence Boos.
- How have changes in reproduction altered the relationship of art to an “original” object, and how has this changed “the authority of the object”?
- What are the special features of film, according to Benjamin?
- What was once the relationship between art, tradition and ritual? Has this changed?
- How has the film enriched our modes of perception?
- What is the relationship of Fascism to art?
- What does it mean to say that “Fascism renders politics aesthetic,” and that Communism politicizes art?