Benjamin Response – Hope Mitchell

I agree with Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” idea that mechanical reproduction takes aura out of artwork or whatever is being reproduced. I think that an original object/place has a feeling that cannot be reproduced even through an image of it or a remake of the thing itself. For example, if I go outside to see the night sky, it looks exactly the way it looks at that time (and may never look that way again). It is surreal to feel the air and see the stars in that exact moment, reminding me of how small I am. However, if I take a picture of that night sky, the photo is limited to the scope of the frame and there is no aura from what I felt in that moment (as an example, the stars may not be visible, nor will I feel the great expanse of the world surrounding me because I will be viewing it outside of that context). While I may have a semblance of that original moment as a memory, the picture will not create the aura, and whoever I show the picture to will not understand how I felt in that moment. Yet, as Benjamin hints, I do not see mechanical reproduction as all bad. It helps make experiences/art more accessible, inspires more creativity (in some ways), and provokes more discussions on meaning-making. For example, meaning/feelings might be different for different things; being at a live theater production (like a play) may create a different aura (or possibly more of an aura) than looking at a painting of a play, a picture of the play, a picture at the back row of the play, or even a recording of the play.