In both works the
reader is shown how knowledge and enlightment are being used for certain
purposes and how culture, which up to this point is seen as a source of
knowledge, transforms and takes slightly different turn.
1. In the beginning of the essay, Benjamin talks about the relation
between "superstructure" and "substructure" in the
capitalist order of production. What do the concepts "superstructure"
and "substructure" mean in this context and what is the point of
analyzing cultural production from a Marxist perspective?
In the beginning
of his essay while investigating the cultural transformation, Benjamin mentions
the terms substructure and superstructure as he follows Marx’s paradigm. The
way I understand those terms within the context of his work is as he is
opposing the subjective world of art versus the economic world of the society.
It is the
substructure that defines the economical sphere in means of production and
machinery. While on the other hand the superstructure defines everything, which
cannot be categorized with the substructure such as culture and art.
In my opinion it
is presented via a Marxist’s perspective because art is shown as a basis which
is being tied into the web of industrialization and the substructure in
specific and from there creates a construction which is later seen as the new
cultural transformation. Furthermore, the mechanical world absorbs the identity
and uniqueness of the art, tuning it into material for mass consumption.
2. Does culture have revolutionary potentials (according to Benjamin)? If
so, describe these potentials. Does Benjamin's perspective differ from the
perspective of Adorno & Horkheimer in this regard?
I think that
Benjamin acknowledges film and photography as means that are easier to reach
the masses due to fast distribution. He more or less emphasizes on the aim of
propaganda, which films and photography are being used for in many cases, as
they can easily filter reality, showing to the spectator the one thing visible
to and through the lenses and cutting certain parts of an entireness. The knowledge they bring to the public can be
edited.
Following those thoughts of Benjamin, I think that he reveals the
revolutionary potentials and the power that those sources hide as they can create an entirely new vision on what something is - an alternative reality. Those ideas are
further analyzed in more detail in Dialectic
of Enlightment. Benjamin reveals their potentials and Adorno and Horkheimer summary them and disclose the
effects of their hidden power.
The modern аge goes
through a metamorphosis in which culture becomes a whole new industry losing
its independent character and depth of its ideas. It becomes an instrument
which establishes ideologies in a way
which is comfortable for the social system and helps to set control over the mindset of the masses. The technological development leads to a strict
organization so that people’s attitude and actions can be planned and
anticipated.
It is in the first
chapter – The Concept of Enlightment
that the reader is given the definition of enlightment and how it has become a
main breaking point from exploitative point of view. One starts using his
knowledge not just to answer some main existential questions and interpret the
reality, but also to settle and be of service of the bourgeois economy.
3. Benjamin discusses how people perceive the world through the senses and
argues that this perception can be both naturally and historically determined.
What does this mean? Give some examples of historically determined perception
(from Benjamin's essay and/or other contexts).
For Benjamin the way a work of art is
perceived happens in two controversial between one another ways. The first one
observes the cult value of an object while the the second one is about the
exhibition value. The author underlines that an important contribution for the
existence of those two accents are the social reforms through history. Those reforms make it easy for art to be brought
closer to the public and not remain hidden for the eyes of the unenlightened
and uneducated but also changes the way a work of art is perceived and valued.
At first the works of art serviced the religious cult - Gods and spirits, with their hidden secretive meanings. What is important for such art is its existence in the name of those Gods rather than being accessible for spectators.
With the technical
reproduction, however, there is a significant change. The value starts being measured by its possibilities to be exhibited. This is
especially demonstrative with the settlement of the photography and film.
In other words, one's perception is dependent on the social norms that are characteristic for the certain period of time.
4. What does
Benjamin mean by the term "aura"? Are there different kinds of aura
in natural objects compared to art objects?
The Aura is used as a term to explain the link between art and the
unique natural world. If we are enjoying a landscape looking at a
mountain for instance we enjoy and appreciate the landscape’s aura. During this experience we are aware that the
mountain exists independently from us and that it is one of its kind. The experience of
looking at a painting is similar to the landscape’s one as it posses the
qualities of the aura. It cannot be reproduced nor duplicated to its original
form. Its value hides in the exclusiveness it posses.
The whole idea of
the aura can be easily linked to the Kant’s conceptions about one’s way to
perceive the world. What he tries to determine in his Critique of Pure reason
is the idea that a person can gain knowledge of the world through perception and investigate this knowledge - conception. If something is to be reproduced it starts to
lose its aura simply because of the lack of authentic feel. Due to Kant the
time and space are the forms to which we create our self impression but when we
are given a copy of a painting for example we are experiencing an object that
lacks its original value and we cannot gain knowledge about it from historical and ritual point of view - knowledge about its aura.
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