Benjamin

1. "Theses defining the developmental tendecies of art can therefore contribute to the political struggle in ways that it would be a mistake to underestimate. They neutralize a number of traditional concepts- such as creativity and genius...which allow factual material to be manipulated in the interests of fascism" (Benjamin, 19-20).

2. "In principle, the work of art has always been reproducible...But the technological reproduction of artworks is something new" (Benjamin, 20). Everything is even more easier to reproduce now than it was in Benjamin's time. We can practically find anything on the Internet. Books was a big change for reproduction, and now some books can be read online.

3. "It might be stated as a general formula that the technology of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the sphere of tradition. By replicating the work many times over, it substitutes a mass existence for a unique existence" (Benjamin, 22). Now, most art forms can be easily mass produced, therefore is there such a thing as a unique song, painting, movie, etc.?

4. "The stripping of the veil from the object, the destruction of the aura, is the signature of a perception whose 'sense for all that is the same in the world' has so increased that, by means of reproduction, it extracts sameness even from what is unique" (Benjamin, 24). Our perception of an object has changed over time, especially with the use of technology.

5. "But as soon as the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applied to artistic production, the whole social function of art is revolutionized. Instead of being founded on ritual, it is based on a different practice: politics" (Benjamin, 25). I think there are many forms of artwork today that Benjamin would say that they are founded on politics. Political artwork has some form of agenda or message to convey to the audience also. It's never solely about the art.

6. "The function of film is to train human beings in the apperceptions and reactions needed to deal with a vast apparatus whose role in their lives is expanding almost daily" (Benjamin, 26). Is Benjamin's function of film still applicable today?

7. "The directives given by captions to those looking at images in illustrated magazines soon become even more precise and commanding in films, where the way each single image is understood seems prescribed by the sequence of all the preceding images" (Benjamin, 27). Many images are difficult to understand if we do not see the images that precede it.

8. "The film is therefore the artwork most capable of improvement. And this capability is linked to its radical renunciation of eternal value" (Benjamin, 28). I really agree with this statement. I think films have so many different possibilities that there can always be something new and something to work on in films. I don't think films will ever die.

9. "Insofar as the age of technological reproducibility separated art from its basis in cult, all semblance of art's autonomy disappeared forever" (Benjamin, 28). I think this is a depressing statement. Sometimes I wish that we did not have as much technology as we do today, but then I remember all of the positive things it provides too, so I am torn.

10. "Film makes test performances capable of being exhibited, by turning that ability itself into a test. The film actor performs not in front of an audience but in front of an apparatus" (Benjamin, 30). I had not thought about this before, but it is true.

11. "The stage actor identifies himself with a role. The film actor very often is denied this opportunity" (Benjamin, 32). I have often thought about this statement myself because I have been in several plays. Whenever I am in a show, I do find something in the character I can relate to, but I think it would be difficult for film actors to do this because they shoot clips of scenes and jump around throughout the movie, not filming in chronological order.

12. "While he stands before the apparatus, he knows that in the end he is confronting the masses. It is they who will control him" (Benjamin, 33). I feel as though the audience has so much power over the actor and the film itself in this statement.

13. "Any person today can lay claim to being filmed" (Benjamin, 33). Many people make videos of themselves now and post them on You Tube where millions of viewers can watch them. Technology has really changed the number of viewers a home video can be witnessed by.

14. "The illusory nature of film is of the second degree; it is the result of editing" (Benjamin, 35). I don't think that editors get enough credit for what they do. Something should be changed about that.

15. "The technological reproducibility of the artwork changes the relation of the masses to art. The extremely backward attitude toward a Picasso painting changes into a highly progressive reaction to a Chaplin film" (Benjamin, 36). I wonder how different our perception of a Picasso painting is today, compared to what Benjamin would have thought in his time.

16. "Collective laughter is one such preemptive and healing outbreak of mass psychosis" (Benjamin, 38). This explains why Americans love the slapstick comedies and the comedic movies now that don't have a story plot, but they make people laugh.

17. "Dadaism attempted to produce with the means of painting (or literature) the effects which the public today seeks in film" (Benjamin, 38). I wonder what is equivalent to Dadaism today.

18. "Quantity has been transformed into quality: the greatly increased mass of participants has produced a different kind of participation" (Benjamin, 39). I bet the quality of film would be better if they didn't have deadlines to keep the public happy.

19. "All efforts to aestheticize politics culminate in one point. That one point is war. War, and only war, makes it possible to set a goal for mass movements on the grandest scale while preserving traditional property relations" (Benjamin, 41). I wonder what a world would look like if we didn't have war. How would art be different?