From the beginning of photography, photographers had always attempted to produce photographs which could be accepted by the same criteria as painting. This was changed however by new people such as Moholy-Nagy, Rodchenko, Man Ray etc. who we already discussed in the tutorials.
One of the first theories of film in the English Language was Vachel Lindsay’s The Art of the Moving Picture, which was published in 1915 which described the motion picture as a great high art. In fact, experiments in Electronic Media had originally begun in 1877 with the sound recordings Edison had made with his cylinder phonograph and the Gramophone (1898) and continuing with radio and silent movies of the 1920s and then talking cinema from 1926 which came out with the Jazz Singer.
Following photography and its technological discoveries, Film production would continue to reveal the new link between art and the new developments in science during the early 19th century and the invention of film in the 1890s. Through its system of production, the rules of understanding images changed for everybody in significant ways. This period would be when the new mechanical technologies such as photographic, cinematic, and arriving soon after, television or televisual images would all be infinitely reproducible. This fact would change the role of images in society and greatly increase the influence upon us.
In the era of the new films being made from the early 20th century, which had come out of the experiments that were taking place in photography one could say that then motion was added to the photograph. Because of this, early film could in this way be seen as early photoplays and the people best qualified for this had been the painters, architects and sculptors such as Edwin S. Porter in America, Georges Melies in France Dziga Vertov, Sergei Eisenstein in Russia, D.W. Griffith in America who represent some of the most important of these at the time.
This lecture discuss the validity of Walter Benjamin’s ideas within an historical context in relation to the effects of the photographed or filmed image and the mass reproduction of images in society.
Table of Contents
1. The Power and Impact of Film to Capture Social Events and Mass Change
2. Debates about the impact of Mechanical Reproduction on Art, Culture & Society
Target Objectives and Themes
This lecture material examines the profound transformation of art, perception, and society triggered by the advent of mechanical reproduction technologies, specifically photography and cinema, through the critical lens of Walter Benjamin and the experimental perspective of Dziga Vertov.
- The transition from traditional art to mass-reproduced imagery.
- The concept of the "aura" and the loss of authenticity in mechanical reproduction.
- The manipulative nature of film editing and its impact on public consciousness.
- The intersection of media, politics, and the aestheticization of power in the 20th century.
Excerpt from the Book
Debates about the impact of Mechanical Reproduction on Art, Culture & Society
In fact, by 1900 technical reproduction had reached a standard that not only permitted it to reproduce all transmitted works of art and thus to cause the most profound change on the public; it had also captured a place of its own among the artistic processes. In response to this, within the 1930s, debates took place at the time about the impact of mechanical reproduction on art, culture and society that had first begun from the beginning of the 20th century. Walter Benjamin’s 1936 essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” had embodied a wider interest in new cultural forms, which the author had shared with other German intellectuals. For Benjamin, the typical and central new forms of the 20th century had emerged through technologies, which could mass reproduce the image. These were printing, and especially photography and cinema. Benjamin pointed out that there were indeed positive aspects of the mass reproduction of imagery and noted at the time that the mechanical reproduction of art changes the reaction of the masses toward art. He had pointed out that was because individual reactions to mass produced imagery are pre determined and influenced by their response which is about to be produced (particularly in film).
Summary of Chapters
The Power and Impact of Film to Capture Social Events and Mass Change: This section explores how early imaging technologies and cinema fundamentally shifted the rules of artistic production and public perception, moving from traditional painting toward infinitely reproducible media.
Debates about the impact of Mechanical Reproduction on Art, Culture & Society: This section analyzes Walter Benjamin’s critical evaluation of how mechanical reproduction diminishes the "aura" of original works, while also considering how these new forms influence mass social reaction and political discourse.
Keywords
Mechanical reproduction, Walter Benjamin, Dziga Vertov, film theory, photography, aura, authenticity, mass media, cinematography, montage, modernism, visual culture, industrial revolution, political propaganda, aestheticization of politics.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this lecture?
The document investigates the transformative impact of mechanical reproduction—specifically photography and cinema—on traditional art and societal perceptions during the 20th century.
What are the primary themes discussed?
Key themes include the loss of the "aura" of original art, the influence of film on mass behavior, the role of media in political indoctrination, and the potential of new technologies to either democratize or manipulate art.
What is the central research question addressed?
The text explores whether mechanical reproduction enhances or degrades the authenticity of art and how these technologies shape the consciousness and reaction of mass audiences.
Which theoretical and artistic methods are analyzed?
The analysis utilizes Walter Benjamin’s critical essays on reproduction and examines the experimental montage techniques of filmmaker Dziga Vertov as a means of documenting and interpreting modern reality.
What topics are covered in the main section?
The content covers the historical transition from painting to cinema, the critical debate regarding the loss of artistic authenticity, and the relationship between media, mass production, and fascist political spectacles.
Which keywords define this academic work?
The work is defined by concepts such as mechanical reproduction, the aura of art, authenticity, mass media, film theory, and the social impact of modern imaging technologies.
How does Dziga Vertov’s "Kino-Eye" reflect the lecture's themes?
Vertov’s concept of the mechanical eye highlights the potential for cinema to capture realities and perspectives inaccessible to the human eye, aligning with the idea that technology changes how we perceive the world.
How did Benjamin view the relationship between Fascism and media?
Benjamin was highly critical of how Fascist regimes used media, such as Leni Riefenstahl’s films, to aestheticize politics and control the masses, thereby preventing genuine social change.
- Quote paper
- PhD Cyrus Manasseh (Author), 2011, Cinema and Mass Media in Modernity. Walter Benjamin and the Reproducible Image, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/305857
