In The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, Benjamin shows that through the process of technologically reproducing works of art, we lose the time and touch that goes into creating something by hand, and therefore, lose some appreciation as well.  The aura of the work is gone.  According to Benjamin, the aura of something is its unique authenticity.  Traditionally, art has attained value through its physical existence and the feeling someone derives from being in the presence of an authentic work.  When we begin reproducing art for the masses, it devalues “the here and now of the artwork” (1054) and jeopardizes its authority.   

I once visited the apartment of a friend and noticed a series of simple framed sketches hung on his wall with the signature “Picasso” in the bottom corner.  Seeing that signature brought me true excitement.  My friend had the means to potentially afford original art and the thought of Picasso himself drawing those figures brought me genuine excitement.  I asked him about the sketches and he replied, “Oh,  I got them at Ikea.”  Instantly my reverence of the work evaporated as it’s aura dissolved with my knowledge.  This supports Benjamin’s idea that art has a sacredness surrounding its production.   Technological reproduction overrides tradition surrounding the development of artwork and frees it from sacred rituality.  Creativity is no longer an essential component of creation.  Benjamin warns that this new method of producing art “can therefore contribute to the political struggle in ways that it would be a mistake to underestimate,” (1054), and that it can be exploited to the benefit of fascism.  

“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.” (1057).  Benjamin uses Marxist language in talking about the proletarianization of modern man in the wake of the industrial revolution.  Fascism seeks to mock-support the working class in their defiance of capitalism while working to maintain it all the while.  So where does that leave us?  “The logical outcome of fascism is an aestheticizing of political life.” (1070).  In the same way that a beautiful film hides its apparatus, fascism violates the working class by masking it’s true motives.  Trump is a prime example.  He unites his supporters against a myriad of enemies:  Muslim “terrorists”, Mexican “rapists”, “fake” news; anything to distract from the fact that instead of trying to “Make America Great Again,” Trump’s intention is to keep us exactly where we are.

The current mediums and continuous evolution of modern reproducible art is conducive to mass distraction.   Someone who views a work of high art becomes enamoured within it.  Conversely, the “distracted masses” consume new art and make it a part of their being.  Film is able to “mobilize the masses” and turn the viewer into a distracted analyst.  As a modern society, we have become so distracted that we separate ourselves from the rest of America to the point of taking aesthetic pleasure our own self-destruction.  Why does Trump deny climate change?  Why is he so blasé about nuclear weapons?  Why does he think Neo-Nazis are “very fine people?”  Because it is in his best interest as a capitalist to keep the proletarians at war.

In Antonio Gramsci’s “Formation of the Intellectuals”, Gramsci identifies two different kinds of intellectuals: organic intellectuals and traditional intellectuals. He categorizes intellectuals based on certain skills that these intellectuals have to fulfill a function in society. Humans are classified by how they function or choose to function in everyday life. Gramsci states that “All men are intellectuals” and everyone must be able to practice intellectualism however they see fit in society. These intellectuals lay the ground for hegemony, the social, cultural, and ideological impact that an intellectual has on society. There must be a healthy balance of traditional and organic intellectuals in society for hegemony to be present.

Organic intellectuals are entrepreneurs and organizers of the mass population. They organize a new culture, social class, and they can act as a voice for the working class. According to Gramsci, “it can be observed that the “organic” intellectuals which every new class creates alongside itself and elaborates in the course of its development, are for the most part “specializations” or partial aspects of the primitive activity of the new social type which the new class has bought to prominence”. Organic intellectuals are special individuals who give a voice to those who need one and can inspire a group of people to fight for something worth fighting for. One example of an intellectual thinker is Kendrick Lamar. He is not a traditional intellectual in the sense that he was never part of an “elite” belonging. Even as his fame and fortune rise as he gets more popular, he remains true to his roots of growing up in Compton, California. He is a voice for the African- American community, communicating the overall feelings of injustice, yearn for equality, and letting the working class African- American community know that they have a spokesperson. He makes music that connects with his community of people and beoynd. He is truly a once in a lifetime talent that uses his platform to draw attention to various social issues.

Traditional intellectuals have “espirit decorps” which is a sense of elitism in society. These intellectuals tend to be the professors, doctors, lawyers, businessmen, scholars, scientists, philosophers, preachers, and media of today’s age. Traditional intellectuals tend to believe that they are independent of the dominant social group in society when in fact that is not true. According to Gramsci, “There is no human activity from which every form of intellectual participation can be excluded”. Gramsci is saying that all intellectualism, no matter if it is Traditional or Organic, feeds off of each other.

Education is crucial in modern society and is usually the groundwork for most Traditional intellectuals. These individuals usually come from an institute of higher learning (college) in order to prepare them to be a doctor, lawyer, etc. These individuals sustain the “long- lived tradition” that these jobs have. These are the jobs that are considered part of the social norm and the jobs that tend to make more money than most organic intellectual jobs. There are plenty of individuals who want to have the financial means to support their families as well as help society in the field that they have chosen. Some families encourage their children to take the traditional route because it can be more financially stable and it encourages higher education. This need for education is especially seen in today’s society where children can start school younger than pre -kindergarten and young adults often need to go school beyond their typical four year college.  Education can be seen as an indication of social status. A goal for many parents could be to prepare their children to get into an Ivy league school because those colleges are seen as the “elite” schools for those of high educational aptitude. The traditional intellectuals tend to live above the fray of society.

One of America’s most controversial Ivy League graduates is now our President. President Trump is the quintessential Traditional intellectual. He has often been seen as an “elite” because of his wealth and his business acumen. Furthermore, President Trump is an example of Hegemony. Hegemony is executed throughout society with direct domination through the government onto those who do not give consent. Although any president can not have a satisfaction rating of one hundred percent, President Trump often uses his elite image to force things upon people who do not give consent. He constantly tears down a group of people almost every day and asserts himself in a way that is not needed from the leader of the free world. There is an irony with the supporters of Donald Trump that Gramsci would probably find hilarious. Donald Trump the ultimate elite Tradtional intellectual has gained the loyalty of millions of Organic intellectuals (intellectual being used loosely).

In Antonio Gramsci’s, “The Formation of the Intellectuals,” Gramsci identifies that each social group has its own particular specialized category of intellectuals and the two main forms are: organic and traditional. Gramsci’s concept recognizes social function and hierarchy with regards to skill and implication of those skills to influence society in a way that can be measured quantitatively, thus placing individuals into different categories of functional human beings. What makes an intellectual is their social function. As Gramsci states, “All men are intellectuals, one could therefore say: but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals. Thus because it can happen that everyone at some time fries a couple of eggs or sews up a tear in a jacket we do not necessarily say that everyone is a cook or a tailor.” (1004). What distinguishes an intellectual and non intellectuals is the social function of the professional category of the intellectuals.

Organic intellectuals are entrepreneurs who are specialists in organizers of a new culture, organizers of masses of men, organizer of the “confidence” of investors in his business, and of the customers for his product. The elite among the organic individuals are entrusted to organize the general system of relationships in order to expand their own class. They have the potential to be anti-hegemonic. Gramsci states, “it can be observed that the “organic” intellectuals which every new class creates alongside itself and elaborates in the course of its development, are for the most part “specialisations” of partial aspects of the primitive activity of the new social type which the new class has brought to prominence” (1002). Organic intellectuals are those that can move and inspire a crowd and influence people to take up their cause. One example of an organic intellectual is Eminem. He has millions of fans, he’s a top selling recording artist and he has broken through the barrier of his social class, being a Caucasian in the hip-hop scene whose majority of artists and the community are predominately African American, gaining fame, fortune, and a wide variety of people as followers. He has risen and became a leader who uses his poetic vernacular to seduce fans of the hip-hop community, a person who represents the working class, who grew out of the struggle and become something for himself.

Traditional intellectuals are regard themselves as autonomous independent of the dominant social group, and endowed with a character of their own. They are the formation of noblesse de robe, they are a stratum of administrators, scholars, scientists, theorists, non-ecclesiastical philosophers, artists, and men of letters. These traditional intellectuals believe they are independent when in fact, they do contribute to the ruling group in society, as Gramsci states, “There is no human activity from which every form of intellectual participation can be excluded: homo faber cannot be separated from homo sapiens (1004). Traditional intellectuals are the teachers, scientists, doctors, priests, and anyone under an umbrella of a dominant group (board of education, church, etc.).

Educational institutes build and create these intellectuals. These institutes promote high culture in all fields of science and technology. The more extensive the area covered by education, the more complex the cultural world. Education defines how industrialized a country is. Gramsci compares it to industrial technology, the more a country can produce with its machines, and the production of machines to produce more, makes the country best equipped and most complex. Similarly, the preparation of intellectuals and schools dedicating to the preparation, allows quality intellectuals to emerge. Because of the wide spectrum of education across the country, it allows countries to produce and pick high quality intellectuals of various branches.

These intellectuals are the “functionaries” of superstructures. Gramsci states that two major superstructural levels need to be fixed, the first is “civil society,” and the other is an ensemble of organisms called “private”, “political society” or the “state”. Hegemony is executed throughout society and direct domination is executed through the state and juridical government. Gramsci states that the intellectuals are the dominant group’s “deputies.” Direct domination is run by coercion and force and it operates within groups who do not consent. Hegemony is run by consent and it operates within the great masses of the population. One example of a hegemony is Trump. He uses his wealth, power, and loud voice to exert his hegemonic attributes. He uses his masculinity and image to constantly exert himself in front of media. He is constantly building up himself and putting others down. In recent news, Eminem has released an anti-Trump video, “The Storm.” In the video, Eminem criticized Trump and his policies, his actions as a leader of the country by using his vernacular folklore to speak to the hearts and the souls of the people— to help them realize the truth of the hegemony that Trump has been leading. Eminem called out Trump’s racism, his distractions from agendas he should be paying mind to, and his childish-like behavior. Towards the end of the video, he calls out the civil society, saying that if they support Trump, they will be ousted by him– to make a choice. These intellectuals are the perfect example of Gramsci’s explanation of intellectuals and how they function in society.

Here’s the thing. An ideology may exist, regardless of pragmatic engagement upon the platform of a part of the world. And ideology does not need to inconspicuously convert external pedestrians into subjects to validate an ideology. In general, an ideology may manifest, and remain in the cognitive-imagination household, just wandering the streets in secrecy.

Before I go any further, it’s important to understand a key lenses. Althusser’s funneled definition of ideology is the “Representation of the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence.” (p.1350), where he gives the example of a three-way hierarchy relationship of God-Priest/Despots-Laity (Proletariat) (51). God’s words recorded/transcribed in “stone” and scripture, appears to validate for example, a moral maxim of “Thou shalt not kill”, which is uttered by priest, and propagated to the church masses. However, the paradox is the objectiveness of a pre-existing monotheistic “God”, but none the less, the human faith lynch-pins thy relationship between God-priest/despot-laity subjects, for right or wrong.

Now let’s say that an individual, one day is listening to his professor from his desk, and gradually zones-out (daydreams) midway thru his lecture. He gets the thinking about collegiately dropping out, he recalls many modern-day entrepreneurs or artist, performing the act in a sort of bricolage composition. Maybe he’s doodling in his book, or finally returns late into the discourse of lecture. But soon the class will end, and it’s off he goes through the hallway. He has another class, but he can’t stop internally justifying his ideology: finding “myself”; unless he detaches from the college, where he assumes the answer doesn’t lie in the intra-semester-by-semester process. In truth, he hasn’t run the practical issues, like consent from his guardians (if any); who will support his growing rebellious ideology; or if he should finish college first, and to take time to explore after.

The point is, the genesis of ideology will soon come into fruition, and whether he acts or engages in it’s material existence (52), or not, doesn’t diminish the fact that consciously & subconscious, it’s there. And if stubbornly, you’re holding on to Althusser’s unintended stipulation: that the individual must act upon ideology, otherwise it’s “wicked” (53), fails to zoom-in psycho-physiologically, since that primordial bubbling in his cortex: has already indirectly influenced his behavior through the hallway, especially on future lectures where he’ll selectively engage, or daydream away, again consciously or subconsciously.

Furthermore, the great indirect influence upon his body, will: reverberate through his diction-usage, to what he digest in media like YouTube, or the literature in Barnes & Nobles. So in fact, in pursuit of understanding himself, he has already engaged in material existence. Thus, at a certain degree, but not accepting the “textbook” lenses of Althusser’s unintended stipulations, he does engage and actually he has already interpellated (56) individuals to subjects, just not external people.

Consider Pessoa’s “The Book of Disquiet”, where found in the intro, the editor uses a text in the book to express Pessoa’s idea of “self”:

Each of us is several, is many in a profusion of selves. So that the self who disdains his surroundings is not the same as the self who suffers or takes joy in them. In the vast colony of our being there are many species of people who think and feel in different ways. (text 396)

Later, the editor quotes the main character de Campos: “Be what I think? But I think of being so many things!” So, returning to my brief allegory of the college student, and interpellating individual to subject: linguistically speaking the prefix in-dividiual—of the “colony” of species in his being—they may have well responded to his internal hail (56), thus never needing: the external pedestrians, schoolmates, or friends.

In his essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, Walter Benjamin comments on technology’s effect on art and how it alienates and dissolves meaning from the works and those involved with it. Discussing a critical history of the reproduction of art and the invention of film, the critic shows us how technology has changed our relationship to art similarly to how capitalism has changed the relationship between the worker and his product.

One of Benjamin’s most significant ideas from the piece is that of cult value versus exhibition value in art. Cult value, which he describes to be the significance of the art to a culture or religion, is gained through keeping artistic works from being seen, bringing it out only to serve the purposes of said culture or religion. Technological reproduction, through copies, pictures on the internet, or simply the ability to hop on a plane and visit the art heightens exhibition value (the ability to view the work of art), and diminishes the “aura” of the work, created by its special tie to its origin culture.

This is an especially Marxist argument, because it shows how an institution such as artistry, seen as one of the most disinterested areas in which to work, is subjected to capitalist ideals. Marx, in Capital, Volume I, discusses the value of commodities and the connection between that value and the time it took to produce them. He also examines how value through price does not do justice to a product’s value as a whole (i.e. use value, the narrative behind how a product was created etc.) With a capitalist society’s ability to produce a large number of products in a small amount of time, the value of said products drops, especially their qualitative value. The same happens when art is able to be seen by a great variety of people; art loses that special quality found in something that is rare or scarce.

Film, a different kind of art because it can only be produced by technology (whereas a painting can exist without it), is also discussed by Benjamin. While film is also subjected to the idea of mass reproduction and the loss of “aura” that other works of art are, the writer takes his argument further by stating that “The stage actor identifies himself with a role. The film actor very often is denied this opportunity. His performance is by no means a unified whole, but is assembled from many individual performances”(Benjamin 1061). Like the laborer Marx describes who cannot take ownership over his work because he has only a small part in creating the product, a film actor cannot take ownership over their performance because the film is not a direct representation of what he does. He will perform for the camera, and he will say all of his lines, but the end result is a series of videos and close ups edited together. Five minutes of a movie could be a compilation of a month of these different takes and shots, and is likely to have no correspondence to the actor’s experience of acting.

Despite these arguments through which I have made Benjamin’s attitude towards technological reproduction seem very negative, it is important to note that Benjamin’s application of the ideals of capitalism to a product (his being art), is not entirely pessimistic. The critic’s idea of value is fluid, and he sees the usefulness in being able to reproduce art for the entire world to see, rather than just in its exclusivity for a certain “cult”. Film’s ability to be slowed and played over again allows us to notice details we would normally miss in a play only seen once or irreproducible human interaction. Film allows us to see “what happens during the split second when a person actually takes a step”(Benjamin 1066). The wonderful qualities of reproduction are not lost on Benjamin, and show us that the value found in scarcity is not necessarily diminished in reproduction, but transformed.

During this time when this piece was written, Benjamin has been exiled by Nazi Germany. He moved to France which left him deeply affected by the politically tumultuous situation in France. In this piece he explores how Marx capitalism would cause exploitation of the proletariat which would conclude in destruction. He claims that a change in the mode of production demands the construction of a new concept that would flesh out the predisposition behind creation of art within an economically driven climate. He claims this new concept would render facism dysfunctional because it would only obliterate the importance of creativity associated with the work of art.
Benjamin admits that art has always been reproducible. He references traditional forms of reproduction within art such as etching, monoprints, lithography, and other forms of printing. But the technological reproduction of art is something different in it’s own right. Benjamin explains the two manifestations of reproducible art using technology such as photography and film: 1) technological reproducibility of art affects the authenticity of the original work. The technological modes of reproduction obliterates the authenticity of the work of art yet it’s different from replicas made by hand which would be considered “counterfeit copies”. As discussed, in the Effects of The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, the same applies with technological reproduction because the aura becomes displaced or lost. When referring to film, the aura is lost and the reproducible image itself exemplifies a subtle shift. 2) the process of technological reproduction renders itself as a work of art such as the art of the film or photo.
Benjamin explains the subtle changes that may affect the way people consume reproduced technology:
1) technological reproduction often emphasizes aspects of a work of art which might not be easily seen by the human eye.
– What immediately comes to mind are directors like David Lynch, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Wes Anderson. Directors are that known for their distinct style of cinematography. As the audience, we  come to assign specific scenes that each director has created that defines their style as directors. But rarely do we come to realize that their acclaimed artistic eye within the realm of film is really just a lens in which we view the film. We willingly and excitingly wait to see films made by these director and willingly accept the type of reality that they produce. In Psycho we only see certain scenes of the murder through the victims perspective until Hitchcock decides to show subtle cutaway scenes of a knife or chocolate syrup as blood. The director makes the decision and calls the shots over our perception. It makes me question if as humans, are we almost subconsciously willing to accept other realms of reality for entertainment? Or does it go deeper to quell a sense of insecurity or escapism?
2) it has the ability to be accessible through the reproduction. Allowing a wider audience to to consume the piece, further prolonging the physical lifespan of the reproduced work, making the original work irrelevant.
– I can definitely agree to this notion especially with the age of the internet where everything is obtainable with just a click. But it makes me wonder about bootleg films that tend to have certain subtle technical aspects changes such as the lighting or volume due to poor reproduction under illegal  channels. Does this then undermine or challenge the first subtle change listed where a certain lens is established by the director? Does a warp in the director’s lens and authenticity of the reproduction? How severe can a change in the lens be to the audience and to the authenticity of the original work?
-It also makes me question if due to the over accessibility of the work, does it lose its aura or speciality? It reminded me of Bogost with “Egg McNothing” of how the change in the McDonalds chain, allowing breakfast all day became a sign of a subtle shift to how we consume items and deal with our own patience. Similar to the egg mcmuffin being only available at breakfast time, movies (for a long time now) are no longer captive within movie theaters. There is no longer a singularity of a product and it’s intensity dies out. McDonalds and technological reproduction are somewhat parallel because they change the way people are conditioned where Egg McMuffins and movies in movie theaters obtained a tiny bit of aura within their products of production only to be abolished.
These subtle changes contends to the devaluation for the here and now which decays the aura of the art. Though technological reproduction also liberates the work of art from it’s subservience to the ritual roots of making replicas in a secular setting (which had become one of the purposes behind the creation of art). Once detached from it’s roots, it’s social function can be politically manipulated. Technology allows artists to constantly make modifications and improvements, creating more eternal value.
The piece switches from the person holding the camera to the person in front of the camera- the actor. The duty of an actor is to perform in front of a “mechanical apparatus” which allows it to capture the actor’s movements and replicate it across multiple screens. The replication dissolves the aura of the actor’s performance. Does this mean that the only way to receive the true deliverance of an actor is only through seeing plays in person?
A distinction between the art lover and the mass audience is then explored by Benjamin. The art lover closely observes the work of art in order to appreciate the aesthetics value. An art lover becomes absorbed by the work of art. The mass audience approaches art for distraction or entertainment. The work of art becomes assimilated into the mass audience, almost into the background of their presence. It counters the art lover where the piece of art is the focus and reason to their presence. Though the masses become utilized as an instrument of political mobilization. This lends a subtle authority to the masses because of their lack of authentic appreciation for the piece of art. This becomes almost like a void that is usually fulfilled by the artist but since they don’t appreciate it’s aesthetic value or become absorbed by the piece, politicians and campaigns look to fill this void. They politicize pieces of work so that the masses are able to react to it. They are unaware of it’s aesthetic value that art lovers are aware of. Benjamin shows how a piece of work has the ability to absorb or be absorbed by the viewer.

Antonio Gramsci brings up two interesting concepts in “The Formation of the Intellectuals,” they are the organic and traditional intellectuals, which are formed from social groups. He begins by explaining the organic intellectual by pretty much saying that an organic intellectual would be someone with both the knowledge of industry technology and someone involved in labor. In addition, organic intellectuals are spotted easily when new social classes rise to power since organic intellectuals could be considered revolutionaries. Gramsci’s concept of the “organic intellectual” shows his support for the working class, it shows that he believed in the capabilities the working class had to offer. The traditional intellectuals can be seen as the people in power, or the people who support the system in power. Traditional intellectuals are significant in the way hegemony operates because for an emerging class to entirely overthrow the ruling class, it becomes necessary for the traditional intellectuals to come under the influence of the emerging class ideology (1006). In other words, it becomes necessary for the traditional intellectuals to change their usual linear way of thinking and doing things.
Furthermore, Gramsci critiques the usual definition of intellectual which is associated with the traditional intellectual (teachers, doctors, etc) because he claims, “in any physical work there exists a minimum of technical qualification, that is, a minimum of creative intellectual.” In other words, an intellectual can not only be defined by how “book smart” he or she is or it can’t be exclusive to only “book smart” people. The definition of intellectual has to fit those who are intelligent through other forms such as music, art, etc. This old definition shows that the classification of a person within society is more linked to their social function (profession) than their unique humanity. Gramsci states, “All men are intellectuals, one could therefore say: but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals” (1004). In other words, society does not let many people fulfill their paths of intellectualism. For example, money stops a lot of people from continuing their education, preventing the existence of future doctors or lawyers. Plus, many people don’t fulfill their roles as intellectuals in a society because they never discover it. Think of them as undiscovered artists. I think the fact that Gramsci is challenging the definition of intellectual, opens the door for the working class to gain power and respect. He is speaking for the working class that was not given the opportunity to be part of the traditional intellectuals, but that nonetheless are intellectuals.