A review by will_cherico
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin

reflective slow-paced

4.75

This is an extremely important essay on art and aesthetics that I recommend everyone read. It mainly focuses on how reproducing art diminishes its value because it doesn't share the aura the original work has, which is super interesting to read in an age where artificial intelligence is capable of not just recreating but producing "art" that totally lacks the aura that Benjamin describes that comes with natural wear, the chain of ownership, where the artist was in their life when they made the art, etc. The essay also touches on the aesthetics of fascism in a really intelligent way. You hear in a lot of modern day discourse that there isn't a lot of good far-right art, and Benjamin's theory explains that - while communism works to bring politics to the masses as a form of art, fascism focuses on aesthetics, giving the proletariat an opportunity to indulge in beauty without ceding rights to them. Benjamin's thoughts are clear, concise, and ridiculously smart.