• Medium is the message. Could the Phrase “This fact, characteristic of all media, means that the “content” of any medium is always another Medium” be further explained? To my knowledge is that there are medium/ reasoning within itself? the sequential reasoning of the medium is cause and effect? example. logic >writing>print>technology projection.
• . Mechanical Reproduction. The explanation of “Aura” and how it relates to the replica and or reproduction the technology portrays. Is Aura by any means related to Essence? Which one has a deeper meaning?
• Mechanical Reproduction. Does technology, Expressed in mechanization, dilute that truth, the original production of an element (Things) when creating/resulting in so-called “replicas”/”Reproductions” Is it really “fake” if it was reproduced to the exact measurements. It was interesting when the manifesto stated that the only thing different between the “original” and the exact replica is the matter of Time. “when the original was made in that time is the lasting difference between both. That is that last standing point to it has to differ from it being the same. Elaborate more on the subject.

Question about “The Work of Art”

What is art? How can we define a piece as of work of art? Walter Benjamin said: Work of art are received and valued on different planes. Two polar types stand out; with one, the accent is on the cult value; with the other, on the exhibition value of the work.” The work of art can be recognized by its “hidden sprit” and “present”, and later he also said architecture is the prototype of a work of art which can be approached by use and perception; touch and sight. Can work of art be define as “touching” the “hidden sprit” and “seeing” its present?

Question about “The Medium Is the Message”

What is page 394 to page 395 mean? Particularly, the relationship between mechanization and the message.

Page 401, “… he could have found out nothing of the change in human and social psychology resulting from typography… Program and “content” analysis offer no clues to the magic of these media or to their subliminal charge.” If typography has not altered the pattern of human behavior or social actives, then what is the driving force of Reformation, wide spread of scientific discover and later the discover of new world? Reconsidering the quote: “for the message of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs.”

01_Benjamin_pg3_The author states about tradition:

“The technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition.”

What is the definition of tradition here? Cultural norm? Process of making?

02_Benjamin_p8_The author argues:

“The aura which, on the stage, emanates from Macbeth, cannot be separated…the aura that envelops the [screen] actor vanishes, and with it the aura of the figure he portrays.”

I do not agree with this assessment as I understand it. While I agree the ‘aura’ of a stage actor is not the same as a film actor, to say there is no aura at all I think is a step too far. The new medium of film allows for new and innovative ways of engaging the audience, as Benjamin explains later. Just because the actor is surrounded by a curated and fake set, doesn’t necessarily mean the performance is devoid of aura.

03_McLuhan_p399-400_The author writes a passage about perception and a persons ability to interact with technology while at the same time being imbued by it. What is he saying here? That all peoples, save artists and thinkers of the same vein, are doomed to be ignorant or unaware of the technology pervading their lives?

• Age of Mechanical Reproduction pg9- “Thus, the distinction between author and public is about to lose its basic character. The difference becomes merely functional; it may vary from case to case. At any moment the reader is ready to turn into a writer” the quote gives the example of letters to the editors, but this is even more so today with social media. what will be the future authorship and authenticity of product / news when everyone has their comment though social media, muddying the overall clarity?
• Age of Mechanical Reproduction pg7 – “This situation might also be characterized as follows: for the first time—and this is the effect of the film—man has to operate with his whole living person, yet forgoing its aura. For aura is tied to his presence; there can be no replica of it. The aura which, on the stage, emanates from Macbeth, cannot be separated for the spectators from that of the actor. However, the singularity of the shot in the studio is that the camera is substituted for the public. Consequently, the aura that envelops the actor vanishes, and with it the aura of the figure he portrays.” The author is saying that Aura is lost from the actor when subjected to the camera, but why? Can aura not be translated through film, and if that is the case what is the value of the Aura in the first place?”
• the  Medium is the Message pg398- “We are no more prepared to encounter radio and TV in our literate milieu than the native of Ghana is able to cope with the literacy that takes him out of his collective tribal world and beaches him in individual isolation. We are as numb in our electric world as the native involved in our literate and mechanical culture.” is the author saying that every culture is equally unprepared for the technology of the future regardless of what level of society they currently retain? (and therefore everyone is experiencing “detribalization” but just on different points of the technology timeline?)

Q1: From Walter Benjamin’s, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”:

Does the increasingly advanced modern film disprove Benjamin’s seemingly pejorative stance that film as a medium lacks the ‘aura’ that other ‘life representative’ media (i.e. painting, sculpting, etc.)? If so, does (or could) this advancement of film technology/technique create a new ‘aura’?

Q2: From Marshall McLuhan’s, “The Medium is the Message”:

What chronologically and/or socially constitutes the boundaries of the term ‘Electric Age’ that McLuhan constantly refers to?

Q3: From Marshall McLuhan’s, “The Medium is the Message”:

“It has never occurred to General Sarnoff that any technology could do anything but add itself on to what we already are.” (pg. 394)
“The effect of the medium is made strong and intense just because it is given another medium as “content.” (pg. 399)

If said initial medium happens to be simply the most convenient and ubiquitously available ‘conduit’ for information, what message does it bring such that the carried ‘content’ only magnifies its own strength?

1. Benjamin made a comparison of people’s reactions between Picasso paintings and Chaplin movie. The film played a big role in the society because “the critical and the receptive attitudes of the public coincide.” On the other hand, it is hard for painting to gain collective experience for the audiences. How does the mechanical reproducibility of painting help to gain its role back into the society? (Benjamin, pg 10,11)
2. McLuhan stated, “For the ‘message’ of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs.” He gave example of the railway act as a medium to accelerate and enlarge human movement. (McLuhan, pg391) He also stated that medium itself is neither good nor bad, “it is the way they are used that determines their value.” Every thing can be looked at it from multiple point of views. He gave example of print causing much trash but disseminated the thoughts of philosopher. (McLuhan, pg 393, 394) How does society decide if a medium works positively to the society or not?
3. McLuhan talked about how money medium “reorganized the sense life of people just because it is an extension of our sense lives. This change does not depend upon approval or disapproval of those living in the society.” (McLuhan, pg400) In today’s society, money causes many problems however, people’s lives are still heavily orientated according to money. What happen when a medium got embedded so deeply into a society yet causing negative effects to the society?

1. At the end of the passage Benjamin speaks about Architecture as being the oldest form of artwork, but recognizes Architecture’s intrinsic value as more than just art but as a form of shelter. Now he compares the film to a tourist observing a new building, because he does not understand or have use for the tactile purpose of the architecture, just the visual; just as an audience watching a film – “…the public is an examiner, but an absent-minded one.” But what does he mean when he says “Architecture has always represented the prototype of a work of art the reception of which is consummated by a collectivity in a state of distraction?”
2. McLuhan begins the article explaining why “the medium is the message;” he argues that the content of media is not as important or fundamental as the medium itself. He justifies this by comparing brain surgery to a night-time baseball game, both of which are illuminated by the electric light, and says that the importance of either doesn’t compare to the importance of the electric light itself, because it allows for both events to take place. What does McLuhan mean by the medium being the message in this scenario? What is the message?
3. How can technological media be compared to natural resources like coal and cotton?

Reading 1: The Message is the Medium

Q : What are the new mediums we are heading for? Which old mediums will act as ‘content’ for these new mediums and how will these mediums affect our social behavior, lifestyle and perception of self?

Reading 2: Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Page 4: ‘To pry an object from its shell, to destroy its aura, is the mark of perception whose ” sense of universal equality of things” has increased to such a degree that it extracts it even from a unique object by means of reproduction’

Page 5: ‘Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice – politics’

Q: Reproduction of art destroys its aura. Can art without an aura still be considered as art? How does the change in function of art, change the expression of art and art itself? Does it make it less of an art and more of a tool to propagate an agenda?

Page 13: ‘Clearly this is at bottom the same ancient lament that the masses seek distraction whereas art demands concentration from the spectator.’

Q: ‘Masses seek distraction’, is this true? Can this be associated with the concept of art as a commodity? Is this one of the root causes for the desire of masses to own rather than admire art and its aura?

1 – Walter Benjamin talks about how the method of modern mechanical reproduction caused art pieces to lose their uniqueness and thus their “aura”. Does he mean to say that by taking a photograph of the art, it loses its categorization as art? or is it that viewing a photo of an art piece causes people to lose touch with the aura of the original art piece because they are one step removed from the object?

2 – I was intrigued by his discussion of film as a new art medium, and the issues it causes in relation to older/historic art forms. Does Benjamin consider Film to be art on the same plane as these historic mediums (ex. sculpture) or does he believe they hold a different type all together? Is art even the right word to use, should it have a new word meaning art which has this new layer of removal from the audience through mechanical reproduction?

3 – Marshall Mcluhan talks about electric light as a medium. His use of “electric time” as a defragmentation of the industrial production society that was created before it’s invention was a little confusing. Also, his description of electric light as a medium. Does he mean that “they eliminate time and space factors” by physically extending work times and work space, or something deeper?

1. Is photography really change the essence of Art? Or is a progress ? (p.6 Benjamin)

2. Art start as a affiliate of ritual value ( like a tool), then change to exhibition value (open to the public). In the end, Fascism treat art like a politic ritual value, so it like a cycle and back to the start as a tool. Is art need a purpose to be exist or art just can be pure thing ? ( p.14 Benjamin )

3. Mechanical tech shaped people as fragment, on the other hand, automation tech  shaped people integral and decentralist depth, is it true or opposite ? ( p.391 McLuhan)