MC - Benjamin

My world was thrown off its axis when I neglected to consult my daily planner. As a result, I completely forgot to respond to our last class this past Tuesday. This put a damper in my spirits as I now try to write a response to Walter Benjamin's essay "The Work of Art in a Mechanical Reproduction".

I'll get right to the point: Personally, I was really annoyed by Benjamin's Artist/Magician/Surgeon/Cameraman analogy. I could vaguely see the imagery he was going for but, seriously, a magician? When was the last time David Blaine did anything good for anyone (besides absent from TV recently)? I would've never linked magicians and surgeons together in terms of penetrating humans but, there you go, Benjamin apparently saw the connection (Maybe physical therapist and surgeon? Make me understand!).

Why compare the representation of reality by a painter with that of a movie cameraman, anyhow? Isn't the cameraman working under the directions of the cinematographer and the director? So, it's actually a collaborative effort between a handful of people to present a combined view of reality as opposed to the image or representation the painter has in his head. I'm not sure I agree with the notion that "film is incomparably more significant than that of the painter". Does he mean in terms of production and development? I guess that makes sense, but audiences of a movie and viewers of painting can go on and on about their interpretations of the reality they received after the viewing. I think they both achieve the same results just in different formats.

I'm not sure where Benjamin had intended on going with the left-field comparison but he lost me in a big way. It just didn't work for me. I couldn't stop thinking about postmodern magicians wanting to get close but not too close (a natural distance is important when sneaking cards under the table).