Study On Benjamin’s Arts In The Age Of Its Mechanical Reproducibility

Walter Benjamin is a significant German ideologist, philosopher and Marxist literary critic. His work, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, is a very influential essay analyzing cultural arts from the perspective of Marxist historical materialism. With an insight to times development, Benjamin describes the mechanical reproduction, which is typically represented by photography and movie and changes the way of art producing and perceiving. When the aura of art disappears, the value of art worship gives way to that of art exhibition. Benjamin expands the theoretic research to the field of culture, especially to the field of mass culture, which is meaningful for our thinking on the circumstances and the destiny of art.This paper will analyze the book from three aspects:1. Compare the art of Benjamin’s "mechanical reproduction age" with the traditional art producing and perceiving to find out its characteristics; the change of the way to produce arts, the change of the way to perceive arts; and the popularization of art in the "mechanical reproduction age".2. Analyze the connotation of "mechanical reproduction age" theory from both affirming and criticizing attitude, including its analysis of aura and interpretation of the value of art exhibition and worship.3. Describe the new features of "mechanical reproduction" theory in the new age:based on the inevitable trend of science and technology development combining with art, discuss the realistic meaning of Benjamin’s "mechanical reproduction age" theory. Both the affirming and criticizing attitude on the theory are important measures to evaluate mass culture.The prospective predictions of the way of art producing and meaning representation in mechanical reproduction age made by Benjamin have realistic pertinence and are illuminating to the development of modern art:when exploring the problems of modern art development and mass culture, we cannot simply attribute them to some positions or fields, instead, we should proceed from the mechanical reproduction theory to reflect and criticize those problems with more open vision and mind. With time advancing, new technology constantly updating and new environment emerging. we should think seriously how to use Benjamin’s affirming and criticizing attitude towards mechanical reproduction age for reference.