Benjamin Reflection

   The discussions in class this week were by far my favorite ones this semester. Benjamin has been the only theorist that I have been able to wrap my brain around; his work is extremely accessible compared to the works created by those like Appadurai. I connected most with his ideas of art and the forms of value that it can have. I also found it fascinating that he seemed to find a positive aspect to mechanical reproduction and its close ties with capitalism while at the same time highlighting the more obvious and tragic effects of capitalism on the significance of art.
  This reading brings about some conflicting within myself and how I feel Benjamin discusses these relationships though. On one hand, I feel that influential art should be available to everyone. As an art enthusiast myself, I could not imagine traveling to Greece to see priceless Greek statues and architecture only to be driven away because I'm from America and don't have the cultural or occupational right to see these works. On the other hand though, there are so many people who have the opportunity to view these pieces of art and have no respect or understanding of their influence on the modern world and art itself.
   In terms of mechanical reproduction, I would also argue that this process benefits those who cannot make the pilgrimage to see them in person and allows for the influence of these artworks to reach them. This increases their cult value and makes it possible for their history to be taught and for their influences to reach those of us who may never have been able to understand it otherwise. At the same time, there should be limits on this reproduction. For example, having some sort of a certified reproduction of a piece of art on a canvas or an academic poster is a way for the arts influence to spread in a respectable and controlled way, but in my opinion, having "Starry Night" strewn all over an umbrella allows for the exact opposite to happen. To me, there is a way to reproduce these artworks in a way that may preserve their historical significance, or their aura, while avoiding the horrid truths and realities of capitalism and its tendency to lessen the value of influential ideas and objects.