XI

In this part, the author emphasizes the importance of viewpoints or perspectives when it comes to films.
Moreover, he also presented comparisons for film making and the process of making theatre plays. The
spectator’s viewpoints are said to be important because it cannot be controlled by the film maker, that
is why although there are different accessories, techniques and equipment for film making, the critiques
and thinking of spectators will still vary.

He then proceeded to explain the difference of theatre and films. In creating a film, one can simply cut
scenes and edit it with the help of equipment and tools to make illusionary effects while in the theatre
plays, there are special effects shots or cutting and editing scenes. As he mentioned in the book, “The
equipment-free aspect of reality here has become the height of artifice”, to which the author is
exclaiming that the ‘new’ ways of producing films are less authentic than before.

In this age, it is still important to capture the true essence of life in films and other art forms. However,
with the rise of new technologies where it is easier to create art, reproduce films and create effects with
theatre plays, capturing the ‘aura’ or authenticity of art becomes trickier both for the creator and
spectator since it is easier to manipulate things with these technologies.

XII

For this section of the book, Benjamin expresses how the mechanical reproduction of art changes how
society perceives art. From seeing a painting as an art to having a more progressive reaction towards
films like Chaplin’s, this is one of the changes mentioned by the author. He also stated the effects of
reaction of the society towards art forms; films and architectures are more open and common to the
public’s eye rather than paintings, for the reason that paintings are usually viewed by one or a few
spectators. So, this change where films can be reproduced easily implicated the reproducibility of
paintings.

The main point of this section is the effect of the reaction of the masses towards the changes and
reproduction of art forms. It is indeed relevant for today’s era where we have social media. Art can be
shared infinitely to the public by just posting on different social media platforms along with it is the
open reaction and interactions of the masses towards the art. By posting on social media, the art is
subject to criticisms that may affect how the art is reproduced. Same with how people from social media
reviews films and such to boost or decrease the number of views. However, in line with what Benjamin
said about paintings, it is more of an individual reaction than that of the films although we have social
media today, it is hard to reproduce authentic paintings which means that it is harder for the public to
have a reaction towards it.

XIII.

1. How char of film is affected by how man presents himself to mechanical equipments, and how
equipments can help represent environment.
2. The book psychology for everyday life changed how film is perceived???
3. Comparison of film and play behavior
 4. Scale…
5. Space, how cameras/ equipments changes space/ perception of a space

For this section, Benjamin emphasizes that the use of mechanical equipment lies within humans and
how they wish to use it to create art. This then affects how art is portrayed in different forms, humans
have the capacity to illustrate different perspective and illicit different response from its audience as the
author exclaimed. He then compared the behavior of films and paintings which he stated that films are
usually the ones analyzed than paintings since films are give a more precise representation of the
situation.

Concluding this part, Benjamin expresses how mechanical reproduction and how humans use it affects
the perception of art for its audience while also affecting how art is created particularly creating films in
a sense that one can crop, zoom in and out, change the clip’s speed. Basically, the age of mechanical
reproduction changes the how society perceives space.

In relation to this age, it is still evident how films and other art forms affect how society thinks. Similar
with how big cosmetic companies or magazine covers can be manipulated to have more public
engagement or even how an individual can manipulate photos or videos in order to gain more likes and
shares on social media.