WALTER BENJAMIN, A MAN AHEAD OF HIS TIME

 From TED'S DIGITAL JUNGLE - THE REVOLUTION THAT IS NOT BEING TELEVISED: ( this is the first of a series of blogs on Digital Media and Development)

  

WALTER BENJAMIN - A MAN AHEAD OF HIS TIME
  
Finally got a chance to read Walter Benjamin's classic essay ‚THE WORK
OF ART IN THE AGE OF TECHNOLOGICAL REPRODUCTION,  and
 it was an epiphany. The fact that it was written in 1935-36 ‚ more than 20 years
before Marshall McLuhan started his writings on the implications of
electronic media , make it even more extraordinary.

Benjamin was a Marxist writing in Germany as the Nazis solidified their
grip on power, and there is an understandable sense of urgency in his
writing ( the fact that he was also Jewish doubtless contributed),
However, his cultural analysis transcended his contemporary situation,
and seems astonishingly relevant in our Digital Age.

Consider the following quotes from THE WORK OF ART IN THE AGE OF
TECHNOLOGICAL REPRODUCTION AND OTHER WRITINGS ON M( Belknap,
Harvard University Press, 2008)

"The unique value of the authentic work of art always has its basis in
ritual.."

and:

"...The technological reproducibility of the artwork changes the relations
of the masses to the art work. The extremely regressive attitude towards
a Picasso painting changes into a highly progressive attitude towards a
Chaplin film..."

and:

"...The logical outcome of fascism is an astheticizing of political life.

and this:

"...All efforts to astheticize politics culminate in one point: that point
is war.."

Food for thought, indeed!

Personally, I must confess I was turned off by the heavy emphasis on
"scientific Marxism " when I was a university student in Sweden some 30
years ago; I had heard the name of Benjamin when I was studying art
history, but I never bothered to give him a second glance.

Now, however, I find him entirely relevant as I seek to make some sense
of the Digital Age. Shall be reading more of him, as well as the work of
his colleagues in the Frankfurt School .

Theodor Adorno, to start with.