When it comes to analyzing Walter Benjamin’s essay about how mechanical reproduction changed art in mid-1930s society, there are some elements he mentioned in his essay that are still applied to the modern world today. One way the role of art is still applied to modern society is that there are artists who create an original piece of art, to share it widely and earn money from it from third parties, as he mentioned in the second part of the essay. Additionally, in Part VI of Benjamin’s essay, he distinguishes the two polarities of art history, being cult value and exhibition value. These two values are still applied in modern society because cult value helps keep a piece of artwork out of sight. A church, for example, could have a religious statue stored exclusively for the priest. Meanwhile, an artwork’s exhibition value would have people visiting it in person rather than seeing it through an online image. An old photograph of an old family member also contains a cult value when it comes to remembering that family member who had passed away or was long missed. Therefore, aura or uniqueness is found as well since it helps reminisce, giving that “melancholy and incomparable beauty” as stated by Benjamin. Furthermore, Benjamin goes on to show in Part XVI of his essay how the art of film is significant in breaking that “prison-world” of what he refers to as reality. Entertainment, like movies, video games, and books are a great way to escape reality. These examples show how Benjamin’s analysis on the role of art in the mid-1930s, is still applied today.