Walter Benjamin’s most influential essay, ” The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”,  is an essay of cultural criticism that centres primarily on the theory of art and the notion of aura. Benjamin believes that the term of aura derives from the authenticity of an original work of art. Aura is an effect of a work of art being uniquely present both in time and space. Benjamin argues that authenticity cannot be reproduced, because the essence of work, or let’s say the uniqueness of the aura disappears with reproduction. For him, the reproduction of works of art in modern times leads to the loss of originality in the aesthetic experience. Thus, it must be concluded that the aura has disappeared with the emergence of the mechanical reproduction age because art has become reproducible. For instance, there is a huge difference between buying a painting as a poster and staring at an original work of art in a gallery, and that is exactly what Benjamin is trying to shed light on.

In addition to that, despite the fact that Benjamin talks about photography, he discusses it so briefly, because his major argument focuses on film as a mode of mechanical reproduction. According to Benjamin, the film has no aura, because the film actor does not respond to an audience. The film eradicates the ritual practices and forces the viewers into unprecedented practices. It compels modern habits of mind and disconnects people from the ritualistic reverence of art for art’s sake. In this way, the art of film is politicized. To bring my argument to an end, we can say that media ( film, photography)  is altering the nature of human perception in a great way.