There were many elements of this essay that have evolved quite interestingly in the years since Benjamin published this work, and as I read it I kept thinking how he would react to the evolution of certain aspects of film and photography, not to mention print media.
I was really intrigued during the passages that explored the photograph/film’s disintegrating relationship to the aura of an image’s authenticity through mass production, which. He notes that both forms "lead to a tremendous shattering of tradition" (221). I was struck by the paragraphs on pages 224-225 that the relationship of the cult to the mass audience, and I kept wondering how Benjamin would categorize to recent advent of rotoscoping filmed images. (Quickly: this is a type of software-based animation technique developed recently and used in music videos, commercials, and widely released motion pictures starring shoplifters.) I’d be curious to see what Benjamin would have made of this further delusion of an image’s aura, and how it further relates to his passages on page 230, where he uses quotes by Rudolf Arnheim to re-characterize the actor in relation to filmic complexities.
These passages then caused me to think about the advent of bluescreening, and Arnheim’s idea of "treating the actor as a stage prop. . .inserted at the proper place." (230). Considering the prevalence of certain major motion pictures to rely almost entirely on bluescreening and CGI, this statement takes on much more weight, and again, I’d be interested to see what Benjamin would maybe have said about it.
Some of his thoughts on print media and photography, have in some way or another, manifested themselves on the web. His passage on page 235 about the elk to illustrate the relationship to the cult being co-opted by art made me think of an interesting magazine called Found, which is almost completely comprised of objects discovered and submitted by its readership. This not only speaks to the reallocation of an intended audience to apply artistic value, but it also speaks to the later passages on 232 where Benjamin talks about the evolving role of literature: "At any moment, the reader is is ready to turn into a writer" (232). And of course, something that screamed out THIS IS APPLICABLE TO BLOGS, LOOK LOOK: "Literary license is now founded on polytechnic rather than specialized training and thus becomes common property" (232).
Lastly, his discussion of Atget’s photographs on page 226 were interesting, and I was wondering what he would make of photoshop culture to ascribe a "hidden political significance" to something seemingly normal.