Benjamin Post-Class

I think the notion of “aura” is an extremely important indicator of the individual and if absent, through such mediums as film/photography as suggested by Benjamin, results in a serious loss of connection between the actor and his individual ultimately detracting from the power of the storyline. I also think Benjamin is correct in his suggestion that the actor’s “aura” has died out since the invention of film, for no longer does there exist that sense of relationship between actor and audience as was present during stage performance. With the proliferation of the camera, there now is the possibility for the director to dictate exactly how the actors’ performance will be perceived, for he can edit and cut scenes to reunify them in a sequence that does not reflect how the story line was initially acted out, and he can also choose from a multitude of different angles of the actors to put it together in a scene that he may have imagined but not how the actors themselves may have originally imagined. The audience, as was possible in stage performance, is only given the chance to look at what the film crew decided was necessary or what was fit, not the entire scene as a collaborative whole. Because the audience is limited to what will be presented and the actor is limited to how he will be viewed, there no longer remains a feeling of authenticity. The final film the audience views in the theaters is not an actual first-hand performance based on individual actor’s personal choices and spontaneous human-based action but is rather the result of a long crafting process that involves months of editing and months of reconfiguring to masterfully assemble a work that can be mass produced to be viewed by audiences across the country. It is available to all to be uncritically critiqued, and, as proposed by Joe, loses any sense of “cult value”. Film, at least in my opinion, strips away a variety of possibilities from the actor that he should automatically be provided, and because of this, the film loses much of this genuineness. However, it is obvious that film is here and film is here to stay in the postmodern world, so perhaps we can brainstorm ways that this “aura” an actor should possess can be recreated or reestablished as a means of bettering this medium of art and entertainment.