Art in the Age of Mechanics

The publication, Art in the Age of Mechanics was discussed in class this week. I have looked further into this essay online to get a better understanding of it. I found a review of the essay saying "In the absence of any traditional, ritualistic value, art in the age of mechanical reproduction would inherently be based on the practice of politics." In the essay he discusses mechanical reproducibility and the development of types if art such as film. In class we talked about how film is like the internet and new media. This meaning that film and montages are changing and moving so fast and so is the internet. With the internet we can change and manipulate the world via YouTube and web pages. This raises the question if the internet and new media will break us out of our old mold or will it further our ways. The internet can help us to change media or it can assist us in keeping media the same. Also, the essay talks about politics and in class we discussed how the internet could just be another form of capitalism. All of these issues are covered in the essay, Art in the Age of Mechanics. The essay which happens to be the most frequently cited of Benjamin's essays.