Summary Of Benjamin's Argument Of Section 11

The points that weaken the essay are when Benjamin uses metaphors or expresses his own agenda. For instance, when Benjamin uses the metaphor of the surgeon representing the polar opposite of the magician. This takes away from his political and aesthetic argument because he goes into too much detail in section eleven that takes away from the main point. That specific section is about the vision of reality through the camera apparatus and the equipment-free aspect of reality. Therefore his analogy to the magician and surgeon seems more of a tangent and does not support the argument of section eleven. The reader must ask why Benjamin included this analogy in his essay, to simplify the notions of the filmmaker and painter and their views of reality?
Another weak point within the essay is Benjamin’s own agenda for film and fascism. Obviously because of his background, he would not want film to be compatible with fascism and Benjamin does not want people to buy into Nazi propaganda. He is arguing that the way you perceive film will not allow you to think it is reality not matter what because it is not continuous. Simply because fascist films are films they can never have the traditional concepts of art because it has been editing therefore disrupting time that cannot be portrayed as reality. Since there is a camera, it cannot directly influence the masses. However, his own agenda is a weak point for the essay because it seemingly contradicts everything. With a reflective view, the reader knows that this fascist propaganda of film was successful. Fascist film can be successful because it can create an aura through the central figure, but Benjamin does not want it to be successful so he argues that aura relies on continuity and film cannot be the same as real