The Work Of Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction: Film Analysis

Have you ever watched a downloaded movie before it reaches cinema? This is known as media piracy and it is destroying the auratic viewing experience of viewing a film in cinema.
In the following essay I will look at the short essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction, written by Walter Benjamin (1936) and what he means by this ‘aura’ of uniqueness. I will provide a visual example to explain this concept. This discussion will relate to the notion of distance, and also how Benjamin (1936) explains this in the context of mass perception through reproductive media.
According to Walter Benjamin (1936:793) the aura of an artwork is its unique existence in time and space. Benjamin (1936:793) goes on to clarify that this explanation
This unique existence of the work of art determined the history to which it was subject throughout the time of its existence. This includes the changes which it may have suffered in physical condition over the years as well as the various changes in its ownership (Walter Benjamin, 1936:793).
Benjamin (1936:793) mentions the notion of mechanical reproduction. Benjamin (1936:794) explains that through reproduction, the aura of the object depreciates and that this object’s authenticity is less compelling as there so many other versions of it. Benjamin (1936:794) goes further mentioning that the representational object is removed from ritual, tradition and from its cult value. This idea can be explained with the example of digital cinema and media piracy. While media piracy can bring a movie into contact of the viewer who may never see it in cinema, it depreciates the original movie.
Benjamin (1936:795) explains that the aura is also associated with distance. Benjamin
(1936:795) explains that a copy replaces the need for the real object. Contemporary viewers have a desire “to bring things “closer” spatially and humanly” and according to
This idea of the ‘aura’ of uniqueness can be seen within a sub context of digital cinema and digital piracy1. The following image is a reproduction of The Pirate Bay (2014) website in the form of a screenshot2. The Pirate Bay
(2014) is a piracy website whereby a user can illegally download reproduced digital movies.
With regard to digital cinema, a specific aura is created. Jason Weidemann (2000:[sp]) explains that his experience watching a film in cinema provided for a unique, unreproducible experience. In the theatre, we all paid around seven dollars for a ticket, passed through the velveted lobby and the miles of counters selling candy and popcorn. We had our tickets ripped and seated ourselves in the dark, in front of the huge screen. The sound system ambushed our ears. And, perhaps more importantly, the audience participated in the viewing of the film; we were not passive watchers, but cheered the good guys, jeered the bad guys, and called out during the tense scenes. A type of aura had been produced inside the movie theatre (Jason Weidemann, 2000:[sp]).
According to Benjamin (1936:794) the aura of an object withers in the age of mechanical reproduction. With regard to media piracy, a viewer no longer is required to travel to