Walter Benjamin covers several topics in his essay "The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproduction"‚ but the two that resonated the most with me were his discussion on the loss of aura in modern art and of the politicization of art. Benjamin believes that art that is produced and/or replicated by mechanical means has lost its aura‚ the originality and authenticity of the work of art. I agree that the mass production of art causes it to lose is originality but I don’t believe it affects
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Towards the end of the Middle Ages‚ many European nation-states were making gains to become more unified. However‚ the Hundred Years’ War and the Black Plague made doing so increasingly difficult. Much of Europe was still recovering economically and France and England’s military was astonishingly weakened. Despite the turmoil in Northern Europe‚ the Italian Renaissance brought about changes in political and social thinking which may have‚ in turn‚ precipitated much of Northern Europe into its growth and
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Jonathan Taubes Sex and Society in Europe 4/24/15 The Intersection of Masculinity and Occupation in Late Medieval Society It is by now a well-known cliché in medieval gender studies that ideals of masculinity and femininity were often defined in opposition to each other. Men are reasonable and women are passionate; men are creatures of the mind and women‚ creatures of the body; men provide economically for the family‚ whereas women birth babies and take care of the household. As noted historian
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Music in the Medieval Ages In the beginning of the Medieval Ages‚ a time of war and plague‚ music was rare. The only place music was played in the church in the form of a chant. Secular music was not popular‚ and there were instruments that had not been made yet. Musicians were mostly traveling performers who played in front of kings or other types of nobility. The development of music changed history. If the instruments of the past had been not invented yet‚ or the changes to the church were not
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Christian Belief in the Middle Ages In the Middle Ages‚ there were numerous models for Christians. These models shaped how Christians who lived in that time behaved and acted. Three of those works are Augustine’s Confessions‚ Turold’s the Song of Roland‚ and Dante’s Divine Comedy. All three stories manifested ideal Christian beliefs and actions which became what the Christians in the Middle Ages strived to be like. Augustine’s view of Christianity is detailed in his novel Confessions‚ which happens
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Romanesque and Gothic styles of architecture were some of the few symbols of civilization in the poverty Middle Ages. These two main styles of architecture‚ have many similarities‚ but also have many differences. This is because lifestyles altered in the time between these two time periods. Romanesque was designed to be more for defensive purposes than for any aesthetic quality‚ as gothic cathedrals. Monasteries housed the remnants of saints‚ and during the Romanesque period the cult of relics became
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After the Middle Ages‚ a religious reformation that traveled through Europe occurred. This religious reformation is known as the Protestant Reformation. Many events happened during the Middle Ages that led to the Protestant Reformation. Some of these events were the Catholic church‚ Martin Luther‚ and the printing press. These three events had a large enough effect that they were a big cause of the reformation. Many people dislike the Catholic Church’s traditions. A big reason for this was because
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Europe had many different religious leaders throughout the middle ages. Some of the leaders and their power were either good or bad. All of them had different beliefs and different morals. Not a single one of them were exactly the same. Pope Urban II‚ Pope Innocent III‚ Thomas A Becket are some examples of religious leaders in the middle ages. Pope Urban II was the head of the Roman Catholic church from 1088 to 1099. He launched the Crusade movement‚ and strengthened the papacy as a political entity
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pro is that people had many activities that they could attend for entertainment. These included fairs‚ games like backgammon and chess‚ card games like poker‚ and plays. The events amused citizens of all ages. A con for the middle ages was the medical treatment. Most of the diseases in Medieval Europe were fatal‚ or had the potential to grow fatal. As the text book clearly states‚ "It’s no wonder people were frequently ill. Many illnesses that can be prevented or cured today had no cures during medieval
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Sex in the Middle Ages Sex is a taboo subject; many do not want to talk about it. Sex may be talked about more and premarital sex may be more accepted‚ but many still have the same views as those of medieval times did. When researching about sex in the middle ages‚ a person usually happens upon crazy escapades of the rulers and find very little on the culture as a whole. It is common knowledge that the Church was very strict about intercourse; however‚ sex was not as rare as many would like to think
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