Walter Benjamin:
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935)
Abstract: Introduces the notion of the “aura” of an orginal art piece – an how this aura is lost or distracted when losing it’s position in space/time thorugh mechanical reproduction. He further looks in to the differents between private media and public media and how this engages man in different ways.

JENKINS, HETROGLOSSIA AND FAN ARTISTS

Henry Jenkins starts of the chapter by introdusing Mikahail Bakhtin’s term “hetroglossia” – that refers to the inherent meaning that any word carries due to use in history. The true creation lies not in finding a new word, but rather to have the knowledge of the meanings a word carries and the ability to use the carried meaning into a new and desired context. Jenkins states that a fan artist main contribution lies in “the imaginative juxtaposition” of already produced content.

FAN ARTISTS AND THE CONNECTION TO A FAN COMMUNITY

The fan artist builds on the vast knowledge pool a fan community has on a subject, and plays on speculations and fantasies that already is hinted at within the community. The fan video is successfull if the artist manages to add perspectives, deepening the understanding of the fan universe, through his or her suggestions. In one way we might say that the fan artist is a critic, whose contribution serves as a starting point for new discussions within the community.
The skill of the fan artist is much like the skill of Mikahail Bakhtin’s writer, he or she needs to be knowledgeable about the meaning of each contenct piece, to be able to tailor them into a new narrative. An equally the work demand the pre-set knowledge of the fan community for it to convey its meaning.

PRIVATE AND PUBLIC MEDIA TYPES

Walter Benjamin talks about media that produces reflection and that these media are necessarily private, not public. The reading of book and viewing of a painting in a gallery are private in the sense that only one or few people can enjoy it at a given time. It is not a collective experience. Where that is not the case with architecture or film.

Jenkins looks into two forms of fan videos, the “living-room videos” and the “convention videos”, and opposes them to commercial music videos (ala MTV).
The living-room video is detaljed, complex and with many layers in the narrative. It is meant for individual viewing or viewing in small groups.
The convention videos need to be less complex as the group doesn’t “concentrate as deeply” and “want to laugh together”, the ability to reflect and participate to attach meaning to the material seems to be weakened.

The commercial music video on the other hand, Jenkins argues, is mostly without narrative – the mash-up of images and text the constitutes the video, have lost their original meaning. Instead of a narrative, the composistion and style is produced to distract the rational mind, and evoke emotions.

Although the convention video is created with a narrative, yet more simple, it still bear a lot of resembles to the commercial music video, with its focus on entertainment value.

Benjamin argues that film makers are constructing new realities with the film media, due to the possibilities presented in the media of filming in several shoots, cutting the filmed material. This cutting up of the reality gives the spectator an immediate experience of the reality presented, in form a shock. This experience of reality does not come from a reflection leading to an understanding -it is there to produce certain emotions and feeling is the viewer. This brings Jenkins notion of commercial music videos in mind, that he states “decenters and disorientates”.

COMMUNITY, PARTICIPATION AND MEDIA MANIPULATION

Benjamin also talks about the community aspect of media, that is adressing a group in this way. There is a room for all the participants to speak of their reaction to the film, a conversation that is of interest to all members, as it is based in this shared experience.

Jenkins emphasized the deep realtion ship between the communicty of fans and the work presented by a fan artist. The fan-artist suggests and critiques in his/her videos, and invites an already knowledgable group to partake in the discussion. The fan artist strengthens the bond that exist between an orginal piece of work and its fans.

Even though he doesn’t state it specifically, I get the sense that Jenkins doesn’t think a commercial music video gathers the same engaged audience.

Benjamin talks about the democratising effect of mechanical reproduction where all citizens can be part of the art piece. As a extra in a film, through a letter to the editor in a newspaper. Movies and print allows for new modes of participation in art.
But he also express concern in how media can be used as a tool for engaging a community of active followers in a certain way. Writing this article in 1935, as a communist an jew, the seeds of the Nazi propaganda must be all frightening.

In remix culture today, there are positive connotations to the ways technology has democratized media. We can all be creators, curators and distributors in a connected, digital world. What Benjamin fears might not be the active participation of man in cultural production, rather the monopoly or centralized control of a given media – the mass-broadcast whoose message is decided by a few, and a powerful few – a media manipulation of reality spreading desired narratives/opinions to a crowd.

Writing this a wonder it there is a closer connection between tconvention videos with its simple message (still narrative) and emotional evocations and the propaganda movies. Hmm.

RELATIONSHIP TO BIOLOGICAL REMIX

As I have decided to look into the strange realm of biological remix. The remix of either natural matter to create new lifeforms, or the mixing of cultural and natural content to create new identities, I will try to see how the notion of remix as presented by Jenkins related to my topic.

::: TXT WILL BE ADDED