The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Content Warning: This section references Fascist violence and antisemitism.

Benjamin’s essay is written as a series of 15 “theses” or short sections, along with a preface and an epilogue, that combine persuasion, sociohistorical arguments, imagery, and analogy. In these theses, he uses a dialectical historical material analysis to persuade the reader of his point. Dialectics is a mode of analysis closely associated with the German philosopher Friedrich Hegel. Dialectics involves the observation of a thesis, or primary event or development; an antithesis, which develops in reaction to the thesis; and a synthesis, which resolves the tension between the thesis and antithesis by combining elements of both. The material element of this analysis is seen in Benjamin’s focus on social, economic, and historical realities rather than abstract ideas. While the essay does not follow a formal structure, each of the theses has elements of dialectical historical material analysis that builds to an overall argument about the complex role of technological advances in artistic creation in contemporary politics.

In this dialectical analysis, the thesis of Benjamin’s essay is past modes of artistic production that are not reproducible and have an “aura.