Walter Benjamin: 

 

1. What is the difference between cult value and exhibition value in art? How does Benjamin see these values in relation to politics?

Cult value in the work of art is when a commodity is rare such as a fleeting moment in photography to grab the human experience. However, the cult value now is being replaced by exhibition value with films and photography being prime examples. The stress on the cult value of works of art has shifted to their exhibition value. Photography and film are ideally suited for realizing that shift.

2. What is the difference between Erfahrung and Erlebnisse? How does it relate to art?
Erfahrung is use to indicate the experience as on going and cumulative. It also means to say something you undergo. Erlernisse is used to discuss the idea of experience as isolated and categorical. It also means to say something you have.

3. Explain some of the positive and negative effects of the destruction of the "aura" in art.
The withering of the aura of art is a good thing. Instead of being based on ritual, it begins to take on new forms, and that leads to the meager of art and media.
The negative aspect of the destruction of aura is that it takes away the uniqueness of the moment and time of the art.

4. How would you judge or evaluate the impact of forms of mass culture like film in contemporary life? Have they changed human perception? Are they important part of creating political consciousness in the public?
Mass culture like films has become an integral part of the art and communication medium for modern times. Mass culture refers to how culture gets produced. Mass culture is mass produced, distributed, and marketed. This culture tends to reproduce the liberal value of individualism and to foster a view of the citizen as a consumer.