Chris: Lessing Response

Benjamin's discussion of the new "progressive possibilities" that arose with the capacity for mechanical reproduction led me to contemplate how art, in addition to serving as a reflection of the social, cultural, and political issues of the present, also involves a careful consideration of the past and future. Basically, that art exists solely within the context of our time - it is not absolute and cannot be an independent entity. What Benjamin describes when he speaks of the introduction of film and other art forms that can be appreciated by the masses is the creation of an entirely new way of perceiving not only art, but also life - this concept of "reception in a state of distraction," which I interpreted to be art's subtle infiltration into daily life, and the new power of a piece to provoke/enable discussion by the masses and to affect the way people perceive unrelated elements in their lives.

I think it's interesting how "meta" art has become - how now the issue at hand is neither the talent/ability of the artist nor technical mastery demonstrated in the piece, but rather the concept behind the piece itself. Everything is viewed in relation to the initial concept - every element within a work exists for a reason, and this reason is integral to understanding the work itself. Our obsession with symbols and the potential for mass distribution that Lessig describes with regards to the internet has led people to take already existing works and reinterpret them in new ways. Yet interestingly, some of the significance of the used work remains - the people making these remixes used certain clips from certain videos/songs for a reason, because of their original social/cultural/political meaning. I think it's become a fantastic new way to convey both an event in society as well as its critique - like those news clips we see re-edited to make fun of politicians.

However, I wonder if we are taking this concept of reappropriation too far. It's apparently become marketable - so much of our popular music features clips from older songs, and now it seems like all of the movies that are coming out in theaters are a throwback to some other movie/comic book/book/cartoon/action figure of the past. We call it "retro" and it's cool. So cool, that it's probably going to get "old" soon - and I wonder what will come next.