The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Various types of analogy, or figurative language where one thing is compared to something else in a way that suggests a similarity, appear throughout the essay. An extended analogy that is explored at length in Thesis 11 is that of how the “cameraman compare[s] with the painter” (233) in a way analogous to the difference between the surgeon and the magician. According to Benjamin, a painter is like a magician in that the magician has an aura of authority about him that he uses when laying his hands on a patient to cure him. Even though the magician is physically close to the patient and the patient can see him in his entirety, the magician uses his mystique to maintain his difference. Likewise, a viewer can take in the whole of a painting and its methods of creation, but it is still held at a distance because of its special aura and uniqueness. In contrast, a surgeon intervenes directly in the patient’s body to heal him, and the patient may only have a fragmented idea of what actually happened. In the same way, a cameraman creates a picture that directly shapes the viewer’s