According to Walter Benjamin in "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," which of the following is true ?
Correct answer: D. Both A and B
- A. "Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be."
- B. "The feeling of strangeness that overcomes the actor before the camera, as Pirandello describes it, is basically of the same kind as the estrangement felt before one's own image in the mirror."
- C. "All art work, even mass produced art, clearly links to an original referent that has a stable and knowable meaning."
- D. Both A and B
Explanation
Benjamin argues that mechanical reproduction removes an artwork’s unique presence or “aura,” and he compares the actor’s experience before a camera with estrangement from one’s mirror image. Thus both statements A and B are accurate, while C contradicts his argument.
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