Hello again blog!
I’m so glad we went over the Benjamin reading in class because, as Barthes put it, “from one reading to the next, we never skip the same passage” (109). I have a different view of Benjamin’s theory now from when I first read it, and I wanted to elaborate on a section of the reading we discussed in class.
When talking about photography and film, Benjamin states that, “…in photography, process reproduction can bring out those aspects of the original that are unattainable to the naked eye yet accessible to the lens, which is adjustable and chooses its angle at will” (39). Benjamin goes on to explain how this is what makes the world of theatre and film so different: in the theatre you have a harder time controlling what the audience’s eye goes to, whereas in film you can control what people see.
Sure, you can light the stage it differently so that only a part of it is visible, or you can paint a part of the set black so that it blends in with the wings. But you don’t have the same control over the audience in the same way you do film.
When Maya brought up Hamilton in class the other day, it made me start to think about how other musicals are being filmed for this purpose. On one hand, it is great that it is accessible to so many more people. On the other hand, big companies like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ are starting to buy the rights to musicals and plays on Broadway to film left and right, and I feel that it takes away from the industry. If we keep filming musicals and plays to make profits off of, will we ever reach a point where people stop going to the theatre? It truly is so much easier and so much more accessible to watch musicals online, but can we even call it theatre anymore if the camera is deciding what the audience sees? This then goes back to the concepts of originality, authenticity, and aura. How can we call filmed theatre “theatre” if it loses its aura? Theatre is full of choices: the actors make choices, and the audience choses to respond to those choices, whether they be good or bad. Filming theatre gives us the illusion of choice because we, ourselves, are not deciding what to respond to anymore. This is a popular piece of discourse floating through the theatre community right now, and I thought it would be interesting to apply it to Benjamin. I don’t think he would be fond of the current climate of the theatre and film world right now.
That's all for now blog,
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