“The painter maintains in his work a natural distance from reality, the cameraman penetrates deeply into its web.” (Benjamin, p. 27)
I chose this quote from Chapter 11 because of the presented analogy. The magician is to a painter as the surgeon is to the cameraman. I have never thought about art in this way before which is one of the reasons I chose this quote. Another reason why I chose this is that I’ve been taught analogies since early elementary school. I feel that analogies are extremely efficient at explaining the subtle or major differences in concepts/things like the painter and the cameraman. Both capture a glimpse of their perceived reality, and both have the power to create an illusion. Though the painter may struggle to create an illusion as believable as true reality (because of his natural distance from it), the cameraman has the ability to cut, edit, and combine multiple fragments of reality creating a totally new one often indistinguishable from the true reality. I believe this is why it is so much easier to become immersed and lost in a really good TV show or movie, compared to a painting. Though it is possible for one to get lost in a painting, it would be easier to find your way out since there isn’t as much to absorb. This hasn’t always been the case, we can thank the advancement in technology for this drastic difference. 60-70 years ago paintings were much more similar to film than they are now. The cameraman was only able to do so much when it came to cutting, editing, or adding to the illusion. Almost all of the splicing done now is done digitally, compared to the past when the cameraman had to put their surgeon gloves on to physically cut and paste film together. The painter has always kept their natural distance from reality, whereas the cameraman has been getting closer and closer to it as technology advances.
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