Post class Post -

In class on Thursday we started class of with the McDonalds sign and on the bottom of it saying “Billions of Billions served”. McDonalds sees the fact that they have ‘reproduced’ billions of their hamburgers and fries as a very good thing. In American the saying “the more the better” seems to fit perfectly. Culture in America seems to have lost its authenticity, its aura, its originality…art has become a commodity. This introduction into class made Walter Benjamin’s reading “The Word of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” very relatable and clear. And it is true America seems to be more focused on if you can not afford the original, no worries, at least you can afford the reproduction of the original; anyways in the end at least I am staying true to the ideologies set out by the media. I thought the best example and most hilarious example was “Antiques made to order”. It did amaze me how superficial the culture is in America. And yet it is also understandable why it has come to this point of superficialness. It is due to the media and the ideologies created. ‘Everybody’ wants to feel good and proud about what material stuff they own and they also want other people to see that they own this. Therefore buying something of antique is, I guess, better than not having any antique at all. It also can go the other way where people just buy ‘things’, such as art work, to buy it and to show that they can buy it. If you have a 20’000 dollar painting hanging in your house I’m sure they are trying to make a statement of more than just ‘loving the piece of art’.

After this class I have realized how, mainly Western society, is losing the depth of culture. I believe North America more so then anywhere because it is a very young country that has never carried the depth of culture as other European or Asian countries have. I walked out thinking why this is…why do we not carry the depth we used to? One of the main reasons I believe to be, was because of time. To make things special, original and give off authenticity takes time. It takes maybe one minute to print a copy of an original painting, whereas it takes hours to paint the original. Evidently time is money and money is a striving force.

AHC