Overview
Required material is attached.
This essay will contain two parts, they are separate. MLA format spaced at 1 1/2
PART ONE: The Cinema of Attractions
In his essay, Tom Gunning describes two paths that developed in film: the “cinema of attractions,” and an opposite drive towards films that told stories. Read the Gunning article carefully and discuss the tension between the "Cinema of Attractions" and the desire for stories. How did technological breakthroughs contribute to either of these audiences desires?
PART TWO: Art in The Age of Mechanical Reproduction
The hold that the “original” (non-reproducible) work had in art was slowly being lessened as we evolved from Gutenberg’s printing press, into the photograph and then motion pictures.
Discuss Walter Benjamin's idea of mechanically reproduced art versus the individual work of art. Discuss how the nature, use, and reception of art drastically changed from ancient art into the 20th century.
Walter Benjamin makes an analogy: that the "painter is to the magician" as the "cameraman is to the surgeon." What does this analogy actually mean? Re-read the essay and find this part if you're not sure...