In Walter Benjamin’s, The Work of Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction, he describes, “the nineteenth-century dispute as to
the artistic value of painting versus photography” that I see is still
prevalent, if not more distinguished today.
Art and industrialization have created new mediums of
creating works of art over time. The pace of technological advancement has
facilitated a global art community to form but has also caused certain artistic “rituals" to become oversaturated.
For example, take film and digital photography. Film photography, in my opinion,
requires more calculation and thought since film rolls
can only hold so many photos per roll. Today with the industrialization and
mechanization of the digital camera, I believe there are lots of complacent
photographers out there who spend less time calculating each shot due to the convenience
of memory cards and the immediate image editing or deleting functions that
digital cameras have.
I came up with this observation after I started simultaneously using my film and digital cameras, and noticed how much more accurate were my
raw film shots to my imagination than those of my digital camera.
A relevant film in the conversation of art and technology is Interstellar by Christopher
Nolan. The accurate use of technology, robotics, science, and acting,
reinstates the importance of science and the creative aspect of engineering to the
mainstream audience. The film shows a futuristic portrayal of a world that
exists on a crumbling infrastructure (our planet) and how the hunger and famine
will destroy human life. Throughout the film, the protagonist and his daughter,
Cooper and Murph, named after “Murphy’s Law”, try to solve gravity in order to
save humanity. The creativity they have counters the rest of the society they
live in, a place full of farmers who are purposely motivated to be “machine-like”
farmers. If it weren’t for the protagonists love for science and for each
other, they wouldn’t have been able to accomplish their goals.
(http://blog.uat.edu/blogs/technology-and-society/)
Finally, in terms of society’s response to
industrialization, I believe there is no turning back to simpler technologies and
so were just going to keep expecting and producing more innovations by the
hands of those unique individuals who find newer and more efficient
mechanizations. I believe those of the “Third Culture” coined by C.P Snow that we discussed in our
first lecture would be the ones, ideally.
Citations
Benjamin, Walter, and J. A. Underwood. The Work of
Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.
Canlas, Jonathan. "Film Is Not Dead: A Digital Photographer's Guide to Shooting Film." N.p., n.d. Web. <https://books.google.com/books?id=Hk5eFfV98r8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=film+vs+digital+photography&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZzZmTwZfMAhUK12MKHVYaCr0Q6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false>.
Collin, Robbie. The Telegraph. Telegraph Media
Group, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/interstellar/review/>.
Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.
Wu, Tim. "As Technology Gets Better, Will Society Get Worse? - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. N.p., 06 Feb. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. <http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/as-technology-gets-better-will-society-get-worse>.
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