Walter Benjamin begins his essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by stating that: “In principle a work of art has always been reproducible." This statement is, par excellence, both the gist and the concern he raised to highlight how "art" with the advancement of technology is shaping itself into new forms, thus shaping the perception of people and their thinking. In the process he introduces the term aura which is one of the most commonly invoked terms in media theory. Aura for Benjamin represents the originality and authenticity of a work of art that is not been reproduced. He focused on film and photography as new means of mechanical reproduction, which were the two major technological advances of his time. He links these two new technologies to the change in people's way of thinking and how it affected the various media industries. The artistic medium has changed enormously over the centuries and speaks to the loss of the aura of the original work. The change in perspective and growth has led to the formation of various new mediums due to which the original work of art has lost its "aura". Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayBenjamin was trying to understand the cultural significance of reproductive technology, such as photography that allowed for the mass reproduction of images. This was something that had not yet been encountered at the time of the early twentieth century. He offers an insight into the consequences that cinema and photography were having on the work of art. Since the essay was published more than 80 years ago, reproductive technology has spread even further throughout society through the Internet, smartphones, computer games, enhanced television, augmented reality, and 3D printing. Not only has it proliferated, but it is much more accessible than ever. Benjamin argues that, due to the development of reproductive technologies, distraction has replaced contemplation because it is fundamentally social. Distraction exchanges the viewer's thoughts with a carefully coordinated series of images (films), thus preventing the viewer's imagination from taking on a form of self that is central to understanding a work of art. For Benjamin, contemplation is something that the author asserts on his audience by letting his work of art absorb them thus creating an aura around it. In contrast, distraction involves the audience absorbing the art. This change in the reception of art is due to this state of distraction. A classic example is the case of cinema. “The film with its shock effect meets this mode of reception halfway. The film overshadows the cultic value not only by putting the audience in the position of critic, but also because in the cinema this position does not require attention. The public is an examiner, but a distracted one." Benjamin's perspective emphasizes how an individual and his art form a bond that should endure into its origin for the purposes of preservation. “Even in the most absolute perfection one thing is missing: the here and now of the work of art, its existence in a particular place”. For example, getting an autographed photo with someone won't have the same value if someone buys the photo online because the person hasn't had a chance to interact with the signer, which in itself is a creation of a moment. Benjamin states how technological art creates a new form of alteration through conception. He later mourns the loss of "true art" for a different reason. He firmly believes that every work of art has a certain aura and when it comesreproduced it loses the initial charm it once had. For example, a painting has an aura because it is an original creation. He goes further to say that he is a camera operator on a film set is robbing the audience of the full story because they are only filming and editing what they want and not what the audience deserves to see. Benjamin argues that artists sought and wanted to experiment with new tools that presented themselves to reproduce images, thus pushing the boundaries of their artistic abilities. The camera, for example, gives an artist greater access and ability to reproduce a scene than a sculpture. Furthermore, tools do not always have to be tangible in nature. They can take intangible and abstract forms, such as a computer algorithm for image manipulation. Photo manipulation has become such a huge market in the last eight years that the industry is now valued at more than $1 billion! As Benjamin noted in his essay, with the expansion of publishing almost everyone is free to publish whatever they want. Thus the division between author and audience disappears. What remains is the functional division: the author seems to be an entity who writes at a particular moment and the rest, the audience. Like everything in the world, image manipulation has both a constructive and destructive meaning. The growing phenomenon of “fake news” in conjunction with “transformed images,” something Benjamin perhaps would not have foreseen, has, to say the least, shaken the world. With creative rights going to almost everyone, these destructive forces have shocked the world. Cases of fake photo IDs, fake identities, grooming and revenge have been reported for at least a decade now. Furthermore, one of the things Benjamin saw and addressed in his essay was how "new media" (film and photography in its time, the Internet and its byproducts in the information age) changes the way people interact with each other thanks to a number of exciting opportunities provided by it. It allows interaction, sharing and participation between people simultaneously from multiple locations. “The mechanical reproduction of art changes the reaction of the masses towards art. The reactionary attitude towards a Picasso painting transforms into the progressive reaction towards a Chaplin film. The progressive reaction is characterized by the direct and intimate fusion of visual and emotional enjoyment with the orientation of the expert. This merger has great social significance." The Internet, in our era, has given people the opportunity to be their own creative head, express multimedia products or works of art, and showcase them to a global audience. For this reason, the ever-increasing mass of participants has changed the mode of participation: the way of producing, sharing, enjoying and criticizing the work of art. With the advent of YouTube, a parallel stream of media is emerging, very different from the commercial media Benjamin referenced in his essay. This film movement, if I can call it that, is known for its light content, realism and naturalism, symbolic elements aimed mainly at younger generations and has gained enormous popularity in recent years. This ecosystem has been such that virtually anyone can be a creator, critic, or audience. This has led to the fusion of art and media, reducing the distance between artist and society. Contemporary visual artists have embraced these new technological developments by creating websites as a natural extension of their artistic production. Every artist has the urge to maximize their audience and websites like Instagram and Snapchat have given them the freedom to go and showcase their art. However, the Internet is like an open web forum where there are no lines..