The End

In this class we started with Once Upon a Time, and now it's time for the ending. Is it a happy one? Well... it would have been, but the last chapter was kind of depressing. All this talk of virtual worlds, and no more new thoughts and computers taking over. I liked the last chapter, not nearly as much as I liked a majority of the book though. Here's something I didn't quite understand: "Benjamin predicted that the new age of mass reproduction and technological communications would threaten the traditional practices of imaginative creation, and our 'ability to exchange experiences" (178). Why would it change any of those? Doesn't mass reproduction give you the ability to exchange your experiences with a wider audience? Isn't it a writers and poets dream to be published? Which in itself is an endorsement of mass reproduction. Maybe I am not understanding this section at all. I understand if someone was plagiarizing your work, but reproduction of (lets say art) allows me (someone who doesn't half millions of dollars to drop on a Pollock painting) to purchase a print of it that may not convey as much meaning as the original, but it still conveys a meaning to me (the purchaser of the print). And although I think Andy Warhol was a little to full of himself when he said he can create 4,000 works in 24 hours, if he could do that and sell it at a decent (normal people can buy) price, wouldn't you want to own one? I think I would. Or is it only worth while if he did the painting once? Again, maybe I have misinterpreted the meaning behind that section, but that's why I'm confused.