According to Benjamin, advancements in reproduction have always followed the advancements at which art is created. Reproductions will always be made but they will never have the same authenticity.

The way some photographs show authenticity are through physical wear due to the elements and changes in ownership.

Benjamin uses the term aura as meaning an overall feel/vibe of a piece of art. Aura is lost when art work is mass produced because once it is mass produced then art becomes overplayed and loses its value.

According to Benjamin, cult value is the original value of a work before it is shown to the world. Cult value is what it means to the creator and those he chooses to show it to. Exhibition value is what outsiders make of it. To an artist, a work can be thought as a throw away; but to the world it can be a masterpiece.

“Just as water, gas, and electricity are brought into our houses from far off to satisfy our needs in response to a minimal effort, so we shall be supplied with visual or auditory images, which will appear and disappear at a simple movement of the hand, hardly more than a sign.”
        To me, this tells a lot about how most americans go on with there lives. People are exposed to so much and rarely do they look past themselves to see it. They live at the surface, experiencing new things everyday but never diving in to get a further understanding. Every other day you hear a different tragedy on the news and then it fades away like every other, never to be resolved or have closure. People are always in need of new stimulus but never acting on that stimulus, they have one to make them forget about another and they just trudge on in life. There is so much to experience in life but people choose to live in the realm that they know is safe and true.