Analysis Of Walter Benjamin's View Of Visual Culture

Walter Benjamin,erudite in fields of literature,philosophy,linguistics and translation studies,is often viewed as the last European intellectual of the twentieth century.As a farsighted genius,he proposes incisive vision towards prevalent Visual culture nowadays.In particular,his insights into cinematography and photography serve as great source in academic construction of contemporary visual cultural theory.In this paper,Benjamin's Visual culture will be illustrated from the following three chapters.Firstly,in chapter one,based on the keyword “visual”,the western visual theory will be introduced from viewpoints of Visual by various representative personages of ancient Greek time,Middle Age and modern times.These interpretations of Visual in historical dimension enable a better understanding of Benjamin's Visual theory.Then the developing background of Benjamin's Visual culture will be discussed from circumstances of his own and the age.Secondly,in chapter two,Benjamin's visual aesthetic views on photography and film will be illustrated.Benjamin proceeds with the replication of photography,bemoans about disappearance fate of the Aura,and responds proactively towards the argument whether photography could be classified as art.As for film,which is closely associated with photography,possesses potential revolutionary function and may arouse the democracy of the audience in Benjamin's view.Thirdly,in chapter three,urban landscape of Benjamin's text will be elaborated.Sampled by Benjamin's favorite city Paris,the consumption culture implications like phenomenon of spectacles,visual machine device and Visual images of Passages Couverts de Paris are analyzed from specific dual contexts of consumption and visual cultures.Then compared with discourses of aural and visual media,it can be deemed that Benjamin believes one important characteristic of modern urban life is featured by visual function which outweighs aural and becomes the predominant means of perception in daily life.As is stated above,through the analysis of Benjamin's Visual culture theory,it might provide some hints to reexamine the practical significance of visual culture in contemporary circumstances.