Compare:

A.

B.

In Benjamin’s “The work of art in the age
of mechanical reproduction,” he states that art has “its presence in time and
space” (220) and that the mechanical reproduction of the original art will be “to
pry an object from its shell, to destroy its aura” (223). An authentic work of
art emits aura as it is put into the context of the author’s intentions of the
creation and the surrounding environment during such artistic production. Thus
aura can be said to be the essence or the value of a piece of art. For
example, may it be painted or photographed, a portrait gives out an aura of
remembrance. It brings out memories of when the portrait was created, of the
person in general, as well as the emotions associated with the person.

In the creation of a work of art, technological
development, namely widely distributed use of computers, limits the amount of
aura that can be felt by the audience. For example, when an idea is formed in
one’s mind and is put into words on a Microsoft Word document, due to the
uniformity the program purses, the personal aura of the artist is made hazy to
the viewer of the final product.