Death of a Salesman and 300


Presented here are two different movie clips. The first, a video of the stage performance of Death of a Salesman, a play written by Arthur Miller. The second is a clip from the first battle in the movie 300, directed by Zack Snyder. (Watching both clips in their entirety is not necessary to understand this post.)

A play and a movie, both masterpieces in their own right, Death of a Salesman winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and 300 winning Best Dramatic Film and Best Action Film in 2007. Based on his 1935 essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," it appears Walter Benjamin would not appreciate 300 as a work of art because all it does is "spur the interest of the masses through illusion - promoting spectacles and dubious speculations" with the special effects generated by a computer (Section X). Along with these "illusions," Benjamin would also criticize the use of screen cuts because having the ability to go and cut films together "strikingly shows that art has left the realm of the 'beautiful semblance'" (Section IX). Benjamin believes that the beauty behind performances comes not from images, but from the "aura" attached to a performer. As Benjamin put it, "for aura is tied to his presence; there can be no replica of it" (IX). In 300, you see only what the camera sees and you can only hear what the microphone hears, but that is it. You do not experience the performance, you simply observe it and, as the audience, you "take the position of a critic" (VIII). If you are at a traditional theater with stage and you witness a performance like Death of a Salesman, you do more than just observe it. You experience it, the aura of the actors and their respective characters surround you: this is art.