The Passion of the Christ & The Last Supper

In Walter Benjamin's article, he compares the painter to the cameraman and a painting to film. A difference Benjamin states is "It presents a process in which it is impossible to assign to a spectator a viewpoint which would exclude from the actual scene such extraneous accessories as camera equipment, lighting machinery, staff assistants, etc.—unless his eye were on a line parallel with the lens.". With film, the one I found was the Passion of the Christ, the audience is limited to the viewpoint given to them by the camera. The audience cannot choose to look and observe but instead must follow the camera angles at all the given images. However, with a painting it is different. A painting is there as a whole and the viewer is able to see the image without the force of a particular angle. Benjamin writes "That of the painter is a total one, that of the cameraman consists of multiple fragments which are assembled under a new law.". Paintings and artwork in general can be observed and analyzed wholly, but a film is but fragments put together and therefore must be analyzed and observed in pieces.
Paintings and film create different reactions whether it be about the same subject or not. Benjamin asserts, "Thus the same public which responds in a progressive manner toward a grotesque film is bound to respond in a reactionary manner to surrealism." in section 12. The two medias i chose were about the same topic: Christianity. However, both medias arouse different reactions and emotions. The film, Passion of the Christ, creates sympathy for Jesus Christ and may cause an "awakening" reaction to some. The painting, however, develops a satisfied feeling. The painting creates a life-like scene of the Last Supper of Jesus Christ and his twelve disciples. Jesus's face looks content and thankful. Because Jesus is the main icon in the painting, center-stage with a gap around him to help him "protrude" out of the picture compared to the other people in the picture, the viewer concentrates on his feelings and emotions and therefore beccomes emphathetic towards his emotions.
Benjamin also compares the cameraman and the painter buy using the surgeon with the magician, respectively. He states, "In short, in contrast to the magician—who is still hidden in the medical
practitioner—the surgeon at the decisive moment abstains from facing the patient man to man; rather, it is through the operation that he penetrates into him.". Paintings are able to "play with reality" to a certain extent. However, film has a much broader range to "toy" with reality. The cameraman is able to penetrate into reality and possibly go even farther than reality. Close-ups, slow motion, fast motion, and etc. causes a new sense of realistic mode.

The Passion of the Christ

The Last Supper