Benjamin reads Brecht: cinema e estrangement

Abstract

The influence of Bertolt Brecht on Walter Benjamin is usually related to the assimilation of the critical Marxist tradition by the latter. The present article seeks to carry out an immanent and theoretical critique of the work of both authors, pursuing to investigate other possible aspects of this influence. On that ground, the goal is to demonstrate that the "distancing effect" (Verfremdungseffekt in German) employed by Brecht in his epic theatre plays a crucial role in the way Benjamin analyses the art of filming and appears in the four versions of the "The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" essay, as well as in his theory about the "aura".