LEH-300 - FINAL EXAM

MICHELLE SEMPLE-KING  -  FINAL EXAM  LEH-300

 1)B

2) D

3) B

4) C

5) C

 6) B

 7) C

 8) B

 9) A

10) B

11) A

12) A

13) B

14) A

15) D

16) C

17) D

18) C

19) D

20) B

21) B

22) C

23) A

24) D

25) C

26) D

Walter Benjamin "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

                          Walter Benjamin "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

                 Ernst Junger and Walter Benjamin’s expressed their views on photography in somewhat divergent ways. Junger’s views tended to focus on the visual and perceptual examination of photography while Benjamin’s views had a more psychoanalytic focus. Vision the most frequently studied of our five senses is an important factor necessary for perception the process by which the brain organizes and interprets sensory information to take place.

                Junger describes photographs as standing outside the zone of sensitivity, visualized by an insensitive and invulnerable eye and having a telescopic quality. He further states that photographs grant us a peculiar way of seeing and is consequently an instrument of our peculiar nature. According to Junger we are able to detach our feelings because we do not look at photographs as closely associated to ourselves but only a medium which allows us to see details of things the naked eye would not enable us to see e.g. capturing a bullet in midflight and a man at the moment a bullet tears him apart. Technology’s fast pace he further states have made us so tolerant that it is as if we look at photographs with a fixed gaze that registers but does not really see and our eyes have been transformed into a neutral instrument that registers movement but with  an empty gaze.

                Junger states that because of this build up of tolerance for cruelty and subsequent  detachment from what we visualize, photography can be described as an expression of our peculiarly cruel way of seeing, which is ultimately a kind of “evil eye “or magical possession.

                Walter Benjamin on the other hand states that photographs allow us access to the optical unconscious because the camera introduces us to unconscious optics in the same way as psychoanalysis to unconscious impulses. “Psychoanalysis is a method of psychotherapy originally formulated by Sigmund Freud that emphasizes unconscious motives and conflicts.”  According to Benjamin when we look at photographs the eye is likely to encounter images that exceed its capabilities of reading. These images are not just mere representations but allow us to experience new image worlds that need interpreting in the same way that psychoanalysts interpret our unconscious selves.

QUIZ # 2- NIHILISM IN GERMANY

NIHILISM IN GERMANY

QUIZ # 2.   

1.1.  D- All of the above

1.2.  A - Article 48

1.3.  C - Social Democratic Party  (SPD)

1.4.  C - People.

1.5.  The three forms of domination (authority) that Weber speaks about are :
(1)Rational legal authority; 
(2)Traditional Authority
(3) Charismatic authority

Rational- Legal Authority:-" is the rule by legal statutes and administrative procedures. This type of authority depends for its legitimacy on formal rules and established laws of the state.Government officials are the best example of this form of authority."

Traditional Authority:- "is the rule by those considered traditional elites such as kings and is derived from established customs, habits and social structures. This type of power passes from one generation to another."
Charismatic Authority:-  "is rule by ‘gift of grace’ or when the leader claims that his authority is derived from a "higher power" (e.g. God or natural law or rights) or "inspiration",

1.6.   D - An organization that monopolizes the use of force in a territory.

1.7.   C - 1933

Nazism

The most captivating scene that caught my attention in the film “triumph of the will” was the scene at the rally, where stretching over a wide area are what appears to be  hundreds of thousands of followers of Hitler (soldiers/ Nazi party members) arranged in perfect symmetrical  rows and columns almost looking like a geometrical drawing arranged against a central backdrop of the German/Nazi flags and a wide central paved walkway. Down this walkway Hitler and two of his top officials strut as they survey the unending sea of humans swept up in the fanatical wave of adulation and praise of their beloved leader.
This scene of itself speaks of the unbelievable hold and control Hitler had over the German people. To stand in such perfect formation, took tremendous patience,discipline and concentration. One’s personal feelings or needs took a back seat to the praise and almost idol worship reserved for Hitler by his followers.Love and service to Germany and Hitler seemed to mean more to his followers than their own comfort and needs. Although when looked at against the backdrop of the hardships of the Germans in the not too distant past, this was hopefully an escape for the people; a chance to aspire to and actually believe that all of this was for the betterment of self and country.
I choose this scene because it speaks to me about how if people feel like they have lost all (have hit rock bottom) and there’is someone who appears saying all they want to hear, it is very easy to be caught up in the wave movement and loose the ability to think things through for oneself.