kiwi, 9/11

This week in class we discussed the concepts of authenticity and originality and which one comes first when describing an object. The original thing had more value than authenticity. Benjamin wrote in 1936, “What happens to the work of art when it is constantly reproduced is lost with no value.” FREE Original Hamburger—what is the meaning of this? Get all hamburgers free, but which one is the original one? We struggle to understand which is original and which is real now more than society did back in 1936.
In class, Dr. Rog showed a Harvey Hamburger advertisement that had a mound of hamburgers on it that looked all the same. At the bottom of the advertisement, it said… “This Sunday is Harvey’s Hamburger day, Free original hamburger” But the question is… what is original? If all of the hamburgers physically look the same and taste the same, how can just one hamburger be an “original hamburger” because there are millions of them. How can one decipher between original hamburger A and original hamburger B? Are they talking about an authentic hamburger? This is something we don’t really know, yet no one really takes the time to consider these things. For example, the other day I asked a friend… what do you consider original? She used a piece of art in her explanation. She considered an original piece of art one that is unique but does not necessarily have to be different from its genre. I could see her frustration in trying to decipher original from authentic. “The presence of the original is the prerequisite to the concept of authenticity” (20) The presence implies I am physically here and it is physically here, unless it is physically here, it is not authentic. I have come to the notion that it is nearly impossible to define original and authentic without somehow one crossing the other.