Walter Benjamin discusses about the changes in human perception with time.

He states that human perception is not only a natural process; it is also driven by historical circumstance. This change in perception has caused, as he states, the change in the viewing, understanding and valuation of visual art pieces. History has been blamed to cause these alterations in perception because the change in views caused the art/visuals to decay the aura. The change of perception in the 19th and 20thcentury was the Marxist titled capitalistic society where everything was being multiplied in millions. Commercialism and consumerism needed to become a habit. As tradition and uniqueness go hand in hand, the traditions changed and so did the sense of uniqueness. The sense of standardization and universal equality of things raised itself to the height of decaying the aura. One of the revolutionary forms, photography gave rise to reproduction of visual art, thus causing the sense of pure art to destruct. Benjamin discusses that photography is an effect of modernity that has caused the aura of art to decay. He refers to aura of art as a form that was authentic and unique (not copied or reproduced).It reflects the singular authority of the work of art within itself. It can be said that a painting contains an aura while a photograph, with the availability of copying and multiple ownerships fails to attain the aura such that of a painting. Benjamin derives two diverse types of values where the art is received and valued: one is exhibition value and the other is cult value. The cult value can be the fact that history narrates that art was once a part of magic, it was created to please the spirits (it was created for religious purposes). Some of the monuments and art pieces were hidden under temples for only the priests to visit and enjoy. However the exhibition value, he argues is for political benefits causes the art to be exhibited in a place which might not be holy, the people who come and please from it might be the masses, and unlike the hidden statues the art pieces in exhibitions may have the value of ownership and maybe mobile. Thus it is to say that the exhibition values have degraded or abolished the divinity in the art forms. These are some of the original paintings of popular artists. These pictures have been altered today in order to get commercial success and aid in economical profitability. This shows how exhibition values have taken over the traditions of today. This photo also narrates how exhibition values works politically. This indicates how the image can be altered for political and commercial purposes to benefit from art, hence causing the exhibition values to be prevalent in our society after the capitalistic drive in the 1900s. The realm of photography and film have created a new third function that has given death or aura (authenticity) and is more public and serviceable To understand this phenomenon I would like to give an example of our lives today. In the times when the paintings had an aura, when each painting was unique, people had preferred to put their highest valued belongings such a as a painting in the guest room or living rooms so that the guests and them could enjoy the visual. Even though today paintings are used in living rooms and other parts of the house, many homes are not concerned about the authenticity, they do not feel that they fail to attain the authentic artist piece. This is the exhibition value where the reproduction of art (such as in photography) caused the art of painting to and its aura to die out.

This example narrates that the exhibition value outweighs the cult value only in portraits. The cult values and their existence remind us that the portraits that were used painted were of dead loved ones and people who were not amongst them. It could have been said that the paintings had carried a melancholic aura around them. However the concept of photography changed, or murdered the melancholic aura. Atgets photography of Paris showed that the photographs helped in understanding historical event but it did not create or maintain the melancholic aura of a painting not did it gave the viewer the freedom to enjoy a thought provoking imagination. The changes in tradition have been caused the capitalism that came into the society. Their production of things became easier and hence causing the art to be separated from the cult and attaching with exhibition. The film, unlike the theatre is a combination of the best shots taken by the director .They publish their art by making us believe that this is the best visual series, however it has been edited multiple times to gather the impressive visual effect. The actor, who is acting has no need to excite or interact with the audience. It interacts with the camera, which the audience recognizes as the actor, thought the manipulation of the camera. This manipulation causes the cult values to die out. The actions and art form published is for commercial and political benefits, rather than for cult or cult inspired purposes. The authenticity of films such as transformers narrates how the film as an art form practice exhibition values by portraying fake authenticity. The uniqueness of this film also ends as copies of the film are in ownership of many viewers.