The Aura of Yoda

In Walter Benjamin’s essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technical Reproducibility,” Benjamin discusses the idea of an “Aura” of authenticity. The first thing that came to my mind when regarding this issue was the Jedi Master from the Star Wars films, Yoda. In the original works, including Episodes IV, V and VI, Yoda was presented in I believe his truest form, as a puppet. The “Aura” of Yoda was clear and present and could not be matched. As Yoda was reproduced later, in the prequel movies, and in figurines and in videogames, I felt as though some part of him was lost. As a puppet, you could “feel” as though he was really on the planet of Dagobah with Luke Skywalker.

Many years later, when the prequel movies were created, a newer CGI version of Yoda was produced, which made myself feel cheated, because he longer was apart of his environment but rather added in afterward. Part of Yoda’s “Aura” was lost for me, he was no longer the goofy little alien I met once on Degobah but someone completely different, because of the changes that had been made.

After the huge success of the movies, it is reasonable to assume, that merchandise would be made in order to make tons of money. This was on the part of George Lucas a fantastic idea, although a Yoda backpack (which I think is kinda awesome) and a Christmas Time Yoda (not so awesome) are mass produced for consumers, and lose the originality in which the first puppet Yoda represented.




As previously stated, puppet Yoda had an "Aura" of originality about him which was lost through reproduction and reimagining. Furthermore, Yoda presented in videogames and through Mechinima brings him to a place where I believe the creators had never imagined.


So what is Yoda now? Has his original "Aura" been lost completely? I feel as though mass production of him on so many different levels has brought him to a point where it is hard to determine what he represents anymore. Although I feel as though his "Aura" of originality may have been lost, he is still pretty amazing to me.