--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The film is the first art form capable of…" description: "\"The film is the first art form capable of demonstrating how matter plays tricks on man.\" — Walter Benjamin" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b7/walter-benjamin-1723_art_the-film-is-the-first-art-form-capable-o_2917215.jpg" --- # The film is the first art form capable of demonstrating… ![“The film is the first art form capable of demonstrating how matter plays tricks on man.” quote by Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b7/walter-benjamin-1723_art_the-film-is-the-first-art-form-capable-o_2917215.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b7/walter-benjamin-1723_art_the-film-is-the-first-art-form-capable-o_2917215.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b7/walter-benjamin-1723_art_the-film-is-the-first-art-form-capable-o_2917215.jpg) > “The film is the first art form capable of demonstrating how matter plays tricks on man.” [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Film uniquely reveals how physical reality can deceive human perception, exposing the tricks of matter. **In simple terms:** Film shows reality’s deceptive nature. Key Takeaway Question appearances and seek deeper truth. Themes art perception reality Mood analytical thoughtful Type academic philosophical When to use this quote - cinema studies - visual arts - critical thinking Key Concepts philosophy media studies Questions to Reflect On - How does film shape perception? - What techniques reveal truth? A Different Perspective Visual media can also reinforce falsehoods. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art form](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-form/) [Cinema](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cinema/) [Deception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deception/) [Film](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/film/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/play/) ## Related quotes > [“Knowing the same tricks a con man knows is the best way to protect yourself from him. -Naru”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shiho-inada/knowing-the-same-tricks-a-con-man-knows-is-the-best-way-to-protect/) [Shiho Inada](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shiho-inada/) > [BRAND doesn't matter, all matter is who PLAYS with it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tapasvi-vyas/brand-doesn-t-matter-all-matter-is-who-plays-with-it/) [Tapasvi Vyas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tapasvi-vyas/) > [Film is the only art form whose raw materials are so horrendously expensive that the artist cannot afford to buy them for himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlton-heston/film-is-the-only-art-form-whose-raw-materials-are-so-horrendously/) [Charlton Heston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlton-heston/) > [To make a good film is an art. Gender is irrelevant when it comes to craft of filmmaking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoya-akhtar/to-make-a-good-film-is-an-art-gender-is-irrelevant-when-it-comes-to/) [Zoya Akhtar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoya-akhtar/) > ['Australian Rules' was such a beautiful film - it was art for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-phillips/australian-rules-was-such-a-beautiful-film-it-was-art-for-me/) [Nathan Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-phillips/) > [You should look straight at a film; that's the only way to see one. 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But it begins with money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-flanagan/film-is-the-art-of-turning-money-into-light-and-light-into-money-but/) [Richard Flanagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-flanagan/) > [By using formula in filmmaking we are admitting that film is not art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/signe-baumane/by-using-formula-in-filmmaking-we-are-admitting-that-film-is-not-art/) [Signe Baumane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/signe-baumane/) > [asically, we got to know other and openly trade stories, and had some time to prep. As far as the 'going too far' thing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luke-kirby/asically-we-got-to-know-other-and-openly-trade-stories-and-had-some/) [Luke Kirby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luke-kirby/) > [Academia is the death of cinema. It is the very opposite of passion. Film is not the art of scholars, but of illiterates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/academia-is-the-death-of-cinema-it-is-the-very-opposite-of-passion/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [“Without that discovery of the "moving photo," the world today would not be what it is: the new technology has become, primo, the principal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/without-that-discovery-of-the-moving-photo-the-world-today-would-not/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [Film is not the art of scholars, but of illiterates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/film-is-not-the-art-of-scholars-but-of-illiterates/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [I come from a film background as I studied film at art school.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonobo/i-come-from-a-film-background-as-i-studied-film-at-art-school/) [Bonobo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonobo/) > [I felt film is art and there are people that constructed that art - and that made me want to be a filmmaker.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-kinberg/i-felt-film-is-art-and-there-are-people-that-constructed-that-art-and/) [Simon Kinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-kinberg/) ## More by Walter Benjamin > [All efforts to render politics aesthetic culminate in one thing: war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/all-efforts-to-render-politics-aesthetic-culminate-in-one-thing-war/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“The construction of life is at present in the power of facts far more than of convictions, and of such facts as have scarcely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-construction-of-life-is-at-present-in-the-power-of-facts-far-more/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“It should be pointed out that certain correlative concepts retain their meaning, and possibly their foremost significance, if they are referred exclusively to man.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/it-should-be-pointed-out-that-certain-correlative-concepts-retain/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Allegories are, in the realm of thought, what ruins are in the realm of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/allegories-are-in-the-realm-of-thought-what-ruins-are-in-the-realm-of/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Things are only mannequins and even the great world-historical events are only costumes beneath which they exchange glances with nothingness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/things-are-only-mannequins-and-even-the-great-world-historical-events/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“to great writers, finished works weigh lighter than those fragments on which they labor their entire lives.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/to-great-writers-finished-works-weigh-lighter-than-those-fragments-on/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [All religions have honored the beggar. 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But in its tenacious self-absorption it embraces dead objects in its contemplation, in order to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/melancholy-betrays-the-world-for-the-sake-of-knowledge-but-in-its/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [For what is the program of the bourgeois parties? A bad poem on springtime, filled to bursting with metaphors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/for-what-is-the-program-of-the-bourgeois-parties-a-bad-poem-on/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [There was the pedestrian who wedged himself into the crowd, but there was also the flneur who demanded elbow room and was unwilling to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/there-was-the-pedestrian-who-wedged-himself-into-the-crowd-but-there/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [The power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out. Only the copied text thus commands the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-power-of-a-text-is-different-when-it-is-read-from-when-it-is/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Quotations in my work are like wayside robbers who leap out armed and relieve the stroller of his conviction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/quotations-in-my-work-are-like-wayside-robbers-who-leap-out-armed-and/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Each morning the day lies like a fresh shirt on our bed; this incomparably fine, incomparably tightly woven tissue of pure prediction fits us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/each-morning-the-day-lies-like-a-fresh-shirt-on-our-bed-this/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) [Explore all 207 Walter Benjamin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. 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You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. 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