As a professional scholar in film and television studies, I am attracted by the junction of postmodernism and media, which both emphasize fragmentation, reproduction, and experience. In this context, Virgil Widrich’s 2001 short film The Copy Shop is an engaging case study that investigates the impact of mechanical duplication on identity, originality, and temporality within a postmodern framework.
Collage, pastiche, and simulacrum are central to postmodernism, which differs significantly from traditional notions of authenticity. Walter Benjamin’s famous essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” provides a valuable perspective on this trend. Benjamin contends that replication destroys the “aura” of the unique artwork, reframing it as a commodity susceptible to new ways of perception. The protagonist in The Copy Shop represents this deterioration. The protagonist is an unlucky shopkeeper who becomes trapped in a Kafkaesque vortex of copying – his body, identity, and reality.
Widrich’s artistic choices are critical for portraying these concerns. Mechanical reproduction is like an unstoppable trend that propels people’s life. The film’s director (who also wrote the screenplay) has been attempting to encourage the audience to consider this “mechanical reproduction” from three perspectives: A. the ontological character of art; B. the social nature of art; and C. the evolution of human life. In The Copy Shop, the protagonist’s existential crisis, which stems from his own unintended copying, emphasizes the postmodernist fear of losing oneself in an image-filled society.
Throughout history, the manner of human perceptual cognition has changed with the change of the group’s overall way of life; hence, mechanical reproduction, which changes the people’s way of existence, will also change their perceptual cognition and idea. The artwork with “light rhythm” and “worshipfulness” disappeared and was replaced by the artwork of the mechanical reproduction age, such as “Pop Art”.
The dilemma does not end here; artwork serves both an aesthetic and a social role. The artwork’s attractiveness fades when it is used for its aesthetic function. In terms of social function, it has a broader impact. Mechanical reproduction of works of art tends to “fly into the homes of ordinary people”. The social function of art prompted a crisis of modernization of human nature as well as a massive upheaval of tradition, which is the opponent of innovation.
Furthermore, The Copy Shop is consistent with Jean Baudrillard’s concept of surrealism, which eliminates the line between reality and simulation. As the protagonist’s copies spread uncontrollably, the film’s plot becomes a metaphor for the postmodern predicament. The distinction between the “real” shopkeeper and his clones’ blurs, calling into question the meaning of identity in an era of limitless technological replication. In this regard, the film supports Baudrillard’s claim that in surrealism, representation not only reflects, but replaces, reality.
What appeals to me most about this film and the bigger debate it contains is its ability to address these profound philosophical topics through visual storytelling. Film as a media holds a distinct place within postmodernism. It is intrinsically replicable, but it can invoke the ineffable through the interaction of image, music, and narrative. My interest in film and television studies stems from the medium’s power to both degrade and reconstruct meaning, fracture and reorganize our perception of reality.
The Copy Shop exemplifies the themes that inspire my study in the rapidly expanding subject of media studies: how can technical breakthroughs affect narrative forms and philosophical debates? What does it mean to be “original” in the digital era? Most significantly, how do we use film to interpret and critique our own postmodern reality? These are the questions that drive me to continue my passionate and rigorous research in this sector.
(Image from copy shop movie poster)