Walter Benjamin Reading

It seems that Walter Benjamin is saying that an "art object" is diminished in an audience's reaction to it when it is mechanically reproduced through photographic means. For example, films are generally for the sake of enjoyment and entertainment and not seen as "art" in general, compared to a painting which is almost always critiqued first, then looked at for its aesthetics. A work of photographic recording is embellished in its value by the mechanisms themselves: they record exactly what is in front of the camera, which allows for interpretation. Though the placement and manipulation of the camera elements is the duty and license of the filmmaker, these formats are at the minimum less abstracted than media such as painting or drawing.