The Aestheticisation of Politics in the Digital Age: From Leni Riefenstahl to Computational Propaganda with AI

This article examines the evolution of the aestheticisation of politics and mass propaganda, tracing a comparative line between the cinematic techniques of Leni Riefenstahl in Nazi Germany and contemporary strategies of computational propaganda and generative artificial intelligence (AI). Drawing on Walter Benjamin's theoretical frameworks on the "aura" of the work of art and the aestheticisation of politics, and on Susan Sontag's "fascinating fascism", it is argued that generative AI represents a new phase in mass manipulation. This technology amplifies and personalises historical propaganda tactics, eroding the "aura" of truth and contributing to an epistemic collapse. Through a critical-comparative analysis, the study aims to offer a theoretical framework connecting historical propaganda to its digital counterpart, highlighting continuities and discontinuities, and exploring the ethical and social implications of AI in the public sphere.