The Uncanny (Freud)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Uncanny (Ger. Das Unheimliche) is a Freudian concept of an instance where something can be familiar, yet foreign at the same time, resulting in a feeling of it being uncomfortably strange [1].
Because the uncanny is familiar, yet strange, it often creates cognitive dissonance within the experiencing subject due to the paradoxical nature of being attracted to, yet repulsed by an object at the same time. This cognitive dissonance often leads to an outright rejection of the object, as one would rather reject than rationalize.
Contents |
[edit] History
The state is first identified by Ernst Jentsch in a 1906 essay, "On the Psychology of the Uncanny." Jentsch defines the uncanny as: "doubts whether an apparently animate being is really alive; or conversely, whether a lifeless object might not be in fact animate" [2], and expands upon its use in fiction:
| “ | In telling a story one of the most successful devices for easily creating uncanny effects is to leave the reader in uncertainty whether a particular figure in the story is a human being or an automaton and to do it in such a way that his attention is not focused directly upon his uncertainty, so that he may not be led to go into the matter and clear it up immediately. [3] | ” |
The concept was later elaborated on and developed by Sigmund Freud in his 1919 essay "The Uncanny" as follows:
| “ | The German word 'unheimlich' is obviously the opposite of 'heimlich' ['homely'], 'heimisch' ['native'] the opposite of what is familiar; and we are tempted to conclude that what is 'uncanny' is frightening precisely because it is not known and familiar. Naturally not everything that is new and unfamiliar is frightening, however; the relation is not capable of inversion.[4] | ” |
Both Freud and Jentsch identify German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann as a writer who utilizes uncanny effects in his work, with Freud identifying Hoffman as the "unrivalled master of the uncanny in literature." Much of Freud's essay is devoted to an analysis of uncanny effects in Hoffmann's story "The Sand-Man" ("Der Sandmann").
[edit] Related Theories
This concept is closely related to Julia Kristeva's concept of abjection where one reacts adversely to that which has been forcefully cast out of the symbolic order. Abjection can be uncanny in that the observer can recognize something within the abject, possibly of what it was before it was 'cast out', yet be repulsed by what it is that made it cast out to begin with.
Roboticist Masahiro Mori's "uncanny valley" hypothesis (describing human reactions to human-like robots) is deeply indebted to Jentsch and Freud's observations.
[edit] Etymology
To be canny, the root of the word, is to be knowing [5], so therefore, uncanny is to be un-knowing. The word 'uncanny' is a misnomer of sorts due to its prefix 'un'. Since the uncanny is a contradictory state and 'un' merely negates the root rather than contradict it, the word itself does not convey its actual meaning.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~amtower/uncanny.html Das Unheimliche (essay)
- ^ http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~amtower/uncanny.html Das Unheimliche (essay)
- ^ http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~amtower/uncanny.html Das Unheimliche (essay)
- ^ http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~amtower/uncanny.html Das Unheimliche (essay)
- ^ http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/canny Dictionary.com, definition of canny
