Analyzing The “Uncanny”
The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives two definitions of the word uncanny. The first definition defines it as being something that seems to have a supernatural character or origin. The second definition defines it as something that is beyond normal or beyond what is expected. In Sigmund Freud’s The “Uncanny,” Freud describes “uncanny” as a term that brings a feeling of “dread and creeping horror” (Freud 1) to a person. Freud further explains in his description that the “uncanny” can be undefinable at times. Throughout the rest of his essay, Freud tries to define and describe what the “uncanny” is. The journal articles written by Robin Lydenberg, Howard F. Stein, and Roswitha Mueller help to expand Sigmund Freud’s interpretation …show more content…
The Shining is a film that was made in 1980. The movie tells the story of a father who becomes violent after him and his family encounter an evil and spiritual presence while on vacation at an isolated hotel. The man’s son is psychic and can see the horrific events of the past, as well as foreseeing the horrific events to come in the future. Freud describes the uncanny as a feeling of dread. The Shining is not a traditional horror movie in the fact that there are scary monsters. There is a sense of horror and a sense of dread throughout the entire movie. There are many scenes where things just do not seem quite right. There is a sense of uncertainty. Towards the middle of his essay, Freud discusses what is called the “double.” “These themes are all concerned with the phenomenon of the ‘double,’ which appears in every shape and in every degree of (the uncanny) development. Thus we have characters who are to be considered identical because they look alike. This relation is accentuated by mental processes leaping from one of these characters to another — by what we should call telepathy —, so that the one possesses knowledge, feelings and experience in common with the other” (Freud 9).One example of this found in The Shining is the twins. Danny, the little boy, sees the twins multiple times. They haunt him and ask him to play with him. He sees them “alive” and he sees a vision of them after they have been
The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives two definitions of the word uncanny. The first definition defines it as being something that seems to have a supernatural character or origin. The second definition defines it as something that is beyond normal or beyond what is expected. In Sigmund Freud’s The “Uncanny,” Freud describes “uncanny” as a term that brings a feeling of “dread and creeping horror” (Freud 1) to a person. Freud further explains in his description that the “uncanny” can be undefinable at times. Throughout the rest of his essay, Freud tries to define and describe what the “uncanny” is. The journal articles written by Robin Lydenberg, Howard F. Stein, and Roswitha Mueller help to expand Sigmund Freud’s interpretation …show more content…
The Shining is a film that was made in 1980. The movie tells the story of a father who becomes violent after him and his family encounter an evil and spiritual presence while on vacation at an isolated hotel. The man’s son is psychic and can see the horrific events of the past, as well as foreseeing the horrific events to come in the future. Freud describes the uncanny as a feeling of dread. The Shining is not a traditional horror movie in the fact that there are scary monsters. There is a sense of horror and a sense of dread throughout the entire movie. There are many scenes where things just do not seem quite right. There is a sense of uncertainty. Towards the middle of his essay, Freud discusses what is called the “double.” “These themes are all concerned with the phenomenon of the ‘double,’ which appears in every shape and in every degree of (the uncanny) development. Thus we have characters who are to be considered identical because they look alike. This relation is accentuated by mental processes leaping from one of these characters to another — by what we should call telepathy —, so that the one possesses knowledge, feelings and experience in common with the other” (Freud 9).One example of this found in The Shining is the twins. Danny, the little boy, sees the twins multiple times. They haunt him and ask him to play with him. He sees them “alive” and he sees a vision of them after they have been