Overview

The Uncanny (German: Das Unheimliche) is a concept famously explored by Sigmund Freud in his 1919 essay. It describes a specific kind of dread or creepiness. Unlike simple fear (which is a reaction to a clear threat), the uncanny is a cognitive dissonance: it is the feeling when something should be familiar and safe (heimlich, meaning “homely”), but is somehow weirdly off or concealed (unheimlich).

Core Idea

The core idea is the return of the repressed. Freud argued that the uncanny arises when something we have repressed (like a childhood fear or a primitive belief) resurfaces in a way that makes us doubt our reality. It is the ambiguity between alive and dead, real and imagined, self and other.

Formal Definition

Freud defines the uncanny as “that class of the frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long familiar.” It is not the unknown that scares us, but the known appearing in an unfamiliar guise.

Intuition

Imagine walking into your own bedroom, but all the furniture has been moved two inches to the left. It is your room, but it feels wrong. That is the uncanny. Or consider a lifelike wax figure. At first glance, it looks like a person (familiar). Then you realize it is not breathing (unfamiliar). The shift from “person” to “object” creates a feeling of revulsion and unease.

Examples

  • Dolls and Automata: Objects that look human but lack life are classic triggers. The fear that a doll might come to life (or that a person might actually be a machine) is a central trope.
  • Doppelgängers: Meeting an exact double of oneself is uncanny because it threatens the unique sense of self and suggests a supernatural duplication.
  • The Uncanny Valley: A concept in robotics and CGI where a human replica that is almost perfect but slightly flawed (e.g., dead eyes) causes a strong negative emotional response, whereas a clearly stylized robot (like R2-D2) does not.
  • Déjà Vu: The feeling that “I have been here before” when you know you haven’t creates a momentary uncanny confusion about time and reality.

Common Misconceptions

  • It’s just “scary”: A monster jumping out of a closet is scary, but not necessarily uncanny. The uncanny requires ambiguity and a link to the familiar.
  • It’s purely supernatural: While often used in ghost stories, the uncanny can be purely psychological or technological (like deepfake videos).
  • The Grotesque: The grotesque involves physical distortion and hybridity. The uncanny involves psychological ambiguity and the double.
  • The Sublime: The sublime is about vastness and awe. The uncanny is about intimacy and dread.
  • Hauntology: A philosophical concept (Derrida) about how the present is haunted by the “ghosts” of the past or lost futures, closely related to the uncanny.

Applications

  • Horror Cinema: Films like The Shining or Us rely heavily on the uncanny (doubles, haunted spaces) rather than just jump scares.
  • Robotics and AI: Designers must navigate the “uncanny valley” to ensure that social robots are accepted by humans rather than rejected as creepy.
  • Literature: The Gothic genre (E.T.A. Hoffmann, Poe) is the playground of the uncanny.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Freud’s Etymology: Critics argue that Freud relies too heavily on the specific German etymology of heimlich/unheimlich, which doesn’t translate perfectly to other languages, potentially limiting the universality of his definition.
  • Vagueness: The term is sometimes applied so broadly to anything “weird” that it loses its specific psychoanalytic meaning.

Further Reading

  • Freud, Sigmund. “The Uncanny” (Das Unheimliche). 1919.
  • Jentsch, Ernst. “On the Psychology of the Uncanny.” 1906. (The essay Freud was responding to).
  • Royle, Nicholas. The Uncanny. 2003.