Jessie May Peters Contextual Studies

What is the uncanny?

January 28, 2011 § 2 Comments

The uncanny is a confusion caused by the similar, a deja vu sentiment of the here and now. This and other weird jolts in the brain, are examples of why I believe there is more to the human mind than nerve endings and electric pulses.

The uncanny is a momentary spark, a connection between two visually near equal parts, which may be completely dissimilar in all other ways. The cyborg which looks so human so as to make the brain empathise with its technologically formed similar attributes; it takes some time for the brain to understand that it has been essentially tricked.

It is a mental loophole. A clear characteristic of our animalistic heritage. When the human mind is faced with an image it is readily comfortable with, only then to be told it is not what it was previously perceived; we are confused and almost defiant that what we are faced with is still what we had originally thought.

We are surrounded by message and meaning, symbol and sign; which we have integrated into our everyday visual language. This applies also to the human face, language, colours and sounds. As they become so normal to our everyday lives, they are taken as fact. But when we are faced with something apparently heeding to this arbitrary law which isn’t what it seems, we are taken aback. The uncanny is a shock that what we are seeing has broken the average measure, and is no longer what we perceive as true or false.