I definitely think that a feeling for the uncanny is a valuable
sensibility for an artist to develop. It’s important for artists to be aware of what “the uncanny” does to an
audience. Personally, I enjoy when something onstage bothers me a little bit,
and I like to analyze why. In Frankenstein
when the creature came to life I was both nervous and a little
uncomfortable, because of how well the actor portrayed the monster. The entire time he was onstage I was one
hundred percent zoned in to his actions, because I was slightly nervous about his unpredictable nature. The monster is a purposeful use of "the uncanny" because it has the audience wondering about the creature and what he is capable of. It is unsettling seeing this thing onstage that suggests humanity, but isn't a naturalistic human form. I think “the uncanny” can be used as a
tool to help audiences really tune in to the action onstage. When people are
completely comfortable with what they are watching, it gets easier to tune out.
If the material of what is being watched is strange, off the beaten path or “uncanny”
than oftentimes audiences are more engaged, and want to keep the
conversation going after they leave the show. Like the robots we studied in class, despite the fact that we may feel uncomfortable looking at them, there is also a part of us that is intrigued by something that is eerie and out of the norm.
Andie, I completely agree that it is the uncanny that often makes an audience pay attention to the action unfolding before them. I know that i tend to zone out when I get to comfortable in a show or when I can easily predict what's happening. I had a similar but kind of opposite experience with watching Frankenstein. I was actually more concerned about the actions of the humans than the monster. The way that the fully naturalistic humans in the show were written made me have that eerie feeling because it made me more aware of the fact that humans can be the monsters and it's humans who sort of get caught and bring havoc on themselves and others. The uncanny feeling was that human can be so blinded by desires that there sympathies can turn off.
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