Dark & Twisty

After reading Freud’s treatise on the uncanny in horror, I started seeing the uncanny everywhere.  I will note that I have not had an antennae, cable, or satellite since 2006, but I do watch DVD’s often. 

One of the first places I noticed this uncanny use was on Star Trek: The Next Generation.  The character of Lt. Commander Data fits into the uncanny.  He is an artificial life form who acts like a living human.  He lacks certain qualities of humanity, however.  He cannot emote.  When he attempts to mimic human emotions, the attempt always seems creepy.  His laughter is stilted; his smiles insincere.  Data is like the puppet or the automaton.  He is likeable, however, because we feel for him.

Then I noticed the uncanny in play on the old British series, Are You Being Served?  One of the continuing gags on that show was the display items used to advertise products.  Many of the displays imitate human behavior and at times are mistaken for actual humans.  I remember the episode where the dancing robots, which are very creepy looking, end up being entered into a dance contest instead of the actual human dancers.  Then there was the episode with the robotic father Christmas that flashes people. 

The Twilight Zone besides having numerous episodes of the uncanny, of course has the eyeball at the beginning.  Eyes are so heavily used in the literature of the uncanny.  I think of the Dark Tower Series where the eye represents the Crimson King.  It was part o the uncanny too. 

Now I hate the uncanny because I see it everywhere.  Everywhere I look, even talking with my patients, I find that some of their delusions fall into the uncanny.  They talk about all powerful creatures, living human-like creatures or mannequins.  Delusional ideation about how we can see their souls through their eyes.