Have you ever arranged your trophies on the self in a very particular order to leave the room and come back in to see one out of place? That creepy feeling you get thinking how could they move on their own? Or have you ever felt your very special stuffed animal or security blanket had a voice? That lifeless object has come alive. As Freud states on page 5 in The Uncanny, “ …whether a lifeless object might not be in fact animate”. In Sigmund’s collection of essays he examines just this; the strange, mysterious, eerie feeling of the familiar but yet unfamiliar.
In Freud’s collection of stories titled, “The Uncanny,” he explains “What is “uncanny” is frightening precisely because it is not known and familiar” (Sigmund 2). He then goes on to say that what “is new and unfamiliar is frightening” (2). Freud maintains that the uncanny is something new that already exists in something familiar or already known. However, there are many components that make up the uncanny. Some of the components of “The Uncanny”, as explored by Freud, are demonstrated in the novel, Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, and the film, The Shining, produced by Stanley Kubrick.
Both the book and the movie use elements of fear, repetition, doubling and concepts of the unknown and the familiar. “The Uncanny” is a collection of essays that Freud wrote in order to explain the unconscious mind and the power it has over our minds and fears. Freud maintains that there is the part of the mind we use every day and a part of the mind that is not always known but is very powerful. He suggests that the unconscious mind may hold repressed fears or feelings. Like in the story of the “Sand-Man” Freud examines the power of the mind and the fear of getting one’s eyes torn out of their head.
Nathaniel: In spite of his present happiness, he cannot banish the memories associated with the mysterious and terrifying death of his father he loved” (Sigmund 5). This part of the article shows how repressed feelings can be very powerful and the element of fear and anxiety that Nathanial might have eyes “put in a sack” by a wicked man is abosulutly terrifying. Similar to Freud’s essay, Gaiman’s novel, Coraline, as well as the film, The Shining, both explore concepts of the uncanny through the use of fear. This novel can cause the reader to feel qualities of fear because the reader can actually relate to the characters’ experiences.
For example, people are fearful of damaging their eyes or other body parts, they are afraid of unknown objects or creatures coming alive, and people are also scared of someone being similar to them in strange ways. Like in Coraline the “other mother and father” are similar to her but different all at once. When she went exploring on the other side of the flat Coraline felt the “other” house was familiar yet strange. “She looked around the room. It was so familiar- that was what made it feel so truly strange (Gaiman 101). This is a scary feeling a feeling of fear for Coraline.
An example in the movie the Shining of seeing something that seems familiar but could actually be in Danny’s imagination is when Danny sees the twins, the Grady sisters, bloody near the elevator in the hallway. We don’t know in the beginning if this is something he is imagining or if it is something that occurs in the future. It is in fact a super natural power of Danny that one can link to Freud’s opinion of the uncanny; Familiar to Danny, yet strange, mysterious, fearful. Likewise, in “The Sand-man” story, which Freud refers to, retells the story where if the children misbehave the Sandman will come and rip their eyes out (Sigmund, 5).
The idea of losing one’s eyes represents fear of castration in the “Sand-Man” (7)”. This is a fear that begins in childhood. As Sigmund states on page 7, “…fear of damaging or losing one’s eyes is a terrible fear of childhood. ” Another example of how the novel supports Freud’s elements of the uncanny is the fact that the mother is frightening and she looks like Coraline’s own mother – she is similar or familiar, but still different which can be seen by her button eyes and her hair. The “other father represents her fatherbut as Coraline spends more time in the “other house” she sees some differences.
He looked less like her true father today. There was something silightly vague about his face-…” ( Gaiman 100). The differences make her frightened she feels uneasy. Fear is also seen in The Shining. First of all, the movie is written as a mental thriller, and the audience is constantly frightened throughout the film. In The Shining, the director tries to portray this idea of showing how evil affects a person through supernatural powers. The director, Kubrick, uses ghosts and insanity to demonstrate the elements of the uncanny.
The movie focuses on basic fears that all people have like the fear of madness, fear of death, and the ear of isolation. Jack, the protagonist, becomes insane while working on a writing project. This insanity is a result of “cabin fever” from being in such an isolated area. Another example of loneliness and isolation is that the family, although they are together in the hotel, are all distant from one another consumed by their own fears. Therefore, both the book Coraline and the movie The Shinning demonstrate examples of how fear is connected to Freud’s uncanny.
Freud’s article The Uncanny also shows concepts of repetition. Freud explains the uncanny is unfamiliar yet familiar and strange. He explains that the uncanny is the repetition of vents with no real reason, as Freud explains on page 11 with the paragraph about the number 62. This is also seen in Coraline where the observations she makes are repetitive. For example, a picture isn’t exactly the same, but familiar. The same holds true of the house and the characters. The cat talks in the “other house” but is silent with no voice in her “real home.
Coraline keeps referring back to things she knows and then looking at where she is – going back and forth in her thoughts and mind. The film, The Shining, also uses repetition. For example, numbers are repeated throughout. Room 237 is constantly seen throughout the movie. Kubrick, the director, repeats the number 42 throughout the film. The number is on Danny’s shirt, and on the license- plate of Halloran’s car. When Danny and his mother are watching TV, the show called The Summer of 42 is on the television.
The numbers 2, 3 and 7 can be multiplied so that they equal 42. Not only is repetition an aspect of the uncanny, but doubling is another element Freud uses to support the uncanny. In both Coraline and The Shining the use of doubling and mirrors are seen throughout both stories. These characteristics we see connect to Freud’s essay in numerous ways. In the novel, Coraline has two families. There is a flat that is split by a brick wall that mirrors each other. Also, all of the furniture, pictures and other things in the house are similar with only small differences.
The other mother has two types of personalities where she can be nice and buy her things and show her attention; however, there is the frightening side of the mother where she is manipulative and tries to trick Coraline to stay with her. The mirrors also represent the idea of doubling. The three ghost children and her parents are trapped in a mirror, where everything ooks the same but are different, where it is familiar but something just is not right. Her other mother is in the corridor but when Coraline looks in the mirror the “other mothers” reflection is not seen.
The mother says to Coraline not everything you see is true in a mirror. (Gaiman) giving her the sense that things are familiar but just not right. Like in the book Coraline, doubling and mirror images are also used in The Shining. Danny connects to Halloran through telepathic powers, and Jake is haunted by the ghost of the former caretaker of the hotel. Jack, however, only sees the ghosts when he looks in the mirror. Room 237 is the only room with double doors which could be a sign or symbol of a mirror.
There are also two elevators that look exactly alike. Also, the door to the room is shiny and reflective like a mirror, and when Danny tries to open the door, he sees his reflection which is a double of himself. The twins in the movie who haunt Danny are mirror images of each other. The idea of the double in this way connects to Freud’s idea of the uncanny. Freud references an example of the double in “The Sand-man. ” The lawyer Coppelius “a repulsive person of whom the children were frightened when he occasionally came to a meal” (Sigmund 6), whom
