Freud "The Uncanny"

uncanny

a species of the frightening that derives from what was once familiar but has become estranged through repression 

heimlich/unheimlich

familiar and comfortable, concealed and hidden / a species of the frightening, what was once known and familiar, but now secret and repressed

Repression

a mental mechanism that pushes emotionally charged or familiar content out of conscious recognition, transforming it into something unsettling (or  uncanny) when it reappears  (conversion of affect to fear, hidden and returning content, estrangement of the familiar, the negative prefix, connection to childhood complexes)

return of the repressed

what has been pushed out of conscious awareness does not simply disappear, but eventually finds a way to re-emerge, often in a disguised or distorted form

Compulsion to repeat/return

a phenomenon rooted in instinctual impulses within the unconscious mind. It is strong enough to override the pleasure principle and can give a “demonic character” to certain aspects of mental life

Surmounting

overcoming or superseding certain beliefs, modes of thought, or developmental phases 

the primitive/primitivism

earlier stages of human societal and mental development, characterized by a worldview that is largely animistic and driven by boundless narcissism.

Animism

worldview or mode of thought primarily found in primitive cultures and in the early developmental stages of an individual’s psyche 

Animate objects

things that are alive or appear to be alive 

Automaton

mechanical, self-operating, or seemingly involuntary processes that give the impression of being purely mechanical rather than genuinely alive or driven by conscious will

double/doppelganger

the appearance of persons who are regarded as identical because they look alike, often leading to a sense of duplicated or interchanged identity 

Omnipotence of thought

narcissistic overrating of one’s own mental processes, where thoughts and wishes are believed to have direct, real-world power and influence