The Uncanny

What was that? Uncanny.

Freud’s The Uncanny is the theory behind deja vue, and Freud of course connects it to sexual repressions toward ones parents. A prime example of this is his comparison to men feeling “as if they’ve come home” when they fall in love because it is a return to their mother’s genitals. The idea of the uncanny is that something that once seriously affected you has been repressed or forgotten through time. But something of such great an influence cannot be easily forgotten, so the memory is lodged deep within you, and can be brought to the surface through unexpected events or things that remind the subconscious. Leaving the carrier of the memory with the uncertain feeling that they have been some where before, or experienced something before, but they do not know why; leaving them with an “uncanny” sensation.