Uncanny Noir - A Brief Introduction by Andy Paciorek
Uncanny Noir - a brief introduction ...
uncanny / unheimlich
UNCANNY NOIR
a genre of fiction (also artistic expression and non-fiction such as true crime writing) that combines elements of mystery and suspense with a
dark, eerie atmosphere. This genre often features complex characters,
intricate plots, psychological or paranormal influenceand a sense of unease.
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For a while now I have felt my sphere of interests veer into dark corners filled with menace and an uncomfortable strange atmosphere. The nature of the shadows is at its simplest twofold but it its actual scope manifold.
Taking its components individually the Uncanny relates to the concept explored by Ernst Jentsch and Sigmund Freud. Termed Unheimlich (Unhomely) or more commonly in English as Uncanny (Canny is from the Anglo-Saxon root ken: "knowledge, understanding, or cognizance; mental perception: an idea beyond one's ken".
Thus the uncanny is something outside one's familiar knowledge or perceptions.- Wikipedia). The Uncanny refers to things out of place or not feeling quite right, to things repressed that have risen to the surface. It bears association to the sense of Eeriness - particularly as defined by the writer Mark Fischer. Examples of the Uncanny include objects, places or beings that once seemed familiar but now aren't quite right, ghosts, strange coincidences, doppelgangers (doubles) and automatons, dolls, waxworks (and now increasingly computer or AI generated likenesses of people). Liminality or the sense or place or presence of being 'inbetween' - a threshold of different states or uncertainty may also evoke a sense of the uncanny.
Noir means black in French and was first applied to a style and genre of cinema by the critic Nino Frank in 1946. He specifically used it to refer to Film Noir - mostly American cinema dating from the 40s and 50s that visually relate to earlier German Expressionist cinema but have mostly an American urban narrative. The stories often relate to crime or dark melodrama. Visually and mood wise Film Noir and the related literary equivalent Roman Noir often have a sinister, uncertain atmosphere. Later narratives exploring this style may be referred to as Neo-Noir and there are numerous other sub-genres.
Noir also manifests in art, photography, music (such as the Dark Jazz genre and the soundtracks composed by Angelo Badalamenti.
I use the term Uncanny Noir to refer to the places where these above shadows cross. Places where the psychological meets perhaps the supernatural or at least the strange and abnormal. The term and this blog are not intended as any strict manifesto but are merely a covering phrase under which I will on occasion write about things that fascinate and intrigue me - things that may at times veer more towards the Uncanny and at others more towards the Noir but frequently may fall under the shadow of both or in close proximity to either.
Such things I intend to cover will include Cinema, Literature, Graphic Novels, Art, Photography, Music and examples from real life such as True Crime, the Uncanny Valley and where applicable psychological material such as the anomalous, liminal spaces and apparently supernatural phenomena. I will also at times present my own art, photography and writing in the field of the Uncanny Noir ...
Andy Paciorek -
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