defamiliarization
Making ordinary seem alien
Defamiliarization is an artistic technique of presenting familiar things in unfamiliar ways, forcing the audience to see them freshly.
A poet might describe a chair as "a wooden skeleton with a flat palm" to disrupt automatic perception.
The Russian formalists coined the term to describe how art renews our awareness of what habit has made invisible: The film defamiliarizes suburban life by shooting it like a nature documentary.
Innovative cultural pioneers
- surrealismIrrational, dreamlike aesthetic
- cubismGeometric, fragmented visual style
- dadaismAbsurdist artistic movement
- collageAssembled mixed-media artwork
montage · juxtaposition · abstraction · deconstruction · installation · conceptual · assemblage · modernism
Quality of being peculiar
- disorientationLoss of spatial awareness
- bewildermentState of being baffled
- fresh eyesUnbiased viewpoint from newcomer
- wonderAmazement or curiosity
curiosity · surprise · noticing · mindfulness · attentiveness · receptivity · openness · estrangement
Privileging structure over substance
- estrangementEmotional separation between people
- poeticsTheory of verse composition
- narrativeAccount of events
- proseUnversified language
technique · device · reader · automatization · habituation · foregrounding · distancing · textual
Emotional separation between people
- disorientationLoss of spatial awareness
- reseeingPerceiving visually again
- noticingBecoming aware of
- awarenessState of perceiving reality
freshness · wonder · strangeness · uncanny · altered · perception · recognition · re-examination
Making textual features prominent
- distortionTwisting from original state
- artificeClever deceptive strategy
- disruptionForceful interruption of process
- reframingChanging interpretive context
subversion · stylization · bracketing · displacement · juxtaposition · inversion · fragmentation · slow-down
Privileging structure over substance
- literary theorySystematic study of texts
- poeticsTheory of verse composition
- art theoryStudy of artistic principles
- structuralismAnalysis through underlying systems
avant-garde · modernism · critical theory · phenomenology · hermeneutics
Quality of being original
- freshnessState of being unspoiled
- revelationSurprising disclosed truth
- insightDeep perceptive understanding
- reawakeningRenewed consciousness or awareness
disruption · discomfort · uncanny · alienation · re-evaluation · transformation · awakening · reconceptualization
Changing interpretive context
- reconceptualizationForming a new understanding
- rethinkingReconsidering a position
- questioningSeeking answers through inquiry
- challengingHard to accomplish
disrupting · destabilizing · unsettling · provoking · reconsideration · reevaluation · critique · unlearning
avant-garde
Innovative cultural pioneers
- surrealismIrrational, dreamlike aesthetic
- cubismGeometric, fragmented visual style
- dadaismAbsurdist artistic movement
collage · montage · juxtaposition · abstraction · deconstruction · installation · conceptual · assemblage · modernism · postmodernism
strangeness
Quality of being peculiar
- disorientationLoss of spatial awareness
- bewildermentState of being baffled
- fresh eyesUnbiased viewpoint from newcomer
wonder · curiosity · surprise · noticing · mindfulness · attentiveness · receptivity · openness · estrangement · otherness
formalism
Privileging structure over substance
- estrangementEmotional separation between people
- poeticsTheory of verse composition
- narrativeAccount of events
prose · technique · device · reader · automatization · habituation · foregrounding · distancing · textual · rhetoric
estrangement
Emotional separation between people
- disorientationLoss of spatial awareness
- reseeingPerceiving visually again
- noticingBecoming aware of
awareness · freshness · wonder · strangeness · uncanny · altered · perception · recognition · re-examination · contemplation
foregrounding
Making textual features prominent
- distortionTwisting from original state
- artificeClever deceptive strategy
- disruptionForceful interruption of process
reframing · subversion · stylization · bracketing · displacement · juxtaposition · inversion · fragmentation · slow-down · prolongation
formalism
Privileging structure over substance
- literary theorySystematic study of texts
- poeticsTheory of verse composition
- art theoryStudy of artistic principles
structuralism · avant-garde · modernism · critical theory · phenomenology · hermeneutics
novelty
Quality of being original
- freshnessState of being unspoiled
- revelationSurprising disclosed truth
- insightDeep perceptive understanding
reawakening · disruption · discomfort · uncanny · alienation · re-evaluation · transformation · awakening · reconceptualization · reconsideration
reframing
Changing interpretive context
- reconceptualizationForming a new understanding
- rethinkingReconsidering a position
- questioningSeeking answers through inquiry
challenging · disrupting · destabilizing · unsettling · provoking · reconsideration · reevaluation · critique · unlearning · decontextualization
- literary devicesmetaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, alliteration
- literary criticismliterary theory, literary analysis, close reading, New Criticism, criticism
- modernismPicasso, Matisse, Duchamp, Braque, Kandinsky
- Russian Formalismestrangement, foregrounding, laying bare
- Slavic criticismformalism, structuralism, Bakhtin, Prague School, Medvedev
- experimental narrativemetafiction, nonlinear plot, fragmented narrative, unreliable narrator, stream of consciousness
defamiliarizationhabituation
Diminished reaction over time
automatization · familiarization · desensitization · normalization · acclimatization
defamiliarizationnaturalization
Legal path to belonging
transparency · normalization · domestication · verisimilitude · assimilation
defamiliarizationhabituation
Diminished reaction over time
familiarity · automatization · habit · normalcy · mundanity
family, familiar, unfamiliar, familiarity, familial, familiarize, unfamiliarity, familiarization, refamiliarize