Uncanny

            I thought of the scene from Chicago where Billy Flynn and Roxie Hart are meeting with all of the reporters. “We Both Reached for the Gun” is a song where Flynn is feeding Roxie all of the things she needs to say to get the media on her side. When a couple of things she says are doing the opposite of that, Flynn takes over completely and there is a vast change in the scenery. Suddenly they are in a tiny little theatre and all of the reporters are puppets on strings and Roxie has turned into a ventriloquist dummy. Their makeup makes them look somewhat less than human. They also move in a very puppet-like manner which adds to the uncanniness of their appearance. This was certainly intentional. They are human enough that you still believe that they are people and that they are still their characters. But they are unhuman enough that you get the idea that they aren’t fully present in the moment. They don’t seem fully alive, if you will. Since they aren’t completely there, it is a bit of a jolt. It’s not necessarily creepy, but it is a little uncomfortable.  You get the sense that Billy Flynn is controlling all of their speech, thought, and movements.  He is the puppet master and they are the marionettes. Even though it’s obvious that they are still the actors that are portraying them, they do a very good job of appearing somewhat less than living.

            In this instance of the uncanny, humans are used to portray the lack of liveness. Surprisingly, this is very effective. In fact, in this case, I think that using humans with makeup, strings, and a specific type of movement is more effective than using puppets that just look like the actors. There is a certain amount of creepiness to ventriloquist dummies because they are so close to humans and I think that the point of the scene would have been lost if the audience was creeped out by the puppets. Instead, you’re reminded of the creepiness of dummies without actually being presented with something creepy. It gives you a certain impression of Billy Flynn that’s partially positive and partially negative. Here’s a clip of the scene from the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9dFKRZ8EbU