The Soundtrack of the “Uncanny”

Abstract

In his essay “The ‘Uncanny’,” Sigmund Freud defines “the uncanny” as the process of that which has been secret or hidden coming into the open. According to Freud, the prefix un- in the German noun das Unheimliche carries the mark of repression, since it means that something which was familiar has become strange, dangerous, and sinister. “The ‘Uncanny’” (1919) and “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” (1920) are two essays by Freud closely correlating with the concept of the repetition compulsion, which in the case of the latter leads to the introduction of the death drive for the first time in Freud's writing. It appears as if reflecting on the role of the uncanny led Freud to the radical concept of the death drive. Based on the Freudian concepts of the uncanny, repetition compulsion, and death drive, the objective of this chapter is to interpret the music in Carlos Saura's Ana y los lobos (1973, Ana and the Wolves) and Cría cuervos (1976, Raise Ravens) from a psychoanalytical perspective. These two films are representatives of those produced in Spain at the end of the era of Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Saura was forced to use metaphors in order to bypass the censorship of a dictatorial regime close to its downfall. Music is a primary filmic device which generates metaphorical meaning in both films. More specifically, the mechanism of repetition expressed through music as well as the decadence and pervasiveness of the family are metaphors for the inevitable decline of the Spanish society under Franco.