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Alienation Effect
The V-effekt, or alienation effect, was a dramatic theory developed by German playwright Bertolt Brecht that used techniques to distance the audience from emotional involvement in a play. This was meant to make the audience think critically rather than experience catharsis. Examples included explanatory captions, actors breaking character, and unusual stage designs that exposed the theatrical elements. Brecht's goal was for viewers to see the "real world" reflected on stage and question the production's relationship to real-life events and history. He opposed dramatic forms that elicited emotion over analysis.
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Introduction to the V-effekt and its synonyms including alienation effect and distancing effect.
Overview of Bertolt Brecht, the German dramatist-director central to the idea of V-effekt.
Mention of Brecht's significant plays that contribute to the understanding of V-effekt.
Explains V-effekt's purpose to distance the audience from emotional involvement in theater.
Discusses the origins of V-effekt, referencing theories by Hegel, Marx, and Shklovsky.
Describes V-effekt as an aesthetic program and a political mission within theater.
Examples of techniques used in V-effekt to maintain audience awareness of theatricality.
The goals include fostering audience understanding of societal relationships and historical context.
End goal of V-effekt is to encourage active audience participation and intellectual engagement.
Brecht’s critique of Aristotelian drama and his intentions behind creating a new theatrical reality.
Links to a video and sources for further study on the alienation effect and Bertolt Brecht.
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Alienation Effect
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- 3. Dramatic theory -idea centralto the idea of German dramatist-director Bertolt Brecht --German poet, playwright, theater director --1898-1956 --Augsburg, Germany
- 4. Works (4 greatplays)
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- 7. What is V-effekt --involvesthe use of techniques designed to distance the audience from emotional involvement in the play through jolting reminders of the artificiality of the theatrical performance.
- 8. Inspired by --theory ofostranenie (German, making it strange, defamiliarization) -as pushed forward by: G.W.F. Hegel Karl Marx Viktor Shklovksy
- 9. What is it? --conceivedas a specific aesthetic program or alternative --conceived as a political mission of the theater
- 10. Examples -- such techniquesinclude explanatory captions or illustrations projected on a screen; --actors stepping out of character to lecture, summarize, or sing songs --stage effects that are strange or unusual --stage designs that are strange and do not represent any locality but that, by exposing the lights and ropes, keep the spectators aware of being in a theatre.
- 11. The Matter ofOrigins Liz Lehman Dance Exchange Mixed medium show of particle physics and cosmology
- 12. Goals of v-effekt Theaudience’s degree of identification with characters and events is presumably thus controlled, and it can more clearly perceive the “real” world reflected in the drama. It helps the audience or viewers understand the complex nexuses of historical development and societal relationships.
- 13. End result intended toassign the audience an active role in the production by forcing them to ask questions about the artificial environment and how each individual element related to real- life events. In doing so, it was hoped that viewers would distance themselves emotionally from problems that demanded intellectual solutions.
- 15. Personal taste --detested “Aristotelian”drama and the manner in which it made the audience identify with the hero without enough analysis of the hero’s flaws. -- To him, when such drama produced feelings of terror and pity and led to an emotional catharsis, the process prevented audience members from thinking.
- 16. Personal taste --(It isthe ancient quarrel between philosophers and poets once again, with another thinker trying to reform poetry.) Determined to destroy what he considered theatrical illusions, Brecht made his dreams into realities when he took over the Berliner Ensemble. --In one of his early productions, he famously put up signs which said, "Glotzt nicht so romantisch!" (“Don't stare so romantically!”)
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