estrangement-effect (Verfremdungseffekt)
Bertolt *Brecht's term (also sometimes translated as alienation-effect) for the moment in a work of art when that which used to appear natural suddenly appears historical, when that which was thought of as timeless and eternal is seen as deliberately caused and altered across time. Its purpose is political because it aims to overturn the paralysing sense that things have always been ‘this way’ and therefore that there is nothing that can be done to change them. Brecht's principal means of doing this was to stage theatre in such a way that the viewer is denied the habitual comfort of forgetting that they are watching a play and becoming (what ... ...
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