Verfremdungseffekt

Bertolt Brecht coined the term "defamiliarization effect" (sometimes called "estrangement effect", "distancing effect" or "alienation effect"; German Verfremdungseffekt) for an approach to theater that focused on the central ideas and decisions in the play, and discouraged involving the audience in an illusory world and in the emotions of the characters. Brecht thought the audience required an emotional distance to reflect on what is being presented in critical and objective ways, rather than being taken out of themselves as conventional entertainment attempts to do.

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His techniques included the direct address by actors to the audience, exaggerated, unnatural stage lighting, the use of song, and explanatory placards. See epic theater.

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