Estrangement, the distancing effect, Verfremdungseffekt, V-Effect etc., is a technique pioneered by German director Bertolt Brecht, in which the audience is made acutely aware that they are watching a play. Typically, one of the goals of entertainment is for the audience to become lost in the material. To become absorbed, empathize with the characters, and feel as if they are part of a shared world. Brecht's technique seeks to deny the audience this sense of firsthand involvement. He wants the audience to feel disconnected, as outside observers, aware at all times that what they are witnessing is fiction. The hope is that this sense of removal will allow the viewer to examine the material with a more critical eye, and become an active participant in the work on display.
For my book entry, I cut out sections of comic book panels, and replaced them with images of artists drawing the material. By showing the process within the work, the goal is to keep the viewer aware of the artificiality of what they're reading...in case the capes and tights and superpowers weren't already doing that.
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