Does FNAF align with The Stranger or is that too literal?
For a long time I've seen the TMA community talk about the FNAF games as being horror that aligns with The Stranger but the reasons why have always seem too literal to me. People say it's The Stranger because the podcast has mannequins and such show up and FNAF is about animatronics. But that's about it that I see for analysis. If people bring up other Fears in FNAF it's usually also literal, like Desolation because fire happens or Corruption because of things like Springtrap. But physical presence alone doesn't mean it's inherently one Entity because it's about how it's being used. We've seen the podcast have artificial beings before like in 108: Monologue and 149: Concrete Jungle but those were The Lonely and The Extinction respectively, so it's not like the presence of animatronic alone makes it inherently The Stranger.
Maybe FNAF really is Stranger-aligned but idk it just doesn't feel like that much of an actual analysis whenever I see people talk about it. What Fear is FNAF (or at least most of the games) truly working with and trying to impart into the audience? Are we afraid because the animatronics embed in us a sense of corrupted familiarity or from uncanny appearances? Or is it something else?
What do you all think? I don't actually know myself.