Tuesday, April 1, 2014

ANIMATION AND THE UNCANNY VALLEY

Time for the A-Z blogging challenge! To sign up or find out more follow the link to the A-Z challenge blog site.

Creepy, strange and weird, You talking about me?
All through the month of April, Minnie will help me explore the people, places and things that WE call creepy, strange and downright weird. To be honest, Minnie finds almost everything creepy and strange so having the entire alphabet at our disposal is going to be a challenge. You might find what we discover delightful, or you may agree with us. Please share your opinions either way. Have fun road-tripping the Alphabet by visiting others doing the challenge as well.


A-ANIMATION AND THE UNCANNY VALLEY


Obviously, not all animation is creepy. Good old fashioned Disney movies and cartoons have installed many good memories from childhood. However, today animation is so realistic that I often find it as creepy as bumping into a mannequin and saying, “Excuse me!” Check out this video to see what I mean.

16 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

He's right - it's the eyes. I didn't like the movie the Polar Express because the eyes of the animated characters were so weird and lifeless.

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Human animation like this is definitely creepy. I couldn't watch Polar Express either.

Unknown said...

Yes. The only thing creepier to me than animation is claymation. I think "The Little Drummer Boy" Christmas special is pure nightmare fuel.

Donna Ison - The Bourbonista Blog
www.thebourbonista.com

Robin said...

Even though this is somewhat unrelated it made me think of the new show on Fox... Almost Human. The MC on that show is a police officer in the future. In this future, all police officers must work with a partner who is a "robot." This guy is completely freaked by the robots and doesn't want to work with one. In other words, it supports the theory that if a robot becomes too life-like that some people will NOT LIKE IT AT ALL.

And, yes, I find it a bit creepy when the robots are almost human, but not quite.

Unknown said...

I researched the uncanny valley for a book I was writing. My character walks into a museum's basement and finds a mannequin's head. I eventually cut the scene, but the research was fun!

Roland D. Yeomans said...

Alex has touched on the key: the lifeless, soul-less eyes. Brrrr.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Siv .. I've never heard of "Uncanny Valley" before - now I have .. interesting post .. but those eyes .. and Polar Express .. well I shall keep my own ever moving eyes open ..

Cheers Hilary

shelly said...

For some reason her mouth reminds me of the clown's, from the movie It.

Yolanda Renée said...

Very creepy - I'm not into this kind of animation either, but I hate any talking anything that isn't human! LOL

D.G. Hudson said...

What creeps us out is that we don't 'really' know, but we think we do. . .
Interesting A post, Siv!

Have you read any of Asimov's Robot series? Daneel, the otherworldly cop was a humanoid robot, with his Earth cop friend, Elijah Bailey.

Michael Di Gesu said...

Not my favorite.... I LOVE classic animation and puppetry for this kind of entertainment...

Nice to see you blogging again SIs!!!!

Suzanne Furness said...

Glad to see Minnie helping with the A-Z. I know what you mean with the creepy animation!

Laura Zam said...

Love Minnie!

Laura Zam said...

Love Minnie!

Unknown said...

I know exactly what you are talking about. I still can't get past the cold dead eyes in Beowulf and Polar Express.

thegypsie said...

Maybe it's the techy in me but the uncanny valley isn't a thing for me. I like realistic, human looking animations and robots. My hubby who, I would peg for the same is actually repulsed!