Hi everyone! I'm studying my MA Degree in animation and I have a research topic that I could use a few extra opinions on. I've been investigating the uncanny and the Uncanny Valley theory and it's relation to animation and discovered that the basic "uncanny rule" is that photorealistic animated characters often creep audiences out for a number of reasons.
So, at the moment I'm investigating possible exceptions for the rule and I've potentially got two.
First off, video games. I believe that video games are an exception to the rule because of the direct link between the player and the character/world presented onscreen. Unlike film, the player has direct control over the character, so the illusion of life is sort of shattered really. I think it's that illusion of life that can disturb people, so perhaps this is why. Of course, for all the non playable characters, that illusion might be necessary for the sake of immersion. A horror game, for example, needs those monsters to be creepy and have that illusion of life. So, what are your thoughts on this? Do you think the interactivity of video games presents an exception the the uncanny rule.
Second is stop-motion animation. It's a simple theory really, and possibly not the strongest. I was attending a lecture from a stop motion animator and one thing he mentioned kind of stuck with me; stop motion animation in many ways is grounded by the same rules that we are, such as gravity, real world lighting and such. I got to thinking that perhaps because of that "link" we share with this medium of animation that perhaps there's a level of understanding that can prevent stop-motion appearing disturbing? Of course, I know that dolls and puppets can be a pretty big one on the phobia scale for a lot of people, so perhaps this theory isn't as solid, but I'd be delighted to hear anyone else's thoughts on this.
Thanks for reading everyone, hope you have some interesting thoughts to share with me!
