The Uncanny Valley - Herald of Modern Horror

The uncanny valley, taking film, television and anime by storm is a theory of robotics that was first developed in the 1970s. This theory is the Uncanny Valley and was first identified by the professor of robotics, Masahiro Mori and describes a somewhat peculiar yet oddly familiar experience. The uncanny valley is the dip in a graph correlating people’s familiarity and comfort against the human likeness where human likeness is high and yet, strangely enough, people’s familiarity dropped drastically, even to the level of fear in some cases.

It is within this steep downwards decline away from the human comfort zone that sit zombies, puppets, clowns and other humanoid shaped fears reside. The issue, according to the uncanny valley, is that these things are so incredibly similar to what we consider a ‘normal human being’ and yet in some way intrinsically different that they become unnatural to us. It is therefore no surprise that content creators have used this psychological phenomenon as a device to sow discomfort and the eerie feeling of ‘wrong’ into audiences.

One example of the uncanny valley’s placehold in today’s pop-culture lifestyle is an iconic face (or rather mask). This face is the Star Wars saga’s ever memorable Sith Lord, Darth Vader. Whilst the beloved face of the entire epic saga is known to be human under his daunting black armoured exterior, the dark lord’s appearance is part of his chilling fear factor.

First in the many Uncanny Valley inducing aspects of Lord Vader is his height. Whilst tall men can be very common, with tall gentlemen even being regarded as an attractive trait, Vader’s daunting cybernetically heightened build holds him at a grand 6’ 8”, a height that by most common standards could be considered unnatural. This is not to say it’s impossible to be near 7 feet tall but it is just tall enough to make the villain stand out as something different to the other minions of the galactic empire; something different. Darth Vader’s other traits merely add to this atmosphere of unnaturalness, the mechanical breathing reminiscent to a hospital patient and the unmoving, emotionless, skull like face he is so well remembered for. It is safe to say that as examples go, the Uncanny Valley is strong in this one.

Masahiro’s Valley is also a key necessity in understanding the incredibly huge appeal for zombie horror franchises. George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, Dead Rising and the Walking Dead, all big names that found success in the iconic universe of the zombie apocalypse. But why are zombies such a staple creature in the halls of horror writing and how does the Uncanny Valley at all apply to shambling corpses? Arguably, it is because ‘creature’ is far from the right word to describe the living dead. The unnerving aspect of the infected humans, doomed to rise and devour the flesh of the living is that these monsters that stand so far apart from human’s with their mindless hunger are merely a bite away from what we are as living beings. Whilst some monsters are terrifying for their impossibility such as the creations of H. P. Lovecraft, the zombie is at its core so parallel to us yet made what it is by things that instinctively repulse us, death and cannibalism, but apart from these differences they are exactly like ourselves. Fear is spawned in us by the sheer possibility of an infectious zombie outbreak as whilst not many people have a backup plan for Mi-go descending from space or Cthulhu rising from the depths it is so common to have a ‘zombie apocalypse plan’ because whilst it is known fact that zombies are merely fiction there’s that nagging feeling that lasts at the end of the film. The feeling of ‘could it happen’?

Lastly, a very recent example of the Uncanny Valley’s presence in today’s pop culture is the hugely popular Japanese anime Shingeki no Kyojin or Attack or Titan. In the battle against the destructive titans humanity is beset by some truly grim sights. The titans resemble towering naked humanoids whose only goal is devouring the remnants of the walled of civilisation of humans. The Uncanny Valley sets off alarms at every turn with this gore packed action series with the human resemblance of the giant monsters so uncanny (bar their genderless form) that their every inhuman movement and interaction leaves a visceral reaction of discomfort in a great many fans. It is this, paired with the shows pull-no-punches attitude to death of the human characters that creates such a profound sense of horror throughout the anime and manga that has caught the attention of thousands of dedicated fans.

In conclusion the Uncanny Valley, whilst originally born from a theory of robotics, has soaked the entire field of horror with a flawless method of birthing dread in the hearts of film fans, tv, anime and literary buffs across the globe. And with the track history for the tried and true method it will be no surprise to see this theory proven time and time again in the years to come in all areas of storytelling media. However do not misread into that and assume here at Pop Culture Bang the uncanny value is looked forward to with excitement; it is anticipated with dread in our hearts, for all of the right reasons.

Between Episode 1 Review - The PopBang Opinion

Netflix has produced some fantastic original shows and has always had a good track record of unique stories and a fantastic ensemble of intellectual writing and flawless performances from well-known names to new faces in acting. This brings us to the newly released Netflix original series Between which has thus far released its first episode with 5 more to be released weekly. Between, however has not caught the attention of this review in the best possible way and sadly lacks much basis to impress.

The plotline of the Netflix original is as such, a small unsuspecting town named Pretty Lake (presumably for the lake we, the audience, get to notice in the background of a shot of the sign diagnosing the town as having a lake. One that is presumably pretty when it is in focus) beset by a mystery disease that kills all adults aged 22 and older suddenly and without a sliver of warning. With the government putting up a quick and surprisingly prompt quarantine, leaving a town beset with a community of nothing but 21 year old and under kids to hold the peace in a world without adults, the law or any of the usual rules that should apply to children. Whilst the Lord of the Flies-esque setting has worked in many other works, such as James Dashner’s Maze Runner series and Stephen King’s Under the Dome, Between leaves this setting feeling bored with characters seemingly just going through the motions. Although there is so far only a single episode to explore the setting feels rushed and poorly delivered, something a first episode should be dedicated to putting into place above all else.

The various characters feel cheaply written, with all but 3 characters, pregnant teen and professional bitchface Wiley (Jeanette McCurdy), young genius and emotional void Adam (Jesse Carere) and Gord (Ryan Allen) who lives on a farm and that’s about as exciting as he gets, being intentionally written as unlikable characters lacking redeeming qualities and even less backstory. Among these characters the acting feels particularly poor and downright lifeless with the young men and women seeming downright apathetic when their parents die in front of them! Jesse Carere’s performance is, sad to say, the worst of all. The character of Adam is downright emotionless at every juncture he faces and never once really shows any motivation behind his actions. A small credit to Carere however is that neither himself, Jeanette McCurdy, nor any of the performers in this series can be expected to deliver any of their dialogue with feeling with the awful nonsense the writers has given to them all.

In conclusion I personally would not recommend this new show to anyone for entertainment purposes, not even for an old favourite of watching bad shows for the sake of laughs. I would say: Between is, however, a great example of how not to write a television series and therefore at least has its purpose among the archives of media. The future episodes of this won’t be reviewed by this blog as, although I hope future episodes somehow manage to repair the cracks riddled through the first impressions, I have been suitably put off by episode 1 of this show and that, is the PopBang opinion.