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.