character is so anthropomorphic that it is nearly
indistinguishable from a human being, we monitor
the appearance of that object very closely and
become extremely sensitive to any small anomalies
that might identify the object as not fully human.
For whatever reason, these anomalies create in
many people a shudder of discomfort, similar in
effect to the feeling we have when we watch a zom-
bie movie or see an actual corpse. In both cases,
what we see is both human and not fully human,
and the contradiction produces a very negative
reaction. As a result, viewers found it easy to iden-
tify and sympathize with the highly stylized char-
acters in The Incrediblesbut responded to the much
more realistic figures in The Polar Expresswith
unease and discomfort.
All this is not to say that animation and pho-
tographed “reality” can’t get along. Animation has
been incorporated into live-action movies since the
1920s. Today, many traditionally photographed
movies integrate computer-generated animation
into characters, backgrounds, and special effects.
Animated characters like Gollum in Peter Jack-
son’s Lord of the Ringstrilogy (2001–3) or Optimus
Prime in Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the
Moon(2011) routinely interact on-screen with flesh-
and-blood performers.
This now-commonplace intrusion into conven-
tional motion pictures is only one example of the
animation explosion made possible by the recent
emergence of new technologies and growing audi-
ence demand. As a result, a dozen animated narra-
tive features were given a major theatrical release
in the United States in 2011. Countless more forgo
the movie-house release and go straight to DVD.
Network and cable television stations, including at
least one dedicated entirely to cartoons, broadcast
hundreds of animated series, specials, and adver-
tisements. The video-game market exploits anima-
tion to create animated characters and situations
that allow the viewer an unprecedented level of
interaction. Viewers have always been drawn to
cinema’s ability to immerse them in environments,
events, and images impossible in daily life. Anima-
tion simply expands that capacity.The uncanny valleyIf a filmmaker strives for a very high
level of verisimilitude in computer-generated characters, as
Robert Zemeckis did in The Polar Express(2004), he may
risk taking the humanlike resemblance too far, causing
viewers to notice every detail of the characters’ appearance
or movement that doesn’t conform to the way real human
beings actually look or move. Our emotional response to
these “almost human” characters will, therefore, be unease
and discomfort, not pleasure or empathy——a negative
reaction known as “the uncanny valley.”WHAT ABOUT ANIMATION? 115