Exploring the Uncanny Valley of “9”

The film “9” directed by Shane Acker was one of the most innovative films of 2009, maybe of recent history. With stunning visual effects and a style that was unique and creative, “9” instantly gained a place in my Film Criticism class, just on visuals alone. But something really intrigued (or bothered) me about “9”. The Uncanny Valley.

The Uncanny Valley is a theory that holds that “when robots and other facsimiles of humans (homunculi) look and act almost like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. The "valley" in question is a dip in a proposed graph of the positivity of human reaction as a function of a robot's lifelikeness.” Basically the Uncanny Valley is when a non-human object takes on human characteristics and either performs them so poorly as to appear garish and unreal, or too well causing an uncomfortable feeling of all too familiarity. It is easy to understand the Uncanny Valley. Compare R2-D2 to Wall-E. Which seems more human? I’d have to argue for Wall-E as he has more “human” qualities. Now compare Wall-E to a Terminator…

In the film “9” we have what Acker calls “stitchpunk” characters that are made up of burlap sack like material and clockwork gears. There are nine characters all together, and *spoiler alert* they are comprised of fractions of the Scientist’s soul (he was their creator, and one of the last living humans). Because these little creatures are imbued with human spirit, they act and behave as fractions of that spirit. It makes one think when boiled down to bare essentials, what are we? One of the more disconcerting scenes is when the burly and brutish character with the designation of “8” is deriving some kind of pleasure from running a magnet over his head. Whether it was like a drug, or sexual in nature, we as an audience quickly learn it was a bad idea, because “8” does not survive the next five minutes. But of all the dystopic scenes throughout the film, Armageddon, skeletons, Matrix-esque robot killers and so on, this scene seemed to disturb me the most. Also the scenes with “6”, the demented artist portion of the group, were also specifically creepy. I think it is due to the fact that these characters are doing some very human things.

Films like “9” can be inspiring for writers because the world of “9” is so rich, that our imaginations begin to fire on all cylinders. But also, the little things, like getting high from a magnet, can make us really consider Character, and how our characters are illustrated and portrayed in our own work. What basic human needs are being fulfilled? Denied? When you see something “uncanny” or disconcerting, it might be wise to explore those feelings, name them, and write them into our work.

The Death of Two Michaels

I have never really been struck by the death of a famous person. But the death of comic book artist Michael Turner STUNNED me, especially because he had been dead for several months when I found out. Maybe it was because he was my age. His art is a legacy that every comic book fan can recognize and appreciate. Maybe I was stunned because I had spent so many hours of my life collecting and searching for Michael Turner artwork. I had just assumed he would be around forever, like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. I mean those guys are ancient, and the comic book industry is not a dangerous profession. I think Michael Turner brought the comic book industry back from the edge of obscurity and made every title he touched shine.

The recent death of Michael Crichton was also surprising in that I always pictured him as my age. (He was in his sixties actually.) He changed the way I thought about writing, and “Jurassic Park” was one of the texts in my Creative Writing class at Mankato State. I guess he helped me learn why I liked science fiction so much. Crichton’s ability to look just ahead of society and extrapolate our science and create a vision that was real enough to scare people. The social aspect of the future fascinates me, and I understand this because of Crichton.

To know that Crichton’s pen is no longer moving on the page and Turner’s pencil is no longer sketching at the drawing board makes me melancholy. That these two amazing people no longer share this round orb with me convinces me that I need to quit wasting time and make every second count. Thank you, Michael Turner and Michael Crichton for touching my life.

Time, Art & Criticism by Paul Trembling

I was linking the fabulous website East of the Web to my blog page, when I stumbled across the excellent sci-fi short story Time, Art & Criticism by Paul Trembling.

A would-be artist, Taran Vechery, has used the alien technology of time control to capture a tree and make it grow from acorn to death in one minute, it grows, and the seasons change-- everything--then the process begins over again. The most influential art critic in the world, Demidi De Soliel, has passed judgment that what Vechery has created is not even art. But just an engineers imitation of life, and poorly done at that. After several attempts with different and more sophisticated pieces, Vechery still cannot convince De Soliel at creates a final sculpture that contains... De Soliel himself.

This is an excellent story that at its heart tackles the question, "What is Art?" Is a piece of work called "art" because the person who created it says it is, or does it have to mean something to someone else, too? Well then, what makes it "good"? This is something that every person asks himself or herself at some point in his or her life. How do we know what is beautiful? If something helps us illuminate the human condition, or touches us personally in some way, it is something that affects us. Why?

I think that using the genre of science fiction is excellent choice as well, because this story is exactly what science fiction is about, social criticism. Here Trembling tackles several topics such as art, science (technophobes), racism (xenophobes) and crime. Is it a crime if the act of trapping De Soliel in a time warp is something for which there is no law? We have this scenario cropping up everyday, most recently internet stalking and bullying--"crimes" for which there are no laws. Youtube and Blogger have recently updated their terms of agreement to reflect certain attitudes and self censoring (Like against hate crimes and racist rants) that will probably become laws some day. Just because we may feel for Vechery and because De Soliel is the kind of person that needs to reap what he sows, does he deserve what happens to him?

This seems like a traditional Ray Bradbury story, and he does tend to get a twinkle in his eye when he talks about stories that involve the comeuppance of a character like this... I'm sure he would approve.

Oh, and the irony of writing a review about a story featuring criticism is not lost on me.

A Hard Worker by Gina Zucker

Tin House Magazine - Issue 33 - Fantastic Women

Gina Zucker’s A Hard Worker is an excellent example of short fiction at its finest. In the tradition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Zucker’s future for the women in her story is a bleak one. Certain social conditions exist in the future that restrict women in the story to certain roles. In Atwood’s story we are left to the "Historical Note" section where she tells us what eventually ends up happening, at least to humanity as a whole. Here in Zucker’s story, we are limited in scope to a small moment in the narrator’s life, a realization of exploitation. The beauty of fiction is that through Zucker’s story, we can see in a few short pages the exploitation that occurs, where the narrator has lived an entire life before she realizes the truth of the situation.

The simple-minded narrator, Dolly, lives at Mrs. Robert’s Home for Girls (a brothel). She is a member of a service team and she serves her clients with zest and obedience to earn rewards and privileges. Her “sister” Annique was also left on the doorstep of the home, and the girls are raised with others to specifically serve their clients. While on a service call, Annique and Dolly watch a film clip that has been altered to become extremely visually stimulating, almost to the point of causing orgasm. Obtuse Dolly is not affected at all by the film, and is terrified by what is happening to Annique. Dolly is adamant about how they are not to receive pleasure from their clients, and here is Annique doing just that. Dolly ends up confused and runs out of the room after hurting one of the clients.

Zucker combines her complex concept of visual stimulation via chromatic saturation with her narrator’s limited capacity for understanding to explore several social issues. Are the readers to see this as a bleak future, where women are objects, and pleasure isn’t important, or because of our dubious narrator, to see that pleasure is being explored and defined, even worth scientific experimentation and only these prostituted women are being exploited? Is the situation as dire as it appears to be for humanity, or just for poor Dolly? It would appear that Annique may have been purchased and freed of her circumstances, or she may have been sold into a different kind of experimental slavery. Either way, Dolly is a changed person and it seems obvious that her eyes are being opened to the fact that she is being used and refuses to be used in the future.

Zucker cleverly uses the device of s simple-minded narrator to get around dense scientific jargon that may have cluttered the narrative. She doesn’t have to go into the details of how visual stimulation works in her short fiction world, because she is limited to what the narrator Dolly knows and can understand. Even the name Annique is masterful in that is resembles antique and unique. Is the character an antique, in that she should give up being an individual with wants and desires and give in to her lot in life and serve her clients, or is she unique, in that she can take pleasure from them and has held on to her individuality?

In the story, the Janssen brothers (who are the clients the Dolly and Annique are to service) have altered a film clip, possibly from Jaws, to cause physical arousal after viewing. A tip of the cap here goes to the Wachowski Brothers, and a scene in Matrix Reloaded where The Merovingian causes a woman in the matrix to have an orgasm from eating a slice of digital chocolate cake. This theme does not appear to be too far fetched, as many scientists theorize that virtual pleasure is in the near future, as many consider pleasure to only be a matter of sending certain types of electrical stimulus to the brain.

Personally, for pleasure, I'll take more of Zucker's prose.

I Am Legend... Albiet the Usual One...

I Am Legend , a film review...

In typical Hollywood fashion, a film that took over 15 years to make it to the screen mangles the original story based on I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Sure, I Am Legend is going to make money at the box office. It is a sci-fi movie staring a graying Will Smith (Independence Day, I Robot) as Robert Neville, I mean profits are almost guaranteed at this point. The theater I was in was packed with young college men, home on break with a pocket full of fresh money from their mommies, and heading to the theater to be followed by the bar. Those guys lucky enough to have dates were in trouble, because obviously they had duped their dates into coming to a “guy” movie.

I, for one, am getting a bit tired of the Hollywood money making vehicle that becomes so bland in the end that it feels like we have seen it twelve times already. I mean isn’t this just like The Postman? Or should I say Hollywood’s version of David Brin’s The Postman? Well, maybe it is a bit closer to 28 Days Later, but hey, there is ALWAYS a utopia out there for all of the survivors, right? Can’t we take a note from George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (he has been doing it since the 60’s) and NOT have a happy ending? Or at least an ending you don’t expect or hope for? I have not read what Matheson thinks about the film yet, but I was hoping for HIS ending. The one where the freaky vampires rule the world, and humanity is altered forever. Needless to say, this is not what happens in the Bob-Marley-Don't-Worry-Be-Happy version that Hollywood has concocted for viewing public. The film has some of the ominous tone and fear that Matheson's novel has, but on the whole, the film and the novel are two completely different experiences.

But is the sugarization of the film industry I Am Legend’s fault? No. This movie was visually stimulating, emotionally moving (a bit), thought provoking (for sure), and over-all worth the ride. The CGI vampires were a bit over-done, but we have even begun to wink our collective eye at this type of animation and nod saying, “it’s okay, we know it’s fake but we like it.” And having nearly wet myself from a fright at one point, I can attest to the validity of such CGI shenanigans.

Will Smith’s interaction with store mannequins, and his loose grip on reality really holds the film together. At one point, Smith’s character Neville holds an assault rifle aimed at one of his mannequin “friends” “Fred”. “Fred” has been moved, obviously by someone or something, and Neville feels betrayed by Fred but at the same time questions whether or not Fred has actually come to life. The range of emotion demonstrated in this scene by Smith is amazing, and probably worth the price of admission alone. Trying to imagine Schwarzenegger in the title role, which he was originally slated for back in the mid-1990s, seems a stretch, and I think Smith was a much wiser and sophisticated choice.

With a relatively simple plot, this movie is one that movie goers can easily wrap their minds around, and delivers everything it promises, even if it is exactly what we expect.