This dissertation will explore the uncanny valley theory through a textual analysis of the resurrection of Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Edwards, 2016). The ‘uncanny valley’ (UV) is a theory conceptualised by Masahiro Mori in 1970, he named it ‘Bukimi no Tani Genshō’ (Mori, 1970), which translated is the ‘Uncanny Valley’. Mori’s theory was based upon his early work in robotics and creating prosthetic hands which had veins and wrinkles; therefore, humans being unable to distinguish the different between a real and prosthetic hand. Jasia Reichardt translated the term in her book Robots: Fact, Fiction and Prediction (Reichardt, 1978, PAGE NUMBER) resulting in the ‘uncanny valley’. Arguably based upon Ernst Jentsch’s work on the concept of the ‘uncanny’, previous to Reichardt’s work in 1978, Jentsch expanded on the term ‘uncanny’ in an essay published in 1906, On the Psychology of the Uncanny (Jentsch, 1906). Jentsch said ‘one of the most success-ful[sic] devices for easily creating uncanny effects is to leave the reader in uncertainty whether a particular figure in the story is a human being or an automaton’ (Jentsch, 1906). Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) used this technique which made the audience untrusting of whether characters were ‘replicants’ or human; keeping the audience on-edge. Furthermore, the uncanny was then explored further by Sigmund Freud in a 1919 essay, ‘the uncanny’. He starts by explaining the subject ‘uncanny’ as belonging to ‘all that is terrible’ (Freud, 1919, 1), however, ‘not always used in a clearly definable sense’ (Freud, 1919, 1). Freud refers to the work of Jentsch, agreeing with him on the ‘obstacle presented by the fact that people vary so very greatly in their sensitivity to this quality of feeling’ (Freud, 1919, 1). Freud described Jentsch’s definition as ‘incomplete’, therefore, he turned to other languages to see if any other definitions of eeriness could increase the transparency of the subject. Defining uncanny, Freud refers to the German word, unheimlich, which, translated meaning the opposite of native, familiar and belonging; Freud wrote, ‘not everything which is new is unfamiliar and frightening […] something has to be added to what is novel and unfamiliar to make it uncanny’ (Freud, 1919, 2). Again, referring back to Jentsch, Freud said that Jentsch had ascribed ‘the essential factor in the production of the feeling of uncanniness to intellectual uncertainty (Freud, 1919, 2). Within Hoffman’s works, “His Elixire des Teufels [The Devil’s Elixir] contains a mass of themes to which one is tempted to ascribe the uncanny effect of the narrative” (Freud, 1919, 9). He refers to the double (‘the Doppelgänger’). In this case, two people who look identical and use ‘telepathy’ for “spontaneous transmission of mental processes from one of these persons to the other […] so that the one becomes co-owner of the other’s knowledge” (Freud, 2003, 141). This signifies the ‘self’ can be “duplicated, divided and interchanged” (Frued, 2003, 142). The theory of the double was then studied by Otto Rank, who believed that the ‘double’ was “an energetic denial of the power of death” (Rank, 2012, PAGE). The concept of the uncanny valley remains relevant to society today as robotics and technology advance. CGI (computer generated imagery) is one area in which the uncanny valley is relevant. In recent years, films have been released in which the ‘eeriness’ of the CG characters has disturbed audiences. Common examples of texts which have accentuated Mori’s theory of the ‘uncanny’ have been: The Polar Express (Zemeckis, 2004); Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Edwards, 2016); Audrey Hepburn’s Galaxy Advert (Mars, 2013); Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Sakaguchi, 2001) and Avatar (Cameron, 2009). This paper will reference other examples of posthumous performances, such as Tupac at Coachella. The definition of ‘posthumous performance’ is an individual who has died before the release of the aforementioned text. This does, for this dissertation, include the appearance of their likeness within texts; not specifically performances by that certain individual. The uncanny valley is not explicitly exclusive to posthumous performances; therefore, this dissertation will also discuss performances which were not posthumous, however, caused the uncanny valley ‘eeriness’ for audiences. An example of this is the reconstructed face of a nineteen-year-old Carrie Fisher at the end of Rogue One; which will be referred to as this motion capture performance has been known to produce feelings of eeriness. The definition of ‘posthumous’ according to the dictionary is “arising, occurring, or continuing after one’s death” (Dictionary.com, 2018), therefore, Peter Cushing’s return to his role of Grand Moff Tarkin was impossible for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Similarly, to the use of Audrey Hepburn’s likeness used for the Galaxy advert. Tupac’s posthumous performance at Coachella was different to both Cushing and Hepburn’s posthumous roles as the ’hologram’ of Tupac were projections compiled from his past performances to appear on stage with Snoop Dogg, whereas, Cushing and Hepburn had different actors portraying them who used mo-cap (motion capture) to recreate their images from their respected points in time. In contrast, mo-cap was used to recreate a younger Princess Leia to look like A New Hope (ref) Leia and at the time of production Carrie Fisher, the actress who portrayed Leia was alive and approved the role. This mo-cap work will be analysed in chapter II also because at this point, Carrie Fisher has sadly passed away.
This dissertation is on the theory of the UV (uncanny valley) and critical works around the uncanny valley; discussing the validity of the theory and whether it exists due to experiencing the eeriness of the character whilst watching Rogue One. The main theorists this dissertation will discuss in terms of a critical view of the UV are: MacDorman and his support of the theory; Mori; Hanson who rejects the theory for lack of evidence and Tinwell and Grimshaw who view audiences as developing and sensitive to elements of film such as the UV. Throughout the paper, we will delve into works by Katsyri et al, MacDorman, Powers and Kiesters and Hanson to explore whether the theory exists. Referencing Bartneck, Kulić, Croft and Zoghbi in their arguments against the validity and accuracy of the theory. Also covering audiences and their visual systems, explored by psychologists David Milner and Melvyn A. Goodale. Similarly, exploring advancements in audiences’ sensitivities to such mo-cap performances as technology advances and keeps up with the developing audience. Following this, this dissertation will also cover what causes the UV, doing research into what Tinwell, Grimshaw, Abdel-Nabi et al; Seyama and Nagayama; Fiske; MacDorman and Pramono and Ekman say about what causes the UV eerie effect within CG characters. On the other hand, we will also be discussing how to avoid the UV by delving into works by Hanson, Barnes, Keegan and Geller who discuss the UV within The Polar Express and Avatar and the steps between humans and robots. The research questions of this dissertation are:
• Does Masahiro Mori’s uncanny valley exist?
• Can and should creators avoid the UV?
• Is motion capture the cause of the UV?
In chapter I, this dissertation will focus on the first research question: does the UV exist? Whilst discussing works by MacDorman, Powers and Kieslers, Katsyri et al and Hanson; this essay will reference Rogue One and the performance of Ingvild Deila portraying a young Princess Leia in the final shots of Rogue One. Discussing further Avatar and The Polar Express, this chapter will focus on a critical evaluation of the UV theory, plus referring to these performances in which the UV has been popularly noticed by audiences. Referring back to the Star Wars episode: 1 (ref); Star Wars: episode 2 (ref) and Star Wars: episode 3 (ref), to discuss just how rapidly an audience’s sensitivity to visual effects can develop and become more conscious. Covering also the development of visual effects and practical effects and how they have held up since the release of the films, such as Jurassic Park (ref) and A New Hope (ref), which both used miniatures. Additionally, in reference to mo-cap performances, this chapter will discuss Andy Serkis and his roles in King Kong (ref), The Hobbit (ref) and Planet of the Apes (ref) in which all of his performances were highly commended due to the difficulties performing in mo-cap, due to the lack of props, set and other actors around you. Following on from this, opening the discussion about Serkis’ and his inability to be nominated for an Academy Award due to the Academy not recognising his mo-cap performances worthy of an Oscar, controversially, however, awarding SOMEONE an Oscar for his performance in FILM which was very much enhanced by the amount of make-up and prosthetics he was wearing.
The second chapter will cover posthumous performances and the uncanny valley. Looking at Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Guy Henry’s portrayal of Grand Moff Tarkin. Also referring to the Galaxy advert, resurrecting Audrey Hepburn, portrayed by two body doubles, one for her facial structure, another for her small frame and waist. Discussing further the avoidance of the UV, such as Pixar’s strategy to avoid the UV in their animations and Hanson, Barnes, Keegan and Geller’s ideas on avoiding the UV within feature films after seeing the results of The Polar Express and the same fate that Avatar almost had. Researching into Walter Benjamin’s idea of the ‘aura’ within performances through motion-capture when resurrecting stars for role reprisals or new roles. The dissertation will textually analyse the Galaxy advert and the resurrected Audrey by referring to what causes the UV texts, written by Seyama and Nagayama; Ekman; Tinwell, Grimshaw, Abdel-Nabi et al; Fiske and MacDorman and Pramono. The analysis of Audrey and also the textual analysis of Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One will help to suggest which characteristics trigger the UV for audiences and we will also compare the motion capture results in the texts to the real people to see how accurate they were to their targets. Acknowledging the fact that mo-cap is not the only way in which stars can be resurrected for their roles, this dissertation will also refer to Tupac’s performance at Coachella in 2012.
Chapter I : Masahiro Mori’s ‘uncanny valley’
The following sub-chapter is a critical view of Masahiro Mori’s ‘uncanny valley’ theory (ref). First introduced in 1906 by psychologist, Jenstch, the subject of the uncanny was likened to ‘a state of uncertainty as to whether an object is was real or unreal or alive or dead’ (Abdel-Nabi., et al, 2014). Jenstch used the examples of human-like dolls and wax-works which can elicit these emotions and objects which were not aesthetically pleasing. Building upon Jentsch’s work, Freud in 1919 described the uncanny as a ‘state of confusion that occurred as a seemingly familiar object behaved in a strange or unfamiliar way’ (Freud, 1919). This work implies that reasons for odd behaviour are hidden, such as the uncanny valley. Mori then in 1970 wrote Bukimi no tani (the Uncanny Valley) which was based upon robotics and humans acceptance of robots which looked real to the point where a small characteristic of the robot will making the human uncomfortable and untrusting of the robot. Mori illustrated this into a graph, see figure 1. In the uncanny valley literature, translated by Karl F. MacDorman and Takashi Minato, Mori said ‘as robots appear humanlike, our sense of their familiarity increases until we come to a valley. I call this relation the “uncanny valley’ (Mori, 1970, 33-35). Mori’s work branched from his development of robotics; however, “Mori’s hypothesis is not limited to robots but is also applicable to any type of artificial humanlike object” (Nagayama et al., 2007, 338). He then develops on the ‘uncanny’, using the example of a prosthetic hand, labelling prosthetic hands as on par with false teeth in terms of indistinguishable from real human hands and teeth; he follows saying ‘if we shake the hand, we are surprised by the lack of soft tissue and cold temperature. In this case, there is no longer a sense of familiarity. It is uncanny’ (Mori, 1970, 33-35). The lack of warmth is a part of Mori’s explanation for the eeriness, the other part, he explained was the ‘lack of soft tissue’ (Mori, 1970, 33-35). Fiske et al support Mori’s point on human warmth, as they say warmth is the ‘primary dimension of human social perception, accounting for 53% of the variance in perceptions of everyday social behaviours’ (Fiske et al., 1998), whereas, Ho et al suggest that the negative emotions which cause eeriness are ‘more specific that coldness’ (Ho et al., 2008, 169-176). This argument is based upon the fact that humans can be cold, without being eerie and being uncanny. Arguing about what causes the eeriness and triggers the UV is contradicted by arguments stating Mori’s UV theory is invalid due to lack of pseudoscientific evidence. Hanson says, ‘robot designers should not be conceptually limited by a theory without scientific proof’. (Ballin et al., 2014, 1). One questionnaire conducted by Bartneck et al, named ‘The Godspeed’ questionnaire, researches two concepts: anthropomorphism and likeability. They believe these two concepts could be the x and y axes of Mori’s UV graph. Similarly to Mori’s work on the UV theory, Barneck et al’s work, Measurement Instruments for the Antropomorphism, Animacy, Likeability, Percieved Intelligence, and Percieved Safety of Robots (Bartneck et al., 2008, 71-81) focuses upon robotics. Within the article, Kiesler and Goetz ‘divided the concept of anthropomorphism into the sub com-ponents sociability, intellect, and personality’ (Bartneck et al., 2008, 72). They supported their sub-components with a questionnaire, however, their components are only as helpful as knowing the relevance to the original concept of anthropomorphism; in which case, the sub-components can be seen as equally as vague as the original concept. MacDorman, on the other hand, believes the UV theory has already attained ‘a dogmatic status’. Throughout these debates, the UV is believed to be negative and to be avoided by robotic engineers and animators, however, Freud highlighted, “the child had no fear of its doll coming to life, it may even have desired it” (Freud, 1919, 9) in context to a doll which is undeniably life-like, which would also have none of the heat of a human, however, lacking the motion which can be argued as a trait which can accentuate the UV. This is supported through films, such as Toy Story (Lasseter, 1995) as they are not haunting or eerie for audiences. Therefore, this ‘toy doll’ is on Mori’s graph and is at the highest peak of affinity (Shinwakan) before the likeness triggers the valley.
Developing technologies within visual effects
The Star Wars films were first introduced to a worldwide audience in 1977 with the release of Star Wars: A New Hope (Lucas, 1977). A New Hope alone produced a worldwide box office amount (to date) of $786,598,007 (Box Office Mojo, 2018) which, at its time, made it the highest-grossing film to ever be released. (add source). A New Hope is believed to have made VFX in the film industry popular, as it “ushered in a new era of publicity surrounding visual effects” (Prince, 2012,155). In the wider context of the development of feature films and the expectations of productions ongoing, George Lucas “opened cinema to a mode of pictorial design whose boundaries seem limitless” (Prince, 2012, 228). VFX before Star Wars were not popular and were considered “clumsy, unrealistic and unartistic” (Pintoff, 1999, 87). ARTICLE BY DEBRA KAUFMAN WITHIN BOOK. The digital age of cinema and “major advancements in computing speed, power, and storage led to the creation of tools to record and then film out scenes captured by motion picture cameras” (Okun et al., 2010, 12) have developed cinema and the possibilities within filmmaking extensively. Since the CG dinosaur in Jurassic Park “showed the power of digital visual effects”, we believe that “the years since 1993 […] included as much innovation as the previous 100 years of visual effects” (Okun et al., 2010, 13). Lucas used “a brief 3D computer graphic visualizing[sic] the planned attack on the Death Star” in A New Hope. The innovation of the effects “lay not in digital effects but in motion-control cinematography” (Prince, 2012, 21). During pre-production of episode 4, “motion control was unheard of” (Rogers, 1999). The use of motion-control has developed since its early use and due to computers getting cheaper and more accessible, it has become a widespread tool throughout film. Motion control was supervised by John Dykstra of Industry Light and Magic (ILM) on the set of A New Hope, he placed the spaceship in a fixed position and then used lighting and movement of the motion control stage camera towards the model spaceship. This saved “elaborate rigging” and there was “no visual difference between a model moving past the camera and the camera moving past the model” (Sawicki, 2007, 141). Another effects technique which has been used for decades within the film industry is miniatures. Used in films such as, Jurassic Park, see figure (Universal, Spielberg, 1993), King Kong (1933) and Shutter Island (2012) these effects usually age well compare to CGI. King Kong used stop-motion puppets, whereas, Jurassic Park used a mixture of CG dinosaurs and miniatures. This technique was also used in the first of the Star Wars films, A New Hope, see figure. The modern effects complimented the practical effects within The New Hope, however, in the prequel Star Wars films: The Phantom Menace (Lucas, 1999); Attack of the Clones (Lucas, 2002) and Revenge of the Sith (Lucas, 2005), episodes 1, 2 and 3, the lack of practical and use of new CGI technologies at the time allowed Lucas to realise his hopes for the new Star Wars films, however, the CGI has not aged well and audiences do not enjoy the effects within those films. All three of these films featured a high quantity of VFX (visual effects), worked on by ILM, which has caused controversy in audiences since its release, “the usual complaint goes something along the lines of, ‘there’s too much CGI and not enough practical effects.’ (Maison, 2014). Audience’s development with technologies are seen to have been changing the way audiences decode films with CGI, in a book published in 1986 which was before Star Wars episodes 1,2 and 3, Umberto Eco highlighted that (using different examples of the most modern CG at the time, Wenders’s [sic]? Hammett versus another film with no CGI in it, The Maltese Falcon) audiences in The Maltese Falcon “will always enjoy a certain ingenuousness that in Wenders [Hammett] is already lost” (Eco, 1986, 146). Maison, however, in his article supports the Star Wars prequels and their CG elements, ‘The majority of CG in those films were used as enhancement to the practical elements they were using’ (Maison, 2014) whereas, in the original Star Wars trilogy, the practical effects outweighed the amount of special effects. Eco conflicts again, “the media learn; and thus the spaceships of Star Wars, shamelessly descended from Kubrick’s, are more complex and plausible than their ancestor, and now the ancestor seems to be their imitator” (1968, 146), however, this book was released in 1986 when the technology used in the original Star Wars films was new, compared to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), which was two decades old by this point. Tinwell and Grimshaw support Eco’s point in that audiences become more sensitive to ‘visual flaws’, they however pinpoint this down to technological advancements, “with analogue and digital human simulations advancing constantly, categorization[sic] conflicts might just shift to higher levels of realism, as people get increasingly sensitive in detecting visual flaws” (Grimshaw et al., 2009, pp.66-73); which Eco did not label as the specific reason. The argument of humans becoming more sensitive to the uncanny valley and the eeriness within CG characters due to the development in technologies has been compared to as the social norm of plastic surgery by Thompson. He believes that this trend of uncanny valley avatars will become the norm, just as plastic surgery has done within society, he suggests that “reactions to people with plastic surgery may indicate future responses to avatars in computer games” (Ballin et al., 2005). This reaction will vary due to societal norms and values worldwide and with the age of the demographic audience and their personal attitudes towards the plastic surgery. The view of the CG is also subjective to each individual and no one experience with an avatar, which to some will be inside the uncanny valley and others not, the same feelings. Maxwell Smith, an environment technical director who currently works at Framestore, one of the world’s biggest visual effects houses who have worked on Guardians of the Galaxy and the Galaxy advert featuring Audrey Hepburn featured later in this dissertation, believes “films […] are progressing at such a rate that you have to sink or swim you have to push yourself to generate new workflows and new tools so the challenges are on a daily basis of sort of how to get something to look real in a way that looks cool” (Maxwell, 2018). VFX houses are constantly having to develop their methods and technologies to keep up with constant raising standards of audiences.The issue with the CG in episodes 1, 2 and 3 is linked with the uncanny valley theory. The clone troopers are meant to be humans in armour, see figure, however, they were CG and because they were human the uncanny valley effect confused and disturbed audiences, “they didn’t move in exactly the way you’d expect human soldiers to move” (Maison, 2014). Another issue mentioned in the Cinelinx article is the weightlessness of the CG characters. Maison explains, “motions are too fluid when they do them, and it looks like animation rather than real life movements” (Maison, 2014) which the audience pick up on easier than the uncanny valley effect. Yoda in these three films was completely CG, therefore, there is a sense of weightlessness to him. In other films such as Avatar (2009) the characters were based upon real actors, “with real actors being used as a basis for the CGI, you’re getting characters that move naturally and have a weight to them.” (Maison, 2014). The other CG character in episodes 1,2 and 3 was Jar Jar Binks, an alien. Jar Jar, however, was played by a real actor on-set of the film so the other actors would be able to properly interact with him. This early example of motion capture was innovative; however, the acting is said to have let down the portrayal of the character and his facial expressions. Regardless of audience’s widely negative reaction to the VFX in the prequels, Maison believes ‘the Prequel films helped pave the way for the use of all CG characters which have in turn given us Avatar and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.’ (Maison, 2014). Which is what he believes the original episodes 4, 5 and 6 did at their time of release too with special and visual effects.