Perusing the Uncanny Valley
I dunno what to post and I haven't posted anything today so I guess I'll talk about uncanny stuff.
One of the funniest things to me is like, things that aren't quite right. Personally, my favourite kind of art is surrealism: a link between the subconscious and conscious mind in the form of dreamy semi-conscious works. It provides a raw view of the human subconscious in comprehensible form. While not quite the same, I suppose that the 'uncanny valley' is similar, in that we consciously view/make these images, and a part of us vaguely recognises oddities that offset it ever so much.
Y'know, like baby Jesus with six-pack abs.
oy mate ive been lifting a couple pounds got real strong
Like, IT'S SO UGLY AND I LOVE IT. Like, imagine you're walking down the street of a bustling city and you notice a baby that's basically just a grown-ass man standing around, preaching in the name of God and the holy spirit to a crowd of pedestrians. IT'S RIDICULOUS.
In spite of the obviously out of this world weirdness of Jesus' form here, however, there's something that kinda tugs in a creepy way. It's like it's not quite human, be it made by a human and that's vaguely terrifying.
Y'know what dude? I'm convinced that Jesus wasn't born from a miracle birth; I'm convinced that Jesus was just an alien organism disguised as a human of holy descent. LOOK AT HIM, WHAT IS THAT FACE?! Come to think of it, Mary looks a bit off too, doesn't she...
Y'know what else isn't quite human? Machines. Well, they're not human at all... but they can try? They donno people like people do, so naturally, they might have some troubles connecting dots and figuring stuff out that to us, would be obvious. Like where our face is supposed to go when we face-swap not with our friends but with the ceiling of an aeroplane.
the plane creature
I love this particular image especially since those ceiling thingamabobs do kinda look like faces from that angle, sorta like when you see the front face of a car... so it totally makes sense. Except, it DOESN'T. WHAT IS THAT THING?! THE LADY LOOKS LIKE SHE HAS FANGS AND THE CEILING CREATURE LOOKS SO ANGRY.
Machines, already, are hilarious to me. Trying to understand language, actions, all that, machines can produce some WILD results. But the fact that it was able to produce something that we can consciously see the resemblance of, but subconsciously go "AGH WHAT IS THAT THING," is what makes it so funny to me.
And how about a few swaps for the schnozzles?
God, these particular swaps bring me way back. Me and a pal of mine used to print out these kinds of images at school and paste them everywhere, we're both sure one of these papers can still be found underneath one of the desks at the school even post-grad. Honestly, it would be amazing to see a nose baby face thing stuck to a desk just out of view, and funnier to see a new generation of students actually find it and continue the printing.
The fact I was able to find more than one of these, though, speaks quite a bit to how uncanny the nose and mouth can actually be when cropped to the right angle. The nostrils really do look like eye sockets and the creases/facial hair just underneath the nose seem quite like a mouth. The result is horrifying, but I love it and I'd KILL to see more of this.
Machines are one thing, but what about when we use machines to create uncanny things on purpose?
this is one of my favourite images on the internet
Okay, this one is just cursed, but I still really wanted to share it. Harvey Dent being cooked well-done with a caption like THAT, DAMN, I LOVE IT. It's so weird, and it's especially great to send to friends because they'd probably hate it.
Alas, even nature, the thing that should be canny, sometimes slips up and makes an abomination. Seals are absolutely adorable, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! So cute and squishy... but male elephant seals are a stuff of nightmares to me.
Okay, come to think of it, they're actually kinda hilarious looking, but also THEY'RE SO WEIRD. They're like these, big seal-like things (god they are so characteristically UNSEAL) that flop around and fart at each other. Like, these weird trunk things coming out of their face look like toilets. It's also metal as hell seeing these dudes duke it out for a mate, it just sounds like competitive farting. It's absurd.
But I don't think I'll carry on with nature, not right now. Have you seen deep sea life? Scary as hell dude, too uncanny for my liking. Gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.
The idea of seeing things that don't sit right in that PERFECT way is hilarious to me and I have no idea why. Wouldn't you agree? With that, I'm off to go fart at someone so I can get together with my crush.
Here's a thing btw