Play: 1 (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within)

The key term for this weeks class: 'The uncanny' first introduced by Japanese Roboticist Mashiro Mori - It refers to a sense of unease of awkwardness or discomfort when we experience the virtual human, especially as they become more realistic and life-like.

When discussing the term 'uncanny valley' in class today, I couldn't help make a connection. We use the term to describe the effect that humans have when viewing another virtual human; we relate this to cinema and popular culture. I feel that in a way cinema has always thrived on the uncanny; for example, when cinema was first being screened (late 1880s), humans were shown, and even though at first they were flesh and blood, their reproduced image was not. There are many cases whereby people felt 'uneasy' or 'apprehensive' when experiencing this new medium; It is for this reason that I feel that films have always used this technique - historically and aesthetically. The final fantasy film is by no means an exception; it's creative use of animation creates another humanoid representation, even though fictional it strikes us as so similar to our own form.

Mori suggests that as a machine / robot develops we feel a sense of empathy - we gain a more emotional attachment as it learns more advanced skills, we start to almost think of it as one of us. Strangely however as the machine becomes more human-like we feel awkward and in a way threatened by it's potential to match us or even out-perform us, also it's appearance (in the case of a cyborg) starts to play tricks on the mind, as humans we are extremely sensitive to this kind of imagery as our brain tells they are real, but again we know they are not. In class we used the example of Michael Najjar's Nexus Project 1 to reinforce this idea - it features digitally modified eyes of certain people; a proposed post-human cyborg representation. However we only understand this context if we read the in formation plaques provided, before this knowledge our preceptions are different - our brain jumping to conclusions, and essentially 'freaking out'. Without clarification of what we are looking at (human, robot, cyborg etc) it is very hard for us to engage with the subject on an emotional or personable level.

One interesting point raised in the Jason Sperb (addressing Videodrome) reading is his mention of the character Max is in fact perhaps not dead, but is his physical body is indeed spent, he recognizes this as a common post-modern practice. This can be seen in Final Fantasy especially, the final spirit requires the sacrifice of the captain, he is body has been obliterated but interestingly (in accordance with the christian belief in the eternal soul) he lives on in what is described as Gaia.

McLuhan states that media is in fact the extension of the self, this combined with the post-human cyborg becoming an extension of our physical capabilities has alarming similarities. When Sperb deals with 'The New Flesh' he introduces a state of simulation and repetition, so is this to further McLuhan's argument? Final Fantasy is some ways reinforcing this by the fact that we surrounded by virtual characters performing and acting as humans; the film takes what we are, and presents it back to us in the construction of this perhaps possible epitaph of mankind.

When the captain dies he has said to have obtained 'the new flesh' as his transition is from physical to spiritual, as opposed to electronic. FF has copious intangible religious connotations, we are just as inquisitive to religion as we are to post-human technologies; there is also this continual conflict between the two as well. There is an interesting connection between the works of Sperb and McLuhan in regards to FF, if only scraping the surface. I found FF very clever in it's animation, it is flawed as a decent film; but I feel that is not important. What is key is the idea that these virtual characters are carrying out actions and emotions that are very human, and that we find hard to comprehend robots/animations being able to exercise or understand.