Computer Animation, Robots, & Writing
I was writing my latest zine for A&E when I wrote the sentence "I have a dislike for most computer animation that tries to portray people as realistically as possible." After I finished the paragraph and I looked again at this opening sentence, I edited it down to "I dislike most computer animation..." The "have a... for" construct was unnecessary. Even so, I think including the padding of those words weakens the statement and softens the "dislike" expressed and therefore might be appropriate in some cases. My shortened, perhaps harsher version definitely feels tighter and terser, but I am not sure it is necessarily better.
This is the full text of the paragraph:
I dislike most computer animation that tries to portray people as realistically as possible. There is a point where a character model is not realistic enough to pass for human but too realistic to be considered stylized. It exists in an aesthetic zone that I describe as "creepy." Give me The Incredibles over The Polar Express any day. For robots, this creepiness not only includes appearance but extends to behavior and speech. Once robots are so realistic that they are no longer creepy, they will find acceptance, though perhaps at the cost of paranoia and "robo-phobia."
This is the full text of the paragraph:
I dislike most computer animation that tries to portray people as realistically as possible. There is a point where a character model is not realistic enough to pass for human but too realistic to be considered stylized. It exists in an aesthetic zone that I describe as "creepy." Give me The Incredibles over The Polar Express any day. For robots, this creepiness not only includes appearance but extends to behavior and speech. Once robots are so realistic that they are no longer creepy, they will find acceptance, though perhaps at the cost of paranoia and "robo-phobia."
Labels: Miscellany, Movies


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