The Uncanny Valley
With the rising concern of deepfakes, and with myself a big Star Wars nerd, I want to yet again make a connection between class material and the media franchise. This time, I want to discuss an effect of deepfakes commonly known as the uncanny valley and two applications of it within the Star Wars universe.
What Is the Uncanny Valley?
The uncanny valley is the eerie, uneasy, and sometimes repulsive feeling people experience when encountering robots, computer-generated characters, digitally edited characters, or other entities that are nearly, but not quite, human. The theory was first proposed in the 1970s by Japanese robotics professor Masahiro Mori, who claimed that as an entity approached more humanlike traits, our positive perception of the entity increased; however, at a certain point, our perception craters as we realize that though it looks human, it's not quite human. Our perception rises again once the entity again begins to look more humanlike.
Uncanny Valleys in Star Wars
The uncanny valley effect can be seen in a lot of popular movies, such as Avatar, The Polar Express, and...Star Wars. Below are two cases of the uncanny valley found in the franchise 😬
1. In the franchise's anthology movie Rogue One, a group of rebels are tasked with stealing the plans for the Death Star, the Empire's super-weapon. The Death Star at this point in the story is a newly-finished project overseen by Director Krennic. Upon completion of a test fire, his position as Director is usurped by Grand Moff Tarkin, who you may remember as Vader's handler and the highest ranking Imperial officer aboard the Death Star in Episode IV: A New Hope. Here's the problem: Peter Cushing, the actor who played Tarkin, died in 1994, meaning that for the character's appearance in Rogue One, he was digitally recreated using a living body double and CGI (computer-generated imagery) based on footage of the late Cushing that aimed to accurately portray his likeness and performance. Ethical concerns aside, see for yourself the end result (the digital recreation is on the left):
It's weird, right? It feels like it's out of a video game. This is the best example of the uncanny valley right now in Hollywood (other than that AI actress, Tilly Norwood, who's been fluttering around lately), and I have to say, it makes me feel a little uncomfortable.
2. In the finale of the second season of the hit television series, The Mandalorian, the titular Mandalorian and his companions find themselves cornered by some scary robotic stormtroopers when suddenly, out of nowhere, they are saved by none other than a digitally de-aged Luke Skywalker. This Luke...uh, looks a little different. This Luke is played by a stand-in actor with CGI face overlays of a digitally de-aged Mark Hamill (the original actor). The end result is a sight to behold.
Again, it looks like something out of a video-game. It's obviously not the real Mark Hamill, and I find it quite disaffecting.
The Rise of Tilly Norwood
Speaking of Tilly Norwood, there is a tumultuous uproar in Hollywood right now over Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated woman that looks startlingly realistic and is almost indistinguishable from a real-life British actress. Developed this year by Eline Van der Velden, CEO of Particle6, a European AI production company, Norwood is a highly competent actress who has entertainment companies thinking about signing her to deals. The only problem is...she's an AI, not a real human. Various actors and actresses are in an uproar over this sudden interest in an artificially-generated character who appears startlingly realistic. I've watched some of highlight reels on Instagram featuring Norwood and I must say, she is quite the actress, which makes it all the more disturbing that she is the product of deepfake culture.
You can check out Norwood's highlight reels on her Instagram page: @tillynorwood
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