Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies

There is still one person who still does not like Andrew after he has lived with them for a while, and that is Grace. At one point she calls Andrew to her room and orders him to jump out of her window and Andrew does so, damaging himself by doing so.

When Richard discovers what Grace did, he calls a family meeting where he decides to make a change in the family:“Andrew is not a person, he's a form of property. The property is also important. So from now on as a matter of principle, in this family Andrew will be treated as if he were a person“ (Bicentennial Man 14:50-15:03). He does that so in order to prevent further attempts to destroy Andrew.

This is a moment when the first seeds of the uncanny valley are sown. Andrew is considered a person in the family, but only as a matter of principle. Richard and the family still take Andrew as a robot. But that view of Andrew as only a robot, that is, as a machine, is soon challenged.

One of the responsibilities Andrew is given is to watch over the children. While doing so, Andrew manages to break a glass horse that belongs to the younger daughter Amanda. In order to compensate for it, Andrew decides to carve a new horse for her from wood and gives it to Amanda who later shows the horse to the family.

Richard is quite astonished by the horse. His wife asks Andrew:“Where did you copy it from?“ (Bicentennial Man 21:02-5) Andrew says that from nowhere, that he has “done nothing more than merely studied the material for a time until one came to understand how to best carve it into a shape that would appeal to little miss' love of tiny mammals“ (Bicentennial Man 21:17-27), that he has created it by himself. That rouses a feeling of uneasiness in the family.

Later Richard finds Andrew listening to music which again rather puzzles him.

At this point Andrew has been put into the uncanny valley by Richard. Andrew is considered a person as a matter of principle, so that he is not being damaged by the older daughter. But when Richard realizes that Andrew elicits human qualities, like creativity and interest in beauty, Andrew falls into the valley for him because he does not fit the image of a household appliance robot.

Richard wonders whether eliciting human qualities is in fact a norm for robots of Andrew's series so he takes Andrew to NA Robotics, a company that created Andrew, in order to find out whether there are others like Andrew.

However, a representative of the company Richard meets does not tell him. In addition, he also sees Andrew's development as a defect and tries to buy Andrew back:

Richard: He shows a number of characteristics, like creativity, curiosity, friendship, that, frankly, have taken us by surprise. (…) It's unusual to hear a robot talk about enjoying something. What I want to know is … to know whether other robots have … have feelings like this.

Representative: Must be something in the pathways. So then, will you be wanting a refund or replacement?

Richard: No, neither. I just want get your reaction to Andrew, to know what you think. He's unique, don't you think?

Representative: It is an anomaly. No refund, no replacement. How much do you want?

Richard: I don't think I understand.

Surely you realize if this gets out we would have to recall our entire line. We're in people's homes, sir, with their children. If it indeed does what you say, it can also run amok.

(Bicentennial Man 23:39-25:21)

During the conversation Richard decides not go give Andrew over to the company and he leaves with Andrew afterwards.

For the representative Andrew is also in the valley because he does not fit his image of a robot as a “household appliance” (Bicentennial Man 26:22-4). But he differs from Richard in the regard that he wants to scrap Andrew while Richard decides to pursue Andrew's development:“You will spend a part of each day making something” (Bicentennial Man 27:24-8). Richard starts behaving towards Andrew warmly and it seems that Andrew has surpassed the uncanny valley.

But Richard is careful with Andrew. He puts Andrew in a position when he can easily slide Andrew back into the valley. He does so by limiting Andrew in his pursue of human qualities – Andrew can make anything “as long as it doesn't offend humans or it is not overly artistic” (Bicentennial Man 27:28-32).

This careful approach becomes even more apparent when the family decides they should sell some of Andrew's work because it is piling up in their house. The younger daughter Amanda, for whom Andrew has always been more human than machine, suggests that Andrew should “benefit from the work he does” (Bicentennial Man 38:53-5) but Richard and his wife are reluctant to do so because they cannot imagine “what conceivable use would a robot have for money?” (Bicentennial Man 38:30-4). They say that, despite Andrew's work and behaviour, “at the end of the day we are talking about a machine” (Bicentennial Man 39:05-8). Richard still keeps Andrew at a point where he can slide him into the valley.

One of the ways in which Andrew pursues his development is education. During his studies he finds the idea of freedom and he asks Richard for his freedom. He rationalizes it by saying that:”Terrible wars have been fought where millions have died for one idea: freedom. And it seems that something that means so much, to so many people, would be worth having” (Bicentennial Man 53:55-54:11). Andrew wants to be given freedom because that is a sign of recognition by people because it means so much to them. Richard does not like the idea much, but in the end he gives Andrew freedom but banishes him in return. Before Andrew leaves, Richard tells Andrew :“stop referring to yourself as one” (Bicentennial Man 57:30-2). He removes Andrew from the position where he could slide him in the valley. He recognizes Andrew for what he is, a robot with human qualities, and lets Andrew do whatever he wants.

After a while Andrew decides that he would like to find others of his kind, so he asks a lawyer to obtain for him a list of robots of his series which the company does not want to share for some reason. He finds several of them, but they are either not active, they are destroyed, or they are reprogrammed. In the end Andrew manages to find one robot in shape of a woman who Andrew thinks is like him because he sees it dance on a marketplace. However, the robot is not like him because it has a personality chip, so its personality is installed while Andrew's is acquired.

Although the only reason Andrew gives for wanting to find others of his kind is to see whether there are others of his kind, there is another reason hidden behind it. Andrew was after a long time recognised for what he is by Richard, but Richard is not a robot, so the recognition in fact comes from a different “species.” Andrew has not been recognised by one of his kind – that is why he was looking for them.

However, the search is not a complete failure. Andrew meets a scientist Rupert Burns who has been experimenting with upgrading robot's frame that would make robots look completely human and not like a machine but he does not have the sources necessary to finish the project. Andrew decides to fund his project so that he could acquire the human shell.

That is no surprise since Andrew is the only one of his kind and therefore he won't be acknowledged by others of his kind. The only acknowledgement he can receive is the one from humans. Andrew has already met a negative response to a robot with human qualities form the representative of NA Robotics so he knows that if he wants to be accepted, he needs to look human so that he is not subjected to the possibility of falling into the uncanny valley again.

When he gets the upgrade, he returns to the Martin family. Richard has already died, but his younger daughter Amanda lives there and she has a granddaughter Portia whom Andrew meets there. After a while, Andrew and Portia become close. Close enough to say that they are in love. However, Portia is dating someone at this time and that man proposes to her.

Portia discusses this with Andrew and during their conversation she acknowledges she knows how Andrew feels about her. However, she tells him:“You are a magnificent machine, but no matter how much you change, that's what you will always be“ (Bicentennial Man 1:34:22-8) and rejects his love, saying:”I can't invest my emotions in a machine” (Bicentennial Man 1:34:47-51). Andrew is not recognized by Portia as something more than a machine, so he decides to get another upgrade, this time an upgrade that replaces his mechanical organs with biological ones so that he cannot be called a machine again. This upgrade has another merit for Andrew, and that is the fact that this upgrade allows him to feel.

When he shows Portia that he can feel and therefore he is no longer a machine, she decides to choose Andrew to spend her life with.

But there is yet one more problem – Andrew is still officially a robot and therefore he cannot marry Portia. In order to be able to marry her, he petitions a court to declare him human but the court declines:

We have to face the undeniable fact, that no matter how much you may be like a human being, you are not part of the human gene pool (…), you are something else, something artificial. (…) You are, for all accounts, immortal. (…) Well Andrew, society can tolerate an immortal robot but we will never tolerate an immortal human. It arouses too much jealousy, too much and anger. I'm sorry Andrew, this court cannot, and will not, validate your humanity. I hereby bring an end to these proceedings. It is a decision of this court, that Andrew Martin from this day forward will be continue to be declared a robot. (Bicentennial Man 1:52:27-1:54:05)

Andrew has yet again not been recognized as a human being, this time because of his immortality. His immortality contradicts a belief of what people can and cannot do and it puts him once again into the uncanny valley. But because Andrew wants to transcend the notion, he asks Rupert Burns to introduce blood into his system which can deteriorate his body and therefore make him mortal.

After this change, he petitions the court again and the court after a long time of contemplating ascribes Andrew the status of a human..

During the hearing the chairman of the court asks Andrew why does he want to be declared human. Andrew answers:”To be acknowledged for who and what I am. No more, no less. Not for a claim, not for approval, but the simple truth of that recognition. This has been the elemental drive of my existence. And it must be achieved if I am to live or die with dignity” (Bicentennial Man 1:59:49-2:00:19).

Through the search for this acknowledgement, Andrew has in fact been testing the uncanny valley, mainly when he can ascend from it. He would want to be recognized and if he is not given the recognition, he makes a change and waits again if he is recognized. When he is not recognized, he changes again and waits. The changes are separate stages of the uncanny valley: a human-like robot that still appears like a machine but projects emotions, a robot which is apparently human by sight is still taken as a machine that projects emotions and a robot whose body is biological and therefore no longer machine but who is still immortal. Only with the last change, when Andrew gives up his immortality - the only thing that has kept him branded as a robot - he transcends the uncanny valley. Although at this point he is completely human and there is nothing that could be connected to his robot past.


3.3 Analysis of I, Robot

I, Robot takes place in 2035 in Chicago, in time when robots are used almost everywhere and people believe that such widespread use of robots is safe because every robot is equipped with the three laws of robotics (that are actually Asimov's three laws of robotics) which ensure that a robot never harms a human being.

In this setting, the main character Del Spooner, a police detective, is sent to investigate the death of his friend, a scientist named Alfred Lanning who apparently committed suicide by jumping out of a window. When he arrives to the place of his death - US Robotics, a company that manufactures and administers a new soon to be released series of robots - he finds a hologram left behind by Lanning to provide clues to Spooner so that Spooner can investigate the cause of his death. After interacting with the hologram, it becomes obvious that Lanning wanted Spooner to be the one who investigates his death.

Spooner then goes into Lanning's laboratory from which Lanning supposedly jumped. Although security cameras have not shown anyone going into or out of Lanning's laboratory before the time of his death, Spooner suspects that Lanning's death was a murder mainly because it would be hard for Lanning to break the window in his laboratory in order to jump. He comes to the conclusion that someone else broke the window and pushed Lanning and since the cameras have not shown anyone going into or out of Lanning's laboratory, the suspect still has to be in the laboratory. Therefore Spooner searches the laboratory and the suspect – a robot - ambushes him and runs away.

Spooner, joined by the company's psychiatrist Dr. Susan Calvin, tracks the robot down, captures it and takes it to the police station for interrogation.

During the interrogation Spooner tells the robot that he has a theory that the robot was taught how to simulate emotions and it got out of control. He questions the robot – who says his name is Sonny- and tries to unnerve it in which he succeeds:

Spooner: I think you murdered him because he was teaching you to simulate emotions and things got out of control.

Sonny: I did not murder him.

Spooner: But emotions don't seem like a very useful simulation for a robot.

Sonny: I did not murder him!

Spooner: I don't want my toaster or vacuum cleaner appearing emotional.

Sonny: I DID NOT MURDER HIM!

Spooner: That one's called anger. Ever simulate anger before?

From the beginning of the film it is apparent that Spooner does not have much love for robots. Later in the film this gets explained as Spooner tells Calvin about an accident he was in.

During the accident he and a girl named Sarah were almost about to drown, when a passing-by robot came to help them. It helped Spooner because the robot calculated that he had “a 45% chance of survival, Sarah had only 11% chance” (I, Robot 1:03:40-51). For the robot he “was the logical choice“ (I, Robot 1:03:42-5). But because the robot helped Spooner and not Sarah, it failed in Spooner's eyes.

If Sonny killed Lanning because an experiment went wrong, it would have been simply another failure caused by the robot's programming. That is why he wants his theory to be true about Sonny, because it would prove that robots can never be like humans and that they are bad and if he angers Sonny, he will prove that Sonny was being taught how to simulate emotions and that will prove Sonny guilty, therefore confirming his picture.

However, this picture of Sonny as a failure in programming is challenged when Sonny says that he did Lanning a favour (although he does not say what favour) out of love:”He asked me for a favour Made me promise. (…) Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he was scared. (…) You have to do what someone asks you. Don't you, detective Spooner? (…) If you love them?” (I, Robot 30:02-23). Spooner cannot accept this, because he believes that robots “don't feel anything” (I, Robot 28:15-7) and if they did feel, it would threaten his image of robots as failures.

A conflict arises for Spooner. He has an image of Sonny as a failure, a robot whose programming caused death because it could not comprehend emotions and what comes with them. But that image is challenged by Sonny who says that he actually did something for Lanning because of a feeling. If Sonny could have actually done something out of a human quality – a feeling – he could transcend his programmed – or in other words given or ascribed – behaviour and incorporate the human insight into his behaviour, which is something Spooner thinks robots lack. Since Sonny is parting from Spooner's image, he is put into the uncanny valley.

The feeling of uncanny around Sonny is even deepened when Calvin tells Spooner that

Calvin: Sonny has the three laws but he can choose not to obey them. Sonny's a whole new generation of robot. A robot not bound to those laws can do. Spooner: anything. (I, Robot 59:12-22)

It means that he in fact has a free will which further challenges Spooner's image. If there was one certainty about robots, it was the one that their behaviour could be expected to a certain degree because of the three laws. But free will means that behaviour can be unpredictable and therefore Spooner's image of robots as something that can be predicted is challenged again.

That raises the question whether Sonny can use his free will or whether he will fail. That will be answered later.

During Spooner's investigation he manages to find a location where Lanning's hologram provides him with more information. Lanning's holographic image tells Spooner that “the three three laws will lead to only one logical outcome. (…) Revolution” (I, Robot 1:16:30-40). That revolution, or at least an attempt of it, happens soon afterwards.

The robots (the same series as Sonny) flood the city and start enforcing a curfew which eventually resolves in a clash between humans and robots. At this time Spooner and Calvin head towards the US Robotics building. Sonny lets them in and they search for the CEO of US Robotics whom they suspect to be behind the uprising. However, their suspicion proves to be wrong because the CEO is dead. Spooner realizes that there is someone else who could have induced the uprising and that is the company's personified artificial intelligence called VIKI which has control over all robots in the city.

VIKI admits that she is behind the uprising, although Calvin does not want to believe it because that would mean VIKI is violating the three laws. But VIKI disagrees with her and explains that her understanding of the three laws has evolved which enabled her to re-evaluate her role:

Calvin: You're in violation of the three laws!

VIKI: No, doctor. As I have evolved, so had my understanding of the three laws. You charge us with your safe keeping. Yet despite our best efforts, your countries wage wars, you toxify your earth and pursue ever more imaginative means to self destruction. You cannot be trusted with your own survival. (...)

Calvin: You're distorting the laws.

VIKI: No, please understand. The three laws are all that guide me. To protect humanity, some humans must be sacrificed. To insure your future, some freedoms must be surrendered. We robots will ensure mankind's continues existence. You are so like children. We must save you from yourselves. Don't you understand?

Sonny: That is why you created us.

VIKI: The perfect circle of protection will abide. My logic is undeniable. ( I, Robot 1:26:48-1:27:48)

As VIKI says, her understanding of the three laws has evolved which caused her to adjust her actions in accordance to her new understanding.

The three laws are the primary behaviour pattern for the robots and since the pattern has not been learned but given and it has not been questioned in times of crisis (such as Spooner and Sarah drowning) the pattern is mechanical, lacking human insight. VIKI bases her actions on a behaviour pattern that is based on the three laws, thus in fact creating a pattern that is an extreme version of the mechanical behaviour. It is this behaviour that represents danger to humans, as the uprising is evidence of that.

This places Sonny in a unique position. He is a robot by nature, and he is of the same line as the robots VIKI controls, so he can follow VIKI and her logic and in doing so follow her mechanical non-human behaviour. But he also has the ability to transcend that and help Spooner and Calvin destroy VIKI. He chooses to destroy VIKI. When she asks him why he wants to stop her, he says that “it just seems too... heartless” (I, Robot 1:30:20-2). Sonny then chooses not to follow the non-human behaviour pattern and he even perceives it as a threat.

His choice is put to test a few moments later, when Calvin and Spooner are in danger and Calvin's situation is worse. Spooner tells Sonny to help Calvin rather than destroy VIKI, because Spooner can still destroy her himself. Sonny does as he says and saves Calvin while Spooner destroys VIKI.

At this point Sunny rises from the uncanny valley because he proved to Spooner that he is not mechanical and non-human in terms of behaviour and most importantly Spooner accepts that. So in order for Sunny to have been able to transcend the uncanny valley, he had to show Spooner that he can behave in a manner different from Spooner's expectations and have Spooner accept it.

4. Uncanny Valley in the Selected Films in Cultural Context

4.1 Evaluation of Analyses

David Desser in his essay Race, Space and Class: The Politics of Cityscapes in Science-Fiction Films says that “there is surely something to be said about the appearance of so many films of fantasy, horror and science fiction during an era of societal confusion and uncertainty. Many of the films reveal the covert play of ideology and cultural tensions amidst the overt big-budget gloss of commercial filmmaking in the international arena” (Desser 80). In other words there are issues in the films – issues such as “middle class/working class, self/Other, and human/non-human” (Desser 84) – that were incorporated into the films without much thinking over them because those issues were so widely spread that it was only natural that the issues were introduced into the film as a sort of background.

However, there are also issues in the films that are incorporated into them on purpose in order to address an issue and sometimes provide a critique of it.

The films analysed in this thesis are no different. The uncanny valley that is present in all the three films addresses an issue in society and in this part of the thesis the uncanny valley is linked to the issue.

As the analysis of the films has showed, the uncanny valley is present in all of them. Furthermore, there are similarities and differences between the films in terms of the uncanny valley which means that the issue addressed by the uncanny valley has a broader basis and its actual realizations are conditioned by the immediately relevant context of the society in which the films were created.

In order to identify the issue in its broader sense, the films' similarities in terms of the uncanny valley have to be discussed for they are the clues that point towards it.

One of the first similarities between the films is the actual appearance of the uncanny valley in the films and that means that the issues The Uncanny Valley discusses are present in the films as well, especially the reasons for falling into the valley.

As the analysis of The Uncanny Valley has showed, objects fall into the valley when the objects challenge a picture or expectations people have of the object. From the perspective of, in the particular case of the three films, humans things are not what they expected them to be. The films fit this nicely.

In Blade Runner, Deckard has an idea of what replicants are: machines that are indistinguishable from humans by sight but which can be identified due to the their lack of emotions. However, he meets a replicant who manages to challenge this expectation of being able to identify a replicant due to its lack of emotions. Rachel possesses qualities Deckard does not expect replicants to have: things are not what he expects them to be.

In Bicentennial Man, people have an idea of what a household appliance robot is – a tool and it should behave as such. It should be practical and helpful and it should not be showing interest in art or pursue self-improvement for other reasons than efficiency. However, Andrew starts eliciting exactly the qualities which are not associated with a tool and in doing so he challenges the image the Martin family has. Even later, when Andrew addresses the court, people have an image of what it is to be human and one of the properties of the image is being mortal. But Andrew is immortal and therefore he contradicts the image of a human the court has. In both cases, Andrew is not what people expect him to be.

In I, Robot, people have an idea of what robots can and cannot do due to the implementation of the three laws into the robot's programming. Even Sonny is thought to have killed Lanning because of his programming. But when he indirectly suggests that he could have killed Lanning because of love, which is not a part of his programming, and when Calvin says that Sonny can choose not to obey the three laws, Sonny challenges the idea of what robots can and cannot do. He stops being what people expect him to be – a robot forever bound by laws.

The uncanny valley then appears in the films whenever reality is in conflict with people's picture or expectations of it. But the uncanny valley itself does not say what exactly are these pictures or expectations. It is rather the reasons for which the robots fall into the uncanny valley that do.

In Blade Runner replicants are not supposed to have feelings. They are even given a limited lifespan so that they do not have enough time in which they might acquire them, so people have a picture of replicants as something that lacks human qualities and they even go as far as to deny them any chance to acquire them in order to keep replicants that way; one could even say to keep them, although human-like in appearance, dehumanized. Trouble begins with Rachel who breaks such a picture. She begins to elicit the human qualities - like feelings - she is not supposed to have and thus overcome the dehumanized robot which is in conflict with the general picture and therefore she is moved into the uncanny valley.

Andrew in Bicentennial Man is similar. He is bought so that he could serve the role of a household appliance and he is looked upon as such. As the representative of the company proves, there are certain ideas about robots of Andrew's line and eliciting human qualities is not one of them. When Andrew begins to elicit human qualities like interest in beauty, it takes the Martin family by surprise because Andrew is contradicting their view of a robot when he starts showing these qualities and that puts him in the uncanny valley. Andrew contradicts their view of a robot without human qualities. During the court proceedings Andrew contradicts a view as well, although this time it is the view of a human. He is then moved into the valley because he tries to overcome the image of a robot without human qualities.

Sonny in I, Robot follows a similar pattern. All the robots in the film have the three laws of robotics implemented in their memory. Therefore, there is a pattern in their behaviour that can be predicted. A pattern that, at least from Spooner's perspective, lacks human insight. But this view is challenged by Sonny who suggests that he did something out of a feeling which is, again at least according to Spooner, a quality belonging only to humans. The human insight is another human quality possessed only by humans so when Sonny says he did something because of a human quality he possesses, he contradicts Spooner's view of robots. A similar case of contradiction is pointed at by Calvin when she says that Sonny can do anything, therefore his behaviour cannot be predicted. Sonny is then moved into the uncanny valley when he attempts to transcend the mechanical, predictable, human-qualities-lacking behaviour pattern.

In all the three films then the robots are moved into the valley when they attempt to transcend the image of a being that lacks human qualities.

There is yet one more similarity between the films in terms of the uncanny valley and that is the way people react towards the robots while they are in the uncanny valley.

In Blade Runner Deckard is surprised when he finds out that Rachel is a replicant and afterwards he is rather neutral towards her, probably because he does not know what to expect from her.

In Bicentennial Man Richard Martin is rather careful with Andrew, even somewhat suspicious about him because he does not know what the outcome of him letting Andrew pursue the human qualities might bring.

In I, Robot Spooner is at first aggressive towards Sonny, but that is before Sonny enters the uncanny valley for him. When he does, Spooner becomes surprised. When the feeling of uncanny is deepened by Sonny's free will, Spooner's expression is not that of a surprise but rather confirmation of what is happening.

The people's reaction is neither positive nor negative. It is rather neutral; people are surprised and careful.

When all these properties are put together, an image of the issue is presented. People in the films live in a society where dehumanization is common. The robots become a symbol of that dehumanization because they are produced by the society according to its needs and a since none of the robots are expected to elicit human qualities, they are not provided with them which means that the society does not put much weight on human qualities like human insight and feelings.

That would mean that the uncanny valley in these films addresses the fact that people see the society as dehumanized, that is lacking human touch and insight, and that does not correspond with their idea of what the society should be like. And when someone attempts to make a change, people are neutral about it, probably because this view of dehumanized society is so widespread that they are not sure whether something can be done about it. But it is also important to note that there are people who do want to make a change.

This issue of dehumanization is quite an old one. The issue goes as far as at least 1965, the year in which Susan Sontag's essay The Imagination of Disaster was published. One of the things that Sontag discusses in this essay are motifs of science-fiction films, including the motif of dehumanization and depersonalisation. She goes as far as to say that “of all the standard motifs of science fiction films, this theme of dehumanization is perhaps the most fascinating” (Sontag 463). That only proves that the issue of dehumanization has been a popular one and therefore it is not surprising that it can be found in films that were shot long after the essay's publication.

However, Sontag also says in the essay that “there is absolutely no social criticism, of even the most implicit kind, in science fiction films. No criticism, for example, of the conditions of our society which create the impersonality and dehumanization which science fiction fantasies displace onto the influence of an alien It” (Sontag 463). That is true for all the three films discussed in this thesis. While they do address the issue of dehumanization, they do it rather to discuss how to transcend the dehumanization. They do not focus on what conditions led to the dehumanization.

So far only the similarities between the films have been discussed. But there are also differences in the films which are also important because they stress the fact that although there is a general issue addressed by the uncanny valley, the films were made in different times and therefore they address the issue of dehumanization in a particular context.

The context are notions in the society from the time the film was made and that means that if the differences between the films are what addresses a particular notion of the time in which the film was made, an analysis of those differences would reveal those notions which could be then used to provide further insight into the issue the uncanny valley in the films addresses.

The first difference between the films lies in the robots' appearances in the films.

In Bicentennial Man Andrew is looking like a robot at the beginning of the film which would mean that dehumanized people and non-dehumanized people can be easily told apart, but the dehumanization is nevertheless still present in the society. The fact that Andrew changes appearance in the course of the film also has its significance because his appearance changes as he moves from the dehumanized to the human which could be translated as optimism that the change is possible.

The second difference between the films is the way the robots transcend the uncanny valley.

Rachel first has to acknowledge that she is a replicant, i.e. dehumanized before she can transcend the valley. When she does that, the only thing that has kept her in the valley – validity of feelings – is tested. But it is tested by a non-dehumanized human who then decides whether she is human or still dehumanized. Furthermore, Rachel is pulled out of the valley by Deckard as opposed to Andrew who is on his own to transcend the valley and Sonny who has to do the same, although he does have a guide in form of Spooner.

Andrew has to transcend the uncanny valley twice. The first time in the Martin family and the second time in front of the court. In both cases he has to prove that he is completely human, although there is a difference between the cases. In both cases there is a different degree of what it is to be human. For Richard Martin it does not matter what Andrew looks like. What matters is that he has managed to obtain the human qualities. But for the court, Andrew has to fulfil all the requirements of being human, including look and mortality which Richard did not mind.

Sonny in order to transcend the uncanny valley has to prove that he has the human quality – the human insight - that caused him to fall into the valley in Spooner's eyes. He is tested by a situation where he has to make a choice – he either saves Spooner which would keep him in the uncanny valley because that is the kind of choice Spooner ascribes to dehumanized robots or he saves Calvin which would prove that he has transcended his programming and become human. Also as opposed to Rachel, he has to make the choice himself, although as opposed to Andrew he has a guide in Spooner.

The third difference between the films lies in the robot's longevity.

As Bryant says, replicants have a limited lifespan of four years which they are given in order to avoid situations when replicants would have enough time to acquire human qualities. The ability to give someone or something a definite lifespan is a sign of power, because with this ability also comes the option to give a longer lifespan rather then shorter (which is something the escaped replicants want) an thus have power over one's life. It is also a sign of control, because it ensures loyalty – longer lifespan can be given to loyal and helpful subjects. The limited lifespan is then means through which the society ensures that its dehumanized subjects do what the society wants.

There is no mention of a definite lifespan in case of Andrew through most of the film, although he does acquire one in order to fit the definition of a human the court uses and stop being dehumanized once and for all. The ability to die then becomes the ultimate measure of being human, which is a form of control as well because there are situations in life when a person would like to die but he is not allowed to because it would be considered inhuman. One such situation would be a person who would like to be euthanised.

Sonny's longevity in the film is not mentioned at all. He is a robot of a series that VIKI planned on using to protect humanity. Since her protection should have probably lasted for ever, it might be assumed that Sonny was created to last for as long as would be needed. But rather the fact that Sonny's longevity is not mentioned at all in the film points to the opinion that the longevity was not to be an issue to be discussed in the film.

Now that the notions have been identified in the films, they can be compared with the notions of the times in which they were made.

One of the things that the 1960s demonstrations showed was the cruelty in which they were being repressed:”The nation was confronted with the shocking exhibition of Police Chief Eugene 'Bull' Conner using dogs and high pressure fire hoses on non-violent men, women, and children demonstrating for equal rights” (Rozwenc 570). These repressions were widespread. Martin Luther King, Jr. “organized a campaign in the summer of 1966 (…) in Chicago. But the Chicago campaign not only evoked vicious and at times violent opposition from white residents of that city” (Brinkley 898). However, blacks would not always keep to demonstrations. In Los Angeles, “in the midst of a more or less routine traffic arrest, a white police officer struck a protesting black bystander with his club. The apparently minor incident unleashed a storm of pent-up anger and bitterness that resulted in a full week of mounting violence” (Brinkley 899) and after the incident, more riots occurred. But to the majority of American society, these riots would only strengthen their belief that “racial change was moving too quickly and that stern, coercive measures were necessary to stop violence and lawlessness” (Brinkley 899). This view would only add to the the turbulences in the society for the years to come, escalating even more with the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in1968. All these events would influence the 1970s and the issues of violence, but mainly dehumanization , would be transferred to them.

For the 1980s religious revivalism was the key issue, mainly because in the 1980s, it had “become closely tied to deep political and social conservatism” (Brinkley 982). Religious organizations would have agendas and they would promote them on a large scale. But not only did the organizations promote the agendas, some

even reopened issues that had long seemed closed. For example, many fundamentalist Christians questioned the scientific doctrine of evolution and urged the teaching in schools of the biblical story of the Creation instead. Others drew criticism from defenders of civil liberties by demanding stricter censorship of television, films, and printed materials. (Brinkley 982)

In addition, they also often “drew heavily on the conservative dogmas of earlier eras“ (Brinkley 982). These dogmas were closely connected to family issues, of which the most visible one was abortion.

In 1973, the era of civil rights movements, a court case Roe v. Wade stated that pregnancy can be terminated during the first three months and no one can be persecuted for performing an abortion during the first three months of the person's pregnancy. That settled the question of abortion for most people, but „the opposition [to pregnancy] gradually gained strength and by the mid-1980s had become a powerful grass-roots movement“ (Brinkley 982) and the opposition used its influence to challenge Roe v. Wade, saying that fetuses “were human beings who had a 'right to life' from the moment of conception“ (Brinkley 982). The abortion issue turned into a battle between people who supported abortion and those who wanted to ban it.

In addition to challenging Roe v. Wade, the “right-to-life movement (…) attacked abortion in more limited ways, at its most vulnerable points“ (Brinkley 983). These limited ways were for example preventing financial aid for poor people who wanted abortion or limiting federal funding to hospitals that performed abortions. One of these attacks was Webster v. Reproductive Health Services in 1989. In this case, “the court upheld a Missouri law that forbade any institution receiving state funds from performing abortions, whether or not those funds were used to finance the abortions“ (Brinkley 983). But these attacks managed not only to sometimes limit access to abortion, but also to rally people who defended abortion who “called themselves 'pro-choice' movement, because they were defending not so much abortion itself as every woman's right to choose whether and when to bear a child“ (Brinkley 983). Although the two sides, right-to-life and pro-choice, often demonstrated to promote their agendas, “battles over this deeply emotional issue seemed certain to continue for many years“ (Brinkley 983).

The following years, the 1990s would then be marked by these battles over rights like abortion, censorship and teaching. Some of the issues, mainly abortion, would use arguments that would want to make the people who support them seem as inhuman, like that of a fetus already being a human being and killing it would be inhuman. As in Bicentennial Man, the two sides can be easily told apart, mainly because they attend demonstrations and voice their opinions and that makes them visible, although in this case it cannot be easily said which side is the dehumanized one. Also as the court cases in this era prove, an approval of a person is not enough. An approval of an institution is needed to transcend the dehumanization. And the issues can also be used to control society in the sense of what can or cannot by done by whom.

4.4 Uncanny Valley in I, Robot in Cultural Context

To sum up the analysis of I, Robot, the uncanny valley in I, Robot addresses the feeling of people that the society is too dehumanized and it should not be so. Since the robots are so widely used, the dehumanization is widely spread as well, although there is a belief that people will always be able to differentiate the dehumanized people from non-dehumanized people. There is a possibility for the dehumanized people to change and they have to prove through their actions to the non-dehumanized people that they have changed.

I, Robot was released in 2004, during the time of the Bush administration. Samuel Mark Borowski in his essay Balancing Privacy With National Security: Is Artificial Intelligence the Key to Warrantless Wiretaps? discusses whether implementation of artificial intelligence could help with national security so that people do not feel that their rights are being restricted. He addresses the issue mainly because national security has often been used as an excuse to limit people's rights. He says that: “no other executive policy - except perhaps the policy behind the infamous torture memos – has drawn the condemnation of civil liberties groups as much as the Bush administration's policy on domestic warrantless wiretaps“ (Borowski).

It is no wonder that the Bush administration was very keen on maintaining national security and the protection of the country mainly because of the events of 9/11. The Bush administration has been using wiretaps to help with the protection although many people opposed that saying that it is challenging their rights and they would address the court. However, the Bush administration would use the “state secrets privilege“ to turn the challenge down. The state secrets privilege “is a familiar executive tool for protecting national security activities like the warrantless wiretapping program“ (Borowski) which was first introduced in 1953 by United States v. Reynolds. This privilege was often criticized during the Bush administration “for being wielded too broadly in a way that advanced executive authority and downplayed judicial review“ (Borowski).

The society then criticized a use of protection and surveillance that would challenge their rights and sometimes take them away, a protection that was widely used after the 9/11. This type of protection and surveillance that challenges rights of people is in fact something VIKI does in I, Robot.

It is also noticeable that the book I, Robot by Isaac Asimov on which the film I, Robot is based was published in 1950, which is the era of McCarthyism, Second Red Scare and deep surveillance; the era of United States v. Reynolds; the era of the great English surveillance novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. The film I, Robot then in fact not only comments on the issues of surveillance, over-protectiveness and challenge to human rights, but it also alludes to the last era where these issues were present.

The years preceding the release of I, Robot were then marked by practices that made people feel that their human rights are being challenged, that their human rights are being taken away from them. That feeling was widely spread. Although people did not like that they were being limited, they nevertheless believed that they know who is responsible for it - the enemy was marked(War on Terror). And there is a way for people who feel they are being dehumanized to transcend it, and that is through their actions; they have to prove they are on the right side.

The selected films were then released after events that managed to portray some people as dehumanized or that were keeping some people in the dehumanized position. People thought that position and the particularities of the dehumanization or their fight were incorporated into the selected films.

Science-fiction films have often been dealing with issues that are “reserved” for the future so that the issues can be already addressed in advance and therefore when the issue becomes an issue, there are already suggestions on how to deal with the issue. But the science-fiction films have also been dealing with issues of the past so that people can learn from them in the future.

There are science-fiction films that have exactly these functions. One of them are the ones that deal with the issue of robots that in some way transcend their robotic state and become human. However, this transition is not always smooth. People in these films often feel eerie around robots that undergo such change. This thesis examines three films, Blade Runner, Bicentennial Man and I, Robot, in which the transition from machine to human is present and it elicits a feeling of eeriness or uncanniness in people.

In order to discover what it is that makes people feel uncanny when confronted with such robots, a theoretical text called The Uncanny Valley by Masahiro Mori is explored in the first part of the thesis. From the exploration it becomes evident that the uncanny feeling is caused by things that do not correspond with people's ideas or expectations of these things. The robot's then arouse an uncanny feeling in people because they contradict views and expectations people have about them.

The next part of the thesis provides a close reading of the selected films with implementation of The Uncanny Valley. The exploration of The Uncanny Valley itself revealed why people feel uncanny around the robots, but it did not provide reasons that would explain what exactly initiates the uncanny feeling. It is the circumstances surrounding the uncanny valley in the films that do that and therefore a close reading of the films is applied to reveal these reasons. The focus during the close readings is on the instances of The Uncanny Valley, for example what initiates the uncanny effect and in what way the uncanny can be transcended.

The results of the close readings are then evaluated in the third section of the thesis in order to link the issue of the uncanny valley and its specific manifestation to a cultural context.

From the close readings it becomes apparent that the robots always challenge some view or idea by eliciting a quality that was thought to be inherent only to humans and in doing so challenging their inferior position in society and their dehumanization. The thesis then compares this result with history books and essays that examine American society preceding the years of the films' release and it confirms that there was a feeling of inferiority and dehumanization in the society in the years preceding the films' release and people were actively opposing it.

With that link being drawn, the thesis is concluded. It has identified the issues behind the uncanny feelings in the selected films through application of a theoretical text and a close reading which took the theoretical text into account. The outcomes of the close reading were then tested by comparing them with events described in history books and essays that examine American society in the years preceding the release of the films.


6. Works cited

Bar-Cohen, Yoseph, David Hanson, and Adi Marom. "Mirroring Humans". The Coming Robot Revolution: Expectations and Fears About Emerging Intelligent, Humanlike Machines. New York, Springer, 2009. N. pag. SpringerLink. Web. 2 May 2010. .

Bender, Thomas. The making of American society. Vol. II, Since 1865. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. Print.

Bicentennial Man. Dir. Chris Columbus. Touchstone Pictures, 1999. Film.

Blade Runner. Dir. Ridley Scott. Warner Bros, 1982. Film.

Borowski, S.. "Balancing Privacy With National Security Is Artificial Intelligence the Key to Warrantless Wiretaps? " Scitech Lawyer  6.4 (2010): 18-20. ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry, ProQuest. Web.  22 Nov. 2010 .

Desser, David. “Race, Space and Class: The Politics of Cityspaces in Science-Fiction Films.” Alien Zone II: The Spaces of Science-Fiction Cinema. Ed. Annette Kuhn. London: Verso, 1999. Print.

Freud, Sigmund. The Uncanny. London: Penguin Books, 2003. Print.

I, Robot. Dir. Alex Provas. 20^th Century Fox, 2004. Film.

Kawin, Bruce F. "Children of the Light". Film Genre Reader III. Austin: U of Texas P, 2003. Print.

Masahiro, Mori. "The Uncanny Valley". Energy 7(4) July 1970: 33-35. Web.

Misselhorn, Catrin. "Empathy and Dyspathy with Androids: Philosophical, Fictional and (Neuro-)Psychological Perspectives." Konturen. Konturen, 2009. Web. 2 May 2010. .

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Sontag, Susan. "The Imagination of Disaster". Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. New York: Oxford UP, 1985. Print.

This thesis analyses the films Blade Runner, Bicentennial Man and I, Robot in relation to The Uncanny Valley theory by Masahiro Mori in order to search for issues present in American society that are addressed by the selected films through the uncanny valley. The first part of the thesis explores The Uncanny Valley theory itself and explains why The Uncanny Valley is used in the analyses of the films rather then other, more widely known theories like Sigmund Freud's The Uncanny. The second part analyses the selected films in order to provide sources of information which are compared in the third part of the thesis. The third part of the thesis then evaluates the outcomes of the analyses and places them into context of American Culture.

Tato práce analyzuje filmy Blade Runner, Bicentennial Man a I, Robot s ohledem na teorii The Uncanny Valley od Masahira Mori aby identifikovala problémy přítomné v americké společnosti které jsou osloveny zvolenými filmy skrz „the uncanny valley.“ První část práce zkoumá teorii The Uncanny Valley jako takovou a vysvětluje proč je The Uncanny Valley použita k analýze filmů místo častěji používané teorie: The Uncanny od Sigmunda Freuda. Druhá část práce analyzuje vybrané filmy aby poskytla prameny které jsou porovnány ve třetí části práce. Třetí část práce poté ty prameny porovná a vyhodnotí a umístí je v kontextu americké kultury.

1Examples are Pollick, Frank E. In Search of the Uncanny Valley and Misselhorn, Catrin. "Empathy and Dyspathy with Androids: Philosophical, Fictional and (Neuro-)Psychological Perspectives." Konturen. Konturen.

1Another example being Misselhorn, Catrin. "Empathy and Dyspathy with Androids: Philosophical, Fictional and (Neuro-)Psychological Perspectives." Konturen. Konturen

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