“There is great excitement about the future possibilities of immersive or interactive entertainment, but also the fear that digital technologies are leading film into a descending spiral of spectacular superficiality.” Lister and Dovey (2003, p.134 )

What Lister is describing is an uncertainty of the future of animation. What began as a handcrafted means of making moving images, with an animator drawing hundred upon hundreds of frames by hand, is now a CGI super force, with computers overtaking traditional means of animation, and making traditional animators obsolete. Is there a danger of animation, something that provides the illusion of real life, to become too realistic? Computer generated technology becomes more advanced with each animated film released, taking the world of moving images a step closer to realism each time. Timeless animation such as 60s and 70s stop motion animations and the first Disney cartoons hold the illusion of reality that makes them engaging to viewers, so is 3D animation taking the concept of real life too far? If an animated film resembles reality and is no longer just an exaggerated imitation of it, does this still make it a creative material, or something entirely different? Most importantly, is the overbearing influence of computers really necessary, and would the same story fare as well in a hand crafted animation style?

I will be discussing the concepts of hyperreality and “The Uncanny” in animation using the theory of Sigmund Freud, and the critical theories of Martin Lister and Jean Baudrillard.

Freud theorises that a simulation, or physical representation of a human being evokes a sense of fear into us. In the 1919 essay titled “Das Unheimlich” Freud comments: