The Medium of Film: Uncanniness and Narrative Hyper-Realism

This essay explores the inherent uncanniness of live-action films by analyzing their interplay between concealment and revelation. By utilizing Masahiro Mori's uncanny valley, I argue that certain films can achieve what I label as narrative hyper-realism: the concealment of their contrived nature, embodying human likeness that produces a heightened sense of affinity. I draw on Stanley Cavell's insights into film's foundation and detachment, and Slavoj Žižek's "objet petit a" to understand how film navigates between reality and fantasy. Ultimately, this essay proposes that the medium negotiates between revealing and concealing its uncanniness and that when it successfully conceals it, it achieves narrative hyper-realism. This examination provides a nuanced understanding of the complex relationship between film and its inherent ability to mirror a human perception of reality.