"Uncanny Valley" phenomenon

What has an brain phenomenon known as the uncanny valley to do with fantasy art? It has a lot.
Fantasy art would not exist without fantasy fans. Fantasy fans, especially the fans of fantasy movies, love creepy human-like creatures and the uncanny feelings they experience when they see those creatures.
For example, the fans of The lord of the Ring films praised especially the character Gollum. Half animal, half human, he made viewer's skin crawl.
To understand why people react in this way to the creation of human-like scary characters and which part of our brain is responsible for the feeling of horror a few scientists from University College London investigated this phenomenon. They discovered by scanning the brains of subjects being show videos of a lifelike robot picking up a cup, as well as the same movement performed by less realistic robot and a person. The results reveal there is a network of neurons in the parietal cortex that was especially active in the case of the lifelike robot. This area of the brain is known to contain 'mirror neurons', which are active when someone imagines performing an action they are observing. While watching all three videos, people imagine picking up the cup themselves. This 'breach of expectation' could trigger extra brain activity and produce the uncanny feelings.
Karl McDorman, who researches human-robot interaction at Indiana University in Indianapolis, suggests that the uncanny valley phenomenon may stem from a 'fear of one's own mortality' and an 'evolved mechanism for avoiding pathogens'. ' The uncanny valley is about a mismatch in human expectations', he says.

Source: New Scientist No 2627

http://www.newscientist.com

Lord of the Ring, Tolkien

I thought it is interesting to read especially because I love reading Tolkien. I am not English, I learn English at school it means that reading Tolkien, especially his essays are extra difficult for me than for people born in USA or England.
Hobbits ? I love it, the most beautiful, warm, funny book I even read; OK I am an expert, literature guru...I studed it, I am a specialist.

Enough aboaut me, enjoy the post ............... ng the Gates to Middle Earth by Chyna Dolores

"Ok... I admit it. I've never read "The Lord of the Rings". Ever. This includes all the works of Tolkien. Don't get me wrong, its not that I don't want to read his books - believe me I've tried to. I attempted to read "The Hobbit" and "Fellowship" on numerous occasions however; I can never get past the first chapter.
Most people look at me like I've suddenly grown a second head when I tell them that. But it's the truth. I love to read fantasy novels, they are one of my favourite genres. When it comes to Tolkien, though, it is a completely different story - my brain just won't comprehend it. It looks like, to me, that Tolkien had attempted to write a children's book for adults. It's like the words are written backwards and all jumbled up. I just can't read his style of writing.
So you know that when I heard they were making the movies, I was totally thrilled (to say the least). I would finally be able to understand why Tolkien is so popular; I would finally be able to know what the story was about. Honestly, I looked forward to the movie releases; and was not disappointed. Although I must say I'm even more impressed with the Director's Cut version of each movie.
I know that the director, Peter Jackson, took his artistic licence with some scenes of the story. I'm told that the elves never went to Helms Deep, that the Rohirrims held the fort on their own. But that kind of thing happens in movies - especially movies based upon novels. I know several fans of The Lord of the Rings are completely disappointed by parts of the movie such as this. Viewing the movie without having that background knowledge of the books forced me to watch the movies without bias.
The movie trilogy has opened up Tolkiens' work to a completely new audience. By bringing Tolkien's work to a new media people who don't usually read fantasy works, people like me who can't read his writing style and others have been allowed to enter his fantasy world. Something that opens up to doors to new people can't be that bad, right?
It's a shame knowing that I can't read the books, I've tried since watching the films but I have the same problem... I just can't read Tolkien's work. The movie adaptations of his books however, are a perfect supplement to getting around this problem. It's wonderful to finally be able to hear Tolkiens' work and be able to grasp the reasoning behind why he is known as the 'grandfather' of fantasy."