Transcript of An Uncanny Reality
Jacob Geller
0:00This video was sponsored by Audible.0:02Stick around at the end for more info, and
maybe my favorite short story ever.0:08"James, honey, did something happen to you?"0:12This isn’t what PS2 games looked like.0:16I mean, it is.0:18This is Silent Hill 2, almost two decades
old, released for the Playstation 2 in 2001.0:24But still.0:25This isn’t what PS2 games looked like.0:29The generally accepted term for what we’re
watching now is an “FMV,” or “Full Motion0:34Videos.”0:35They’re movies that are rendered completely
outside a game’s engine and then stitched0:39back into it.0:40They didn’t need to follow the same rules
as the rest of a game’s graphics, they didn’t0:44have to look anything like it.0:46And while most FMVs were used to pull a player
deeper into the world, there are a few...exceptions0:53to that rule.0:54Scenes that unmoor a player instead, and send
them spinning into a sort of limbo, where1:01everything is equally untrustworthy, and reality
is a promise that can’t be kept.1:45Acceptance of another reality is inherent
in games.1:47To even begin to interact with a story requires
accepting that this bundle of polygons, this1:53loose representation of a human, should be
given the same suspension of disbelief that1:58we give to older, more traditional mediums.2:01And games, for their part, typically make
this as easy as possible.2:04They’re cohesive, they hold together.2:08Even though we’re still far from mistaking
these digital constructions for our reality,2:12they’re reliable enough that we can accept
them as a reality.2:17For basically as long as games have existed,
extra-textual sources have helped form these2:21worlds in our imagination.2:23The art on the side of arcade cabinets gives
context to the abstract pixels on screen,2:28backstories in instruction manuals gave blank-slate
characters some sort of motivation.2:34Megaman might look like a blue robot blob,
but if you check out the box, he actually2:37looks like this augh.2:41And typically, that’s what FMVs were used
for.2:44Lending the environments some extra texture
when the in-game graphics couldn’t quite2:48cut it, giving you a super detailed version
of the character that you could imagine when2:53looking at the normal low-poly ones.2:55They pulled you further into the world, cementing
the in-game world as one that could be believed.3:02And then there’s Silent Hill 2.3:06The word “uncanny” is thrown around a
lot in our modern-day world, and “Uncanny3:10Valley” makes up the lion’s share of that.3:14Animation can look almost perfect, computers
can pretty perfectly fake humanity- "mm-hmm."3:19"sure, what time are you looking for around?"
"at 12pm."3:27-Until they can’t.3:29And while these can certainly be creepy in
their own way, to me they feel more like technological3:35growing pains than strange or mysterious,
the way that uncanny is meant to be used.3:42But there’s something special about Silent
Hill 2’s FMVs.3:46They still unsettle me, almost two decades
later.3:52Watching scenes from this game, it’s almost
like the characters are phasing in and out3:57of reality.3:58There are seconds where the lighting is so
spot-on it genuinely looks like a recording,4:04and then in the very next second, they’ll
make an expression that’s so...bizarre you’ll4:08wonder how you ever thought they looked human.4:11But then again, in the very next shot, you’ll
get another one of those near-perfect moments,4:15and you’ll be thrown into wondering again.4:19The “true” game, the part rendered in
real-time using the PS2, falls more in line4:23with what we think a 2001 PS2 game should
look like.4:26And it’s gorgeous too, in its own way.4:30The way James’ flashlight is swallowed up
by the inky blackness, the way the ever-present4:35fog distorts depth, this legitimately unnerving
shot between two narrow buildings...But it4:42is, more or less, predictable.4:45No matter how strong the art direction, this
game just can’t grow more shaders, sprout4:49more polygons.4:50It is bound to the platform it exists on.4:53But all bets are off when it comes to FMVs.4:58Full CGI animation was still really in early
days here.5:07Toy Story was just 6 years earlier, and Pixar
intentionally chose toys because facial expressions5:13were really hard.5:14Games had used them for a while- the juggernaut
of CGI cutscenes was probably Square Enix,5:20who had been pumping out hours of them for
the Final Fantasy series since 7, but always5:25with anime-proportioned characters more fitting
of that series.5:29Facial motion capture was rudimentary at best.5:32We’re still not perfect at creating perfect
digital expressions, but back then it was5:36the wild west.5:37There was no magic bullet for capturing emotion.5:41So when it came to Silent Hill 2, artistic
lead and character designer Takayoshi Sato5:46opted to go use no face mo-cap at all, hand-animating
every scene.5:51He even acted out the character’s expressions
in a mirror, using himself as a reference5:55for all their little details.5:58Because of that commitment, you get these
moments, folds of skin and micro-expressions,6:03that are impressively realistic even today.6:07But for every perfect little moment, there’s
an equally imperfect one.6:12When you watch Silent Hill 2’s FMVs, you
can feel that conflict.6:16An artist, struggling to reconcile the reality
he wanted to represent with the limitations6:22of his own ability and the system he was working
within.6:25But what’s remarkable about this bizarre,
halfway-real aesthetic is that it absolutely6:32works.6:34"See?6:36I'm real."6:43Silent Hill 2 is a horror game.6:46But as many people have pointed out before
me, Silent Hill 2 is a piece of introspective6:51horror more than any single shock or grotesquerie.6:55Repeatedly, James- the protagonist- is forced
to confront parts of himself far more sick7:01than anything in the town.7:03How long did James treat his wife as dead
while she lay, very much alive, on her hospital7:09bed?7:10Why are the monsters he has to beat into the
ground dressed as pinup nurses, all exposed7:14skin and broken bones?7:17From what dark corner of his psyche did he
pull the idea of Pyramid Head from, the physical7:22manifestation of the punishment he thinks
he deserves?7:26Throughout the game, we’re constantly struggling
to get a clear picture of who James actually7:31is.7:32But in response, Silent Hill 2 doesn’t give
us one- it gives us several.7:37The very first shot of the game is James staring
into a mirror, drenched in dark.7:42There’s a reason so many reviews and retrospectives
of the game have centered themselves around7:47this image- it’s remarkable.7:50Between the darkness, the griminess of the
mirror, the greasiness of his hair, it’s7:55initially hard to tell what medium this even
is.7:58Is it in-game?7:59Is it an FMV?8:02Is it a photograph?8:05A couple seconds more inspection will give
you your answer.8:08His hand moves just a little too sharply across
his face, the lighting loses a lot of its8:14luster when he steps away from the mirror.8:17But the initial power of this image is undeniable.8:21For a fleeting moment, the player and James
are on exactly the same wavelength.8:26He stares into those dark pools of his eyes
alongside us, searching for something, anything,8:31to hold onto underneath.8:34It makes our very first seconds in this world
one of questioning- and no matter how many8:40hours we spend there, a concrete answer always
eludes us.8:48This is not the only time mirrors are used
to fragment reality in Silent Hill 2.8:54In another FMV, just seconds long, James finds
a woman named Angela lying on her side, staring9:00into the blade of a knife.9:02What you can’t immediately tell from this
shot is that we’re not seeing either character9:06directly.9:07Instead, Angela and James are only visible
from this angle because of the wall-sized9:12mirror in front of them.9:14We open the scene by seeing their reflections,
doubles of themselves, bathed in dark just9:18like James in the opening.9:21Not to be outdone, Angela is in fact facing
two different versions of herself, the reflection9:25in the mirror and her own image, distorted,
on the knife’s blade.9:30And this is just in the FMV!9:32Seconds later, it switches to in-game graphics,
giving us a whole new set of characters and9:37reflections to contend with.9:38It’s like Silent Hill is trying to break
us, throwing so many different versions of9:43the same character at us that we completely
lose track of what’s real.9:47Even the framerate is at odds with itself!9:49The FMVs run at 60 frames per second, twice
as fast as the in-game 30fps.9:55The game refuses stability at every turn.10:00As the cherry on top, Silent Hill 2 renders
reflections by simply creating a perfect double10:05on the other side of the mirror.10:06If one happens to break out of bounds, the
question of which James is real becomes even10:11more impossible to answer.10:16The FMVs are particularly unsettling because
the game refuses to foreshadow their appearance.10:23This scene comes in the middle of a long trek
through a confusing building.10:27James finds a shelf he can push to the side,
revealing a long ladder into darkness behind10:32it.10:33But when you press the button to climb down
the ladder, you’re met with- "James" "Maria?10:38Oh, Mary.10:40Sorry, I thought you were- anyway, I'm glad
you're alive."10:51Despite the fact that nothing particularly
horrifying happens, this scene is basically10:55a jumpscare.10:56It happens so quickly.10:59One second, you’re a predictable, 2001 model
of James.11:02The next, you’re in an unfamiliar room with
an unexpected aesthetic and the unexplained11:06reappearance of Maria, who you haven’t seen
for hours.11:10And even the scene itself is so weird.11:14James, like always, seems supremely unaffected
by all the awful things he’s seen in the11:19town.11:20Maria, in contrast, is all over the place,
wildly oscillating between grateful, angry,11:25and distraught- her reading of ANYWAY is maybe
my favorite line in the whole game.11:32You just can’t get comfortable playing Silent
Hill 2.11:37"No, I-" "Then stay with me! Never leave me alone!"11:42This recurring motif of wavering reality creates
a powerful sense of insecurity.11:48Through all the different visual mediums-
the uncanny reality of the FMVs, the abstraction11:53of the in-game figures, the swirling layers
of fog, the drowning black of the game’s11:58interiors- there’s never one that seems
to hold legitimacy over the others.12:03Each is just another layer of the darkness
that is Silent Hill 2.12:12It’s not the only game that’s played with
reality, though.12:18Devotion, created by Taiwanese developer Red
Candle Games, arguably does so on a much more12:23fundamental level- because Devotion, in some
ways, doesn’t exist.12:30Released on February 19, 2019, it was available
for purchase for all of one week before being12:35pulled off digital storefronts on February
26.12:39The reason for the axing, a small piece of
graffiti that compared Xi Jinping to Winnie12:43the Pooh, was quickly patched out, but not
quick enough to avoid the dissolution of Red12:47Candle Game’s chinese business license,
and the disappearance of Devotion from all12:51store shelves.12:53It’s a terrible shame.12:55Because not only is Devotion’s takedown
a suppression of art and a quashing of political13:00speech, Devotion as a game is really freaking
good.13:03It’s a game that deserves to be played.13:07But, as it happens, hanging in this limbo-
finished but not available, released but not13:13for sale, is somewhat thematically appropriate
for Devotion.13:17It, like Silent Hill 2, is a game that bends
reality.13:26The basic setup for Devotion isn’t complicated.13:28We mostly play as Du Feng Yu, a man who lives
with his wife and daughter in an apartment13:33in Taipei.13:34He was a moderately successful screenplay
writer.13:37His wife, Gong Li Fan, was a singer and pop
icon.13:40Both of their glory days are behind them though,
and now it’s their daughter- Mei Shin- who’s13:45attempting to enter showbusiness by singing
on a reality TV competition.13:49But Devotion isn’t a game about healthy
family values.14:00Feng Yu in particular seems to be saddling
his 8-year-old daughter with his crushing14:05hopes and dreams of getting back into the
limelight.14:08Mei Shin, wanting her parents approval but
terrified of actually performing, gets sick-14:14physically, psychologically, some inextricable
mix of the two.14:17Li Fan leaves, and Feng Yu commits both himself
and Mei Shin to a cultish treatment plan,14:24one that only results in tragedy.14:28Why am I talking about this though?14:30What does this have to do with reality?14:33Well throughout the game, representations
of the outside world- and especially of Mei14:37Lin- happen through “altered” reality,
just like the FMVs of the game.14:43Except in 2019, representational graphics
in games are far closer to Silent Hill 2’s14:48CGI than its pixel-y in-game visuals.14:50So, to emphasize the uncanny, Devotion goes
one step further.14:55It uses real life.15:09Mei Shin’s performance on TV represents
a turning point in the lives of all three15:14family members.15:15For Mei herself, it’s when her anxieties
began to crystallize and manifest in her mysterious15:21illness.15:22For Li Fan, it’s when her concern for her
daughter’s well-being outweighed any vicarious15:26wishes of future showbusiness success.15:30And for Feng Yu, it’s when he decided to
double down on the treatment that would define15:34his, and his daughter's lives.15:37For each, this performance is the Big Bang
that would ultimately shape their fate.15:41It’s easy to imagine that each thinks about
this program on a daily basis.15:47So it’s only appropriate that in the game,
it takes on a completely uncanny aesthetic.15:52The ramifications that have rippled outward
from this show have retrospectively magnified15:56the recording’s importance, giving it a
life of its own in each of their memories.16:01What happens on the TV looks fundamentally
different than everything else in the world.16:06There’s the apartment where they live, their
possessions, their selves.16:11And then there’s how they exist with their
names in flashing lights.16:16Repeatedly throughout the game, your character-
Feng Yu, at this point- comes to on a couch,16:21watching his daughter perform.16:23He’s obsessed.16:25And when we learn about his wife’s former
career as a pop icon, and all of his attempts16:29at screenwriting, this fundamental difference
in aesthetic makes sense.16:34Out there, in front of the cameras, the performances
in public; that’s legitimate.16:38It is more real than anything else in his
world.16:43Everything he does, and makes his daughter
do, is an attempt to break back into that16:48reality.16:50Disturbingly, this isn’t the only representation
we see of Mei Shin.16:55She’s “real” when she’s on TV, but
in the house, where she lies sick or listens17:00to bedtime stories from her dad, she’s a
literal doll.17:05Unmoving, unfeeling.17:07We even get to watch the doll go through a
automaton-like day’s routine.17:12Each event in the day is unsettling on some
level, but the doll itself doesn’t emote,17:17doesn’t smile or frown or cry.17:20Like with her performance on TV, Mei Shin
exists here, in Feng Yu’s memory, in an17:25altered state.17:27But unlike the recording, with all the details,
character, and imperfection of reality, here17:32he’s made her inanimate.17:34An object to be puppeted around.17:37he is moving her further away from “realness.”17:40Is this the way Feng Yu sees his daughter?17:44A doll, only alive when it can be made to
perform?17:49There’s no doubt that he cares for Mei Shin-
the sacrifices he makes later in the game17:54viscerally drive that point home.17:56But what version of his daughter is he making
the sacrifices for?18:01The doll that he interacts with on a day to
day basis, going through the motions of fatherhood18:05while she lays sick in bed?18:07Or the one on TV he keeps returning to, his
real daughter that only exists on a videotape,18:14the one that performed in the public eye so
beautifully?18:20“I think there are two main factors that
evoke fear: first, to see something beyond18:30their understanding; second, to see concealed
their true-self.”18:35-Takayoshi Sato18:37“The world you inhabit is not true” is
a horror conceit that expands far beyond Silent18:43Hill and Devotion.18:45Countless stories, tales of ghosts and the
ravages of time and other realities, have18:50understood how destabilizing that concept
is.18:53But I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced
that conflict firsthand as acutely as when18:59confronted with the multiple coexisting realities
of these games.19:04The fear it evokes, as per Sato’s quote,
is absolutely unique as well.19:09It doesn’t come as a shock, nor does it
have the distinctive lump in your throat,19:13the cold sweat, of rising suspense- although
both these games do have both of those.19:20This fear, instead, is a dense forest, one
where you think you’re only feet from the19:25path and then you turn around and it’s just
trunks and underbrush and twisted roots stretching19:29out in every direction.19:31It’s the realization that this place, which
you thought you knew well, is as strange and19:37unfamiliar as it has been to everyone else
who enters it.19:41We are led into these uncanny worlds by the
promise of familiarity, but the more time19:46we spend in them, the more off they feel.19:50Every emotion is an alien interpretation,
every reflection is wrong.19:56And also unlike a jump scare, unlike rising
tension, there’s no release.20:01These works introduce us to this forest, they
lead us in, and then they just end.20:09And we’re still in the woods.20:21Like I said earlier, there are far more existing
examples of the “multiple realities” idea20:26than what I talked about in this video.20:28One of my absolute favorites is the genre
is the short story “We Men of Science,”20:33from the unbelievably good collection “Someone
Who Will Love You In All Your Damaged Glory.”20:38“We Men of Science” blurs the lines between
one world and another so effectively that,20:44after listening to it, I felt like I spent
the next few hours wandering around in a daze.20:50And you can get the whole collection, and
a 30-day Audible Trial, absolutely free by20:55going to audible dot com slash jacobgeller,
or texting jacobgeller to five hundred five21:00hundred.21:01One of my favorite things about Audible is
the bananas level of production value these21:06audiobooks has.21:07“Someone Who Will Love You In All Your Damaged
Glory” has stories performed by Stephanie21:11Beatriz and Kimiko Glenn and Raphael Bob-Waksberg
himself.21:16And since these are short stories, they’re
the perfect length to listen to on your commute21:21or on a run, especially if you like, uhh,
sobbing on your commute or on a run.21:30Start listening with a 30-day Audible trial.21:35Choose 1 audiobook and 2 Audible Originals
absolutely free.21:39Visit audible dot com slash jacobgeller or
text jacobgeller to five hundred five hundred.
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