One of the reasons that the Double is often considered frightening is because it represents a kind of evil twin — an Other that threatens the ego. We find such doubles everywhere — from fictional tales to unexpectedly catching our own reflections in the mirror. These encounters with the doppelgänger threaten to erase the ego… Continue reading Doublement
Tag: doppelganger
‘Flo Clones’ and The Saturation of Advertising
If you’re like me, you may have driven through tollbooths on an Interstate highway and noticed that Flo — the spokeswoman in ads for Progressive Insurance, has begun appearing everywhere. The incessant repetition of product advertising across media breeds product familiarity. But it’s a familiarity that doesn’t always register until we encounter the advertisements again… Continue reading ‘Flo Clones’ and The Saturation of Advertising
Maytag’s New Maytag Man – Renewing an Icon with Uncanny Magic
If you watch commercial television, you may have been surprised to see this year that the Maytag Man has gotten an extreme makeover. The Maytag Man — aka “Ol’ Lonely” – is one of those classic icons of advertising — as commonly known as Ronald McDonald, the Michelin Man and the Energizer Bunny — due… Continue reading Maytag’s New Maytag Man – Renewing an Icon with Uncanny Magic
We Like Double: the Ford Fusion Hybrid Superbowl Ad
One of the first big budget TV commercials to air during this year’s Super Bowl programming was the “Nearly Double” advertisement for the Ford Fusion Hybrid, starring Rob Riggle & James Franco, which claims to “make history” by airing two commercials back-to-back, or following up the first commercial with a second one that is “double… Continue reading We Like Double: the Ford Fusion Hybrid Superbowl Ad
Animated Weeds and Supernatural Pesticides
Lawncare season is in full bloom, if the television is any indication. More and more, I’ve been noticing advertisements for riding mowers, hedge trimmers, and all sorts of products targeting the green thumb. But one popular subgenre of these gardening ads have been employing the medium in a way that is undeniably uncanny: commercials for… Continue reading Animated Weeds and Supernatural Pesticides
You Are What You Urn
England’s Telegraph is running a “Best Pictures of The Year” gallery to wrap up 2009…and with images like the above from the “Weird Inventions” gallery — or even from their other bizarre and weird and spectacular galleries — one can only marvel over what a strange year it’s been…and how remarkably stranger it is going… Continue reading You Are What You Urn
The Uncanny Design of Robot Heads
While theories of the “uncanny valley” are debatable (see Hanson’s “Upending the Uncanny Valley” (.pdf)), the quest for human-like androids and automatons continue to compel their designers. At Carnegie-Mellon University’s anthropomorphism.org, I found an interesting early study of robot head design that shows how these designers sometimes make choices about when to make robots anthropomorphic… Continue reading The Uncanny Design of Robot Heads
The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease — A Class Review
I am currently teaching an online horror literature course in “Psychos and the Psyche” for graduate students in our MFA in Writing Popular Fiction program at Seton Hill University. This month we are studying Freud’s article on “Das Unheimlich” and reading a fascinating new anthology of horror fiction called The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease,… Continue reading The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease — A Class Review
The Vytorin Double: You Are What You Eat and You Eat What You Are
Vytorin is a single pill — a drug that combines two different medicines (Zetia and Zocor) to combat the two kinds of cholesterol (generally called “good” and “bad” cholesterol”) which they identify as coming from two different sources (“food & family”). As Time magazine reports, there may be truth in these claims, and also problems… Continue reading The Vytorin Double: You Are What You Eat and You Eat What You Are
Andrew Huang’s Uncanny Videos
I thank my colleagues at Seton Hill University, Laura Patterson and Maureen Vissat, for recently passing along a YouTube link to “Doll Face” by Andrew Huang. It’s a brilliant treatment of the relationship between media technology and gender identity, using uncanny structures like automatism and the compulsion to repeat to deliver its message. The video… Continue reading Andrew Huang’s Uncanny Videos