Genre Theory in Uncanny Valley

The definition of genre from dictionary.com is "a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, context, technique, or the like." Although it seems that genre should be easy to define, the finer points of textual categorisation are not yet established. Genre is dependant on many factors, the storyline, the director, and the audience's expectations to name a few.

Uncanny Valley is a short film directed by Federico Heller, which gives us a glimpse into a future where First Person Shooters have become a new drug for those disillusioned with society. The film examines the consequences of this on the global society and gives us an insight into what is happened to one player in particular. 

Federico Heller is a relatively new actor and so there isn't much to suggest what his genre of movies typically are. Heller has 3 pieces of work all together: 

• Shave It (2012)
• Aliados (2013 - 2014)
• Uncanny Valley (2015)

'Shave It' is a short movie about a monkey that finds a razor lying in the jungle and shaves his body to make him look human. He then moves to the city and proceeds to try to climb society's ladder. This is an animated film and has no dialogue. In some ways this movie has some comedic value but would ultimately fall into the genre of 'fantasy' as none of what happens is true and could never happen.

'Aliados' is a series about 6 humans working together to prove that humanity has enough to survive in just 110 days. This series is a mixture of many genres; comedy, fantasy and romance.

As these are the only other two things ever produced by Federico Heller we have limited information on what genre 'Uncanny Valley' may be. Judging by the previous two movies, we may expect a fantasy piece as that is the only thing both pieces have in common. However, Uncanny Valley appears to be more of a Sci-Fi/Thriller. This shows us that we can't necessarily tell what genre a movie will be just by the director.

As genre is also determined by the time and place in which it is set, Uncanny Valley seems to fall in the 'Sci-Fi' genre bracket. This is because it is set in the future and technologies that do not yet exist, are common place in this movie. Things like virtual reality are just beginning to become popular in our world and this movie provides a glimpse of what things may be like for us in the future.

Here are some PowerPoints that I found containing some good points and quotes on genre theory.