i’m human*
well, by definition human. human in self-perception, at least.
but i’m not human.
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i have gone through a long period of my life identifying with various animals and creatures, struggling to hold on to a self.
it turns out that “self” was “selves”.
my other parts fit comfortable into the role of nonhuman, but i am the only human* here.
human with an asterisk.
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have you ever heard of who framed roger rabbit? a bit of a tangent, i know.
there’s space jam and cool world and others in that vein, too.
all movies about humans in a live action world, with cartoons alongside them. a stark contrast, for sure.
you might even see a live action human and a human “toon” appear in the same shot.
but are they both human?
can the cartoon be called human still?
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some also might be aware of a similar kind of movie, those live-action cgi combo flicks.
they usually use preexisting cartoon characters for these: alvin and the chipmunks, the smurfs, yogi bear…
and those characters all come out feeling a little wrong. like you’re not meant to see them in a realistic 3d space.
you know that type of fanart people do where they will turn a cartoon character realistic yet keep central design elements that clash with their realism?
the uncanny valley of detail you’re not meant to see.
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cartoons are abstractions of what we see in reality.
we exaggerate the real to better define it in the fake:
refining shapes and colors, shaving off less important details, distilling it to be the essence of reality and nothing else.
does the cartoon lose some nebulous part of its humanity in its transformation?
and what happens when you force it to live in its original form?
not real enough and yet too real at the same time.
human with an asterisk.
human*