I already talked about the hyper realistic aspect of children’s toys and animatronics such as those infamously used in Chuck E. Cheese’s. I wanted to go into more depth over them, specifically over how they seem to both portray an obvious inhumanity yet also appeal to children. I think that the hyperreal aspect of animatronics is that they exist in a strange gray area between freaking out adults and older kids, who are developed enough to see past the fake fur and disjointed movements, and amusing small children, who accept the robots. I think that the hyperreal comes into play when the animatronics actually appear real and normal to children, which equates to the robots effectively leaping over the uncanny valley towards acceptance. The children’s acceptance of the animatronics establishes them as real things belonging in the realm of reality. Of course many kids are still spooked by the robots, giving evidence to the idea that sometimes their innate uncanniness breaks through. The degree of realistic detail to the robots is enough to establish them as hyperreal to children, but insufficient to convince more developed and experienced adults.
http://pitchfork.com/features/from-the-pitchfork-review/9704-who-got-the-camera-nwas-embrace-of-reality-1988-1992/
I posted this essay for another class but I think parts of it directly relate to the idea of the hyperreal, specifically what the article says about “true-crime” TV and the success of shows such as “COPS” and “America’s Most Wanted”. These shows strive to provide a packaged vision of the hyperreal in the form of actual, boots-on-the-ground cop responses to crime to their viewers. The first-hand, deliberately “unedited” stylization of the footage feeds on the voyeuristic desire of the audience, who also distort the reality of what they’re seeing by bringing their own prejudices and beliefs to their viewing. This becomes a major problem when it is considered that it is often minorities being targeted in these shows.