Uncanny Valley in Ghost in the Shell

I decided to hone in on the opening scene of the animation in order to best assist me in explaining my real reaction to the use of animated beings to tell a story with computer-generated effects.  Before delving into scenes in the film itself, however, I thought it was interesting to note the precautionary message that appeared first, warning the audience that the animation was intended for mature audiences due to violence, language and nudity.  We have talked a lot in class about the uncanny valley, where once something becomes too human-like or too real, we suddenly lose our liking for that particular object.  Were this animation to be incredibly human-like, I would find this warning to be justified in that seeing “almost humans” committing violent acts or engaging in extreme nudity would be rightfully off-putting for a non-mature audience.  However, given that this animation is so far from being human-like, I found the warning to be almost comical.  At around the 1:40-1:50 mark in the movie, Kusanagi strips off her clothing.  Her animated appearance, however, is so far removed from accurately resembling a human body that I wasn’t able to view her as anything similar to a human.  I saw her strictly as a cartoon character, and had a similar reaction to this particular nude scene that I would have to seeing a Barbie doll without clothes on.  That being said, I found the computer-generated effects, particular the various settings used throughout, to be much more real, and for me, engaging than the characters themselves.