by KiBa » Sun Oct 28, 2012 12:10 am
CGI is just as contingent on time and talent and therefore $ as the old style. However, all CGI, in my opinion, hasn't been able to achieve a level of showing lighting and shadow in motion in as realistic a way as reality. That's why we can always pick out CGI the instant we see it, or at least just feel uncomfortable because our mind knows something is amiss. We probably detect more subtlety than we realize, as we don't really know exactly everything we see, as we don't know the underlying structure of reality, that is, how deep things may be divided, and how much small details and variations contribute to our sight.
Also, there is something blasphemous about loving perfect artistic detail or reproduction of reality, as if, stunned by beauty, we come to make our art an idol, or really begin worshiping ourselves in awe of the images without substance that we can create. It gives rise to fears that reality itself is illusory, and makes us feel lost and isolated and, quite frankly, it makes me physically ill. I like that things look good as well as fake at the same time. Call it wabi sabi or shibui, but it's the same reason people hate human-looking robots and love old games. The indie genre is more or less a psychological movement representing the yearning of gamers to escape from too realistic graphics. The same applies to movies. Sometimes, I feel like I need to watch a simpler movie after watching a CGI-fest in order to cleanse myself. This is why I prefer animation. It's fantastic, but never looks real. In fact, the rise of popularity in anime corresponds to the rise of more realistic special effects. No doubt this is also a similar reaction against it.
Conclusion: people like being charmed by visions they can understand and easily classify as an illusion with a reasonable explanation. Too much complexity makes people feel sick, like they've spent too much time in a Krell educator.