Body Dysmorphic Disorder, but applied to cartoons/cgi?

[Zorlond]

Just a wild thought I recently had.

Body Dysmorphia is when someone looks at other people, or much more likely themselves, and only sees ugliness. Physical ugliness, that is, not emotional or intellectual.

Is there a specific term for the exact same concept, but applied only when looking at non-realistic depictions? Cartoons or CGI, that is. And I don't mean stuff that fell face-first into the uncanny valley, hitting every branch on the way down. Stuff that most people would consider attractive, if a little unrealistic. But someone comes along and looks at the same image and only sees it as hideous.

I mean, I know people who can watch a cartoon show and literally cannot tell any characters apart, no matter how different their appearances are. But they do not have the same issue with live-action shows, even when everyone is wearing the same uniform. Seems like that might be a milder variation...

I dunno, just a strange thought I had today.

 

[Meaning Less]

I mean, I know people who can watch a cartoon show and literally cannot tell any characters apart, no matter how different their appearances are. But they do not have the same issue with live-action shows, even when everyone is wearing the same uniform. Seems like that might be a milder variation...

It just tells you that person doesn't watch cartoons, the more cartoons you watch the more you notice the differences.

It the same effect when someone says "people from certain ethnicity all look the same to me", it takes time to notice nuances if you haven't seen enough of something.

All it means is that your brain hasn't been trained with enough of that information yet, the more information you gather the less they will look the same to you, that's just how brains work.

 

[Zorlond]

I think it's more than lack of experience. I mean, look at the roster of LoL:Arcane. Not just face shots, full-body lineup. Tell me there is any way people could not tell any of those characters apart without something more than 'not watching many cartoons'.

And even then, what about those who just see all cartoons as ugly? Straight up revolted by their appearance? That can't be lack of exposure, that's something entirely different.

 

[Meaning Less]

And even then, what about those who just see all cartoons as ugly? Straight up revolted by their appearance? That can't be lack of exposure, that's something entirely different.

Well that just sounds like bad taste.

Some people never venture outside their comfort zones, that's called being stubborn.

 

[F4C430]

Stuff that most people would consider attractive, if a little unrealistic. But someone comes along and looks at the same image and only sees it as hideous.

I feel like you're describing me when it comes to 90% of the games here The graphic styles and body proportions that tend to be popular here don't work for me to the point of being completely turned off and even disgusted. Case in point: Karryn's Prison. Not complaining, just making a personal observation.

 

[Meaning Less]

Case in point: Karryn's Prison. Not complaining, just making a personal observation.

And do you watch anime?

I believe that's the core reason those body proportions and artstyle are popular, so I completely understand someone that never got into anime to not see the appeal of such art.

Most things are an acquired taste, most people just don't remember how they acquired it.

 

[F4C430]

And do you watch anime?

I believe that's the core reason those body proportions and artstyle are popular, so I completely understand someone that never got into anime to not see the appeal of such art.

Most things are an acquired taste, most people just don't remember how they acquired it.

I do. Based on what i've tracked on myanimelist, i have ~4000 episodes watched. I'm pretty sure it's just a difference in tastes, but OP's statement feels like it applies to me with regard to most of these games. I'm clicking ignore thread just because of the screenshots most of the time.

 

[tanstaafl]

I do. Based on what i've tracked on myanimelist, i have ~4000 episodes watched. I'm pretty sure it's just a difference in tastes, but OP's statement feels like it applies to me with regard to most of these games. I'm clicking ignore thread just because of the screenshots most of the time.

Now I'm curious if you just have a very high or low 'uncanny valley' tolerance or if it actually is all down to personal taste. Either way doesn't affect anything, everyone is different. I'm just curious.

 

[F4C430]

Now I'm curious if you just have a very high or low 'uncanny valley' tolerance or if it actually is all down to personal taste. Either way doesn't affect anything, everyone is different. I'm just curious.

I've actually never experienced uncanny valley anywhere--at least not to where it would bother me. I'm in my 40's, i grew up with low-poly and bad quality 3D models in games and movies so maybe i'm immune to that. No problem, i don't mind your asking.

 

[anne O'nymous]

I think it's more than lack of experience. I mean, look at the roster of LoL:Arcane. Not just face shots, full-body lineup. Tell me there is any way people could not tell any of those characters apart without something more than 'not watching many cartoons'.

There's ways.

Globally speaking, person/character recognition is based on a multi layer process.
To summarize roughly, your memory do not store how the person/character looks, but that "this parts looks like that person", "that part looks like that person", and so on. And each of these parts used as reference can perfectly be themselves split ; someone will have the same left eyes that X, and X have the same eye color that Z, the same superior eyelid that Y, and the same inferior eyelid than W.
Therefore it's an assembly of jigsaw pieces that can themselves be an assembly of jigsaw pieces. Then, as Meaning Less implied, the more you've seen people in your life, the more precise will be your recognition, because you'll have more references, and generally finer ones.
To this add the fact that the way brain works, or the level of precision if you prefer, isn't something standardized. There's people who have a really high ability when it come to recognize a person, even seen only once, while there's who will struggle all their life to recognize uncle Bob, that they see once every month since decades.

So, it's something perfectly possible. Especially if this person don't really care about telling those characters apart, or if he consider that cartoons are useless (or childish) entertainment. This would imply that he'll not really make efforts to remember them (so his memory will store less reference material), nor to tell them apart (so his brain will slowly learn to not care about those reference material).
Plus there's probably also a bit of hypocrisy behind this. He surely can at least tell if it's a comics style, an European style or a Japanese one, but if he don't care, he'll just say that he don't know.

After, it can also be a kind of disease. It's possible that his brain isn't rigged to keep a good memory of pure 2D representation ; "pure" by opposition to characters from live-action show that are human before being 2D due to the TV.

And even then, what about those who just see all cartoons as ugly? Straight up revolted by their appearance? That can't be lack of exposure, that's something entirely different.

It's mostly just a question of personal taste. Something totally acquired, possibly following the same kind of process than racism ; they grow up being taught that cartoons are an abomination, degenerate, or whatever like that, and it's now something they strongly believe as being an undeniable truth.

 

[Zorlond]

It's mostly just a question of personal taste. Something totally acquired, possibly following the same kind of process than racism ; they grow up being taught that cartoons are an abomination, degenerate, or whatever like that, and it's now something they strongly believe as being an undeniable truth.

Hmm. In which case, it really would be something akin to Body Dysmorphia, which is frequently a learned response caused by external pressures (parents, classmates, siblings, strangers, etc). They see themselves in a mirror, and all they can sense is all the disparaging remarks they've had hammered into them their whole lives.

Odd that there doesn't seem to be a term for it when it's applied to cartoons, though... Probably not an 'acknowledged problem' or something.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Hmm. In which case, it really would be something akin to Body Dysmorphia, which is frequently a learned response caused by external pressures (parents, classmates, siblings, strangers, etc). They see themselves in a mirror, and all they can sense is all the disparaging remarks they've had hammered into them their whole lives.

I'm not sure that you understand what BDD effectively is.

Firstly, you talk about it like it's something recent, while it's a trouble that was presented and theorized in the late 19th century, so more than 120 years ago. A time where you had no classmates, and where most strangers wouldn't dare to practice body shaming in front of you ; what would limit the remarks to your parents and siblings.
Secondly, the most frequent symptom goes at the opposite of this learned copycat mechanism, since the victim see default where generally no one else see them. If, effectively, nowadays scholar harassment is one of the possible cause, it's as a side effect ; exactly like when the original cause is emotional abuse. Being rejected/abused, and not seeing a rational reason behind this, the victim starts to imagine that it's because of some physical trait. But, by itself, body shaming don't need to be parts of the bullying/abuse.
Thirdly, the consequences isn't some disliking, but more on the side of hate. It's one of the cause, if not the main one, behind anorexia and plastic surgery addiction. What mean that it have nothing to do with people disliking their body because of some body shaming. It's something way stronger and darker than that.

Odd that there doesn't seem to be a term for it when it's applied to cartoons, though... Probably not an 'acknowledged problem' or something.

Because what you are talking about, with those persons enable to recognize cartoon characters, is a form of

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, and not a variation of Body Dysmorphic Disorder. So, perhaps that by searching in the right direction you'll find a specific name for this.

 

[Meaning Less]

I've actually never experienced uncanny valley anywhere--at least not to where it would bother me.

And can you explain what traits that make you visually discard 90% of games? What in Karryn's prison looks so bad to you? And what kind of game looks good to you?