What's Creepier?
by Ted Slater on 02/20/2009 at 1:34 PM
So I asked our e-newsletter subscribers yesterday what they found more disturbing, the image accompanying yesterday's article or the one accompanying today's article:
Responses have been mixed, with a few more being unnerved by spidergirl than by the blankly-staring humanesque doll. Here's what Annali had to say:
The doll face by far is creepier than the spider! Although I would never want to have a spider on my face, I know that it is a creature God made that is just trying to live. Don't get me wrong, I would scream hysterically and smack the spider off my face with lightning speed, but just as quickly, I'd think of Charlotte's web and suddenly the spider isn't so terrible.
The doll on the other hand is downright creepy. The blank, inhuman expression is chilling. If a little girl were holding the doll, if the doll had hair and was dressed cutely, the creepiness would be gone. The doll alone, staring blankly, with no sign of hair, clothes or a person loving it as their own is nothing cute, it is certifiably creepy.
Dawn concurred:
The doll is creepier. Its creepy because of the way the eyes will follow you wherever you go, it almost seems alive. And let's face it, evil like in the horror movies. Come to think of it, I never really liked dolls or clowns when I was younger and was so glad I had a son so I never had to get any.
Josh added:
The creepy doll is a little more disturbing; the other looks like the regular goth scene, of a girl who may need Christ in her life.
Most of our readers, on the other hand, found the arachnid more to their distaste:
- Nasty. I hate spiders. That one is definitely the most disturbing. However, the article is very good.
- I'm petrified of spiders, so that image was definitely more disturbing. The doll didn't really bother me at all.
- Def. found the spider crawling across the woman's face more disturbing.
- I find the spider on the face more creepy. Yes, dolls are creepy too, but the other image is more disturbing to me.
- The creepy spider ... yikes!!!!
- Spider face!
- I'm definitely more repulsed by the spider. I'm just not into the goth thing. The doll's face is ceratinly creepy, but maybe in a little more dated "Chuckie" sort of way -- lol.
- Hands down the spider! Spiders are so much creepier. Crawly things. Although that doll is fairly scary too. But spiders are definitely capable of making me scream -- loudly. Ugh, I can't stand that picture.
We've also been discussing this over on Facebook. It's not too late to make your voice heard. As the guy creating all the article artwork for the past couple of months, I am open to your input. Give it.
1. Kate said the following at 2:04 PM on Feb 20:
I didn't find either of them creepy, to be honest. I doubt I'd enjoy it if I actually had a spider that big on my face, but that picture doesn't approach evoking the actual uncomfortable experience for me.
2. Suzanne Hadley said the following at 2:43 PM on Feb 20:
I vote the doll! Scary.
3. Myr said the following at 2:55 PM on Feb 20:
Personally, I find neither creepy. That being said, I think I'd want to hang out with the spider girl. I like the colors and composition of that picture a lot. I love spiders and the colors blue and black, which are both represented in her hair and the black in the shadows. And I tend to associate darkness and shadows with mystery and the unknown, which intrigues my insatiable curiosity. And to me the spider looks like it's hanging in front of her face and not crawling on it. And her eye seems to almost be looking too far to the side to be looking at the spider, so when I first saw it, I think I thought she was looking past the spider at something else, which only added to the mystery of the scene (I mean what is lurking in the shadows that could be more interesting than a giant spider?). The doll, on the other hand, is kind of blah to me. The colors seem mostly white or shades thereof. I'm not sure how best to describe it, but the colors in the doll one just fade across the picture, whereas the colors in the spider girl are more active and contrast more sharply with each other by comparison. I don't like dolls and do not find them aesthetically pleasing. So, since you are the one making the artwork for the articles and seeking feedback, in my opinion, the spider girl one is much more interesting than the doll one, and you should do more art like the former, rather than the latter.
4. NeedACatchyName said the following at 3:14 PM on Feb 20:
The creepiness of the doll could be caused in part by an effect known as the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley>uncanny valley.
5. Mark Seekins said the following at 3:24 PM on Feb 20:
One word. Chucky.
6. Elizabeth H. said the following at 3:27 PM on Feb 20:
What a bizarre poll!
I find the juxtaposition VERY creepy. I don't find either of them individually creepy.
Spider-girl reminds me of goth/anime.
Dolly reminds me of childhood, innocence, or even emptiness.
7. Dani said the following at 3:41 PM on Feb 20:
The spider doesn't bother me that much, maybe because it doesn't really look like it's crawling on her face. I just figure that there is some amount of distance between them.
That being said, I would *freak out* if any spider that size were anywhere near me. Ugh, so disturbing...
The doll is mildly disturbing. I keep vacillating between creeped out and okay.
8. Rachael said the following at 3:46 PM on Feb 20:
The one on the left is creepy...I wonder if spiders didn't bite if they'd still be 'creepy'. Cats and dogs can bite, and a picture of one of those on a face would be considered by many not to be creepy....interesting.
9. Ted Slater said the following at 3:52 PM on Feb 20:
Myr (#3), you wrote, "I think I'd want to hang out with the spider girl." I agree. She seems pretty cool, pretty confident. Reminds me of some of my friends from undergrad, when we'd all dye our hair black and wear trench coats and listen to depressing British music and draw pictures of Cynicalman.
Rachel (#8) -- I think it might be that spiders are exoskeletal, while cats and dogs are endoskeletal, like you and me and most of our readers.
10. Kari said the following at 4:29 PM on Feb 20:
Neither. I thought both were cute.
11. Mary Beth said the following at 6:45 PM on Feb 20:
I felt that both of them were weird. What was the reasoning for picking these photos? Usually I like the photos chosen, but these were strange to me. By the way, the doll reminds me of a story I heard in Middle School about a doll with long red fingernails...anyone remember that one?
12. Thomas said the following at 7:13 PM on Feb 20:
I think the article artwork is usually quite good and usually fits the article. Both articles were meant to be fairly alarming, and the picture tied in with that pretty nicely. Creepy can be good for effect IMO.
13. Charlotte C. said the following at 12:07 AM on Feb 21:
SPIDERS !!!!!!! I never liked them as a kid and it's kinda freaky how they just slowly creep over the place.
[quote]
The creepy doll is a little more disturbing; the other looks like the regular goth scene, of a girl who may need Christ in her life.
[/quote]
LOL!!
I clicked on the link and got another fright by seeing the spider on the woman's face. lol.
14. Leah said the following at 5:39 AM on Feb 21:
Neither is creepy, though the spider is a whole lot more icky. I agree though that the spider is not on her face... just dangling in front.
I'd probably *not* want to hang out with the girl in the spider pic... she seems like one of those people who tries to be different just for attention. Just an impression :P
15. khalil said the following at 7:00 AM on Feb 21:
I wasn't going to chime in on this one, but the baby is starting to creep me out. The girl & spider is a visual that conveys the tone of the article. The baby is just out there.
16. Bethany said the following at 8:58 AM on Feb 21:
I actually didn't read the article because the spider creeped me out. The doll is just a doll, but spiders can bite.
17. Jo said the following at 3:28 PM on Feb 21:
"I actually didn't read the article because the spider creeped me out."
My old flatmate would be the same. She once had to wait 'til she got to work to use the toilet because there was a spider in ours and I wasn't there to take care of it for her...
So there you go Ted. Your creepy artwork is preventing people from being spiritually enriched by the actual articles! :P
18. Elizabeth (from Canada) said the following at 12:38 PM on Feb 22:
The doll was definitely creepier to me. As some others have noted, the girl with the spider hanging in front of her face looks like an interesting person to know. And I've always liked spiders and used to pick them up and let them crawl on me as a child. :) The doll, positioned in the frame as a human might be, with no people around to cuddle it or so on, makes me think it's planning to rule the world for itself. :)
19. Mike (also from Canada) said the following at 9:33 PM on Feb 22:
Has anyone else had a dream where you're locked in a department store at night and the mannequins come alive and start chasing you??
I have the most nonsensical dreams in the world. The doll wins the creepiness contest in my books.
20. Bethany J said the following at 11:34 PM on Feb 22:
Spider is worse. I had to sort of cover it with my hand in order to read the article! The doll is just a doll: I don't see why that's creepy at all.
21. Andrea-Elena said the following at 9:25 AM on Feb 23:
I was trying to figure out of the doll was one of those Blythe dolls that seem to be so collectible these days. (See the tons of folks on Craftster.org who make clothes and accessories for these dolls.) So... no, it didn't creep me out.
The spider is icky/creepy to me. I agree with Peter Jackson (of LotR fame): the creepiness of the spider is that it moves so quickly, you're not sure when it's gonna do whatever it's gonna do. Ick, ick, ick.
That being said, I like both pieces of art as they stand alone. At first, I didn't find the spider girl particularly "connective" with the article, though; didn't communicate the article's thrust -- perhaps b/c the perspective was off for me. I didn't immediately see the girl as eyeing the spider as something both intriguing and dangerous. (Though I finally see that now. Which is kind of a cool play on depth perception. And kinda makes the point about deceptively enticing... that aspect of some friendships.) The doll was more quickly effective in communicating what its accompanying article was trying to say.
The creepy factor isn't a big deal to me.
22. Katie said the following at 12:57 PM on Feb 23:
The doll is BY FAR the creepier of the two pictures. However this may have something to do with my own life.
My roommate has a 2-3ft. doll that she's named 'Sister', complete with chopped up mullet hair and eyes that can open or close. She loves to hide it around the house in an attempt to scare the other 3 of us. i.e. Reaching for a pair of socks at 7am only to find Sister's face behind them or whipping back the shower curtain to find Sister reaching for the water faucet (screaming definitely happened) - It's at times such as these that one develops a fear of dolls.
23. composer girl said the following at 10:23 AM on Feb 24:
I agree with Mary Beth. What was the reasoning behind choosing these pictures for the articles? I haven't had a chance to read them yet, but the pictures don't really seem to make sense paired to the article titles.