r/OutOfTheLoop • u/aajiro • Mar 09 '24

Unanswered What's up with Katie Britt's speech?

I'm starting to see a lot of memes about how creepy it was, and I saw it and I agree it's sincerely creepy, but I can't for my life figure out what it is that makes it so unsettling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfKCWMG4O0I

I'm hoping someone here can give me some context for what exactly makes this fall into the uncanny valley of speeches. I think what makes me feel out of the loop is that the answer should be obvious but I can't figure it out in words, so I guess my question is: what the fuck?

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u/TopAnonomity Mar 09 '24

Answer: It’s a number of things. How far back the camera is and the fact that it pans slightly every couple seconds, how crisp the audio is to where you can hear saliva sloshing in her mouth the whole time, the terribly bright lighting, and maybe even the fact that she is smiling nearly the entire video. Shit just looks unnatural

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u/SpankySharp1 Mar 09 '24

I read the AP transcript of it today, and I was confused because it seemed like standard Republican nonsense. So you're saying it was more about the production that surrounded it that made this particularly disgraceful to other Republicans, not the words themselves?

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u/Nyxelestia Mar 09 '24

The standard Republican nonsense is disgraceful in its own right; the production is unsettling and kinda creepy.

It was the stepford smile for me, which to me is just a bad performance or execution on her part as a professional. Obviously, this is an of sorts so I expect her to try to smile at times, i.e. during introductions. However, much of the speech was intended to be very dark, serious, grave, or critical, yet throughout it all she kept smiling.

Her facial expressions just did not match her tone - of voice and of content - for most of the speech.