Psychoanalysis
These are the notes I took in the psychoanalysis lecture. They are mostly ramblings of a madman trying to type down as fast as I can but even though there isnt a direct link but there are certainly aspects of games themes/motifs which appear to be influenced by some of the ideas suggested in the lecture.
The development of the psyche from birth
The development and the role of the unconscious in our everyday lives
The development of gender identity
Understanding the complexities of human subjectivity
Not only a form of therapy (the talking cure) a theory of the mind and a model based theory that can be applied to other objects and processes.
A way of categorising and understanding desire, motivation and dreams
That we at not entirely controlled by logical and reasonable thought, our unconscious can affect out lives as well
Freud1890s. Treated hysteria patients using psychoanalysis by guiding them to discover and accept repressed thoughts and events
Dreams: Analysed his own and others dreams in terms of their hidden associations and wish fulfilment
Observed infants in the first few years of their life and association with parental figures,
dynamic unconscious
Created through infancy to protect our conscious selves from events ideas and thoughts that are not acceptable to consciousness
Continues to affect out conscious in some ways
The unconscious is chaotic without order or language
Makes itself present through things like Freudian slips
Freuds hysteria patients developed debilitating symptoms as a result of experiences or feelings that had become repressed,
Our development into wilful conscious brings is full of confusing contradictory and misapprehended thoughts and ideas
An attempt to make sense of both out biological/instinctual self and out logical thinking self.
We creat associations and assumptions through sense data often incorrectly
The child must experience and overcome these mixed feelings and misconceptions in order to gain sexual identity.
The uncanny.
Unhomely
Something that is natural and yet familiar
Something that was supposed to remain hidden which as come to the open
Where the boundary between fantasy and reality break down
Analogies between the unconscious and the uncanny
Id,unconscious,preconcious
Id - pleasure principle
ego - reality principal
superego - understanding other people
Jacques Lacan
Had his own brand of psychoanalysis
Lacan proposed that the development of the psyche is entwined within the structures of language, we affect language like it affects us,
The mirror stage
The child's recognition of itself in reflection (in objects or other people) signifies a split or alienation. The identification of yourself outside itself
Rivalry while the child may recognise its own image it is still limited in movement and dexterity
This resulting in the formation of the ego which aids and continues to aid a reconciliation of body and image.
Captation the process by which the child is at once absorbed and repelled by the image of itself.
Lacanuan unconcuoua
The unconcious is structured like a language
That's not to say that the unconcious has a language is still a chaotic place
The unconcious is the discourse of the other
Highlighting the ways in which meaning in encoded within linguistic signs written or spoken words
Unconscious details are encoded in various ways as they Slip into consciousness
Metaphor/metonymy
Desire metonymy a part of something used to represent the whole or the whole used to represent a small part.
Lacanian Phallus
Not the biological penis but a symbol of power/order attainted through its associated LACK the potential of lack (male) actual lack (female)
Masculinity/femininity are not biological definitions but symbolic positions
Our interactions/relations to the symbolic phallus provides a speaking position in culture within the symbolic order
The orders of reality
The real
That which cannot be symbolised/signified
Where our most basic animal selves exist
The imaginary
The order which exists before symbols and signification
Where the ego is born and develops
No clear distinctions between self and others
The symbolic
The order of the other
Exists outside ourselves,
Psychoanalysis
Subjectivity what it is to be human, motivations desire and the unconcious
To help us understand why things are the way they are
To understand artists motivations for creating
Model based paradigm models provide a tool for categorising or breaking down individual groups of art.
Edward bernays - the godfather of PR and Freuds nephew
Applied knowledge of psychoanalysis unconscious desire to advertising and PR campaigns
Revolutionised advertising by applying manipulation techniques
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I did Psychology for As level and found it really interesting so this lecture appealed to me in more than one way. The idea that these ideas could be incorporated into games and films makes it even more so. There are lots of games which use the 'Uncanny' term talked about in the lecture. Something familiar but is still different. This can be used to trick the mind in a sense to be off guard because what they see is familiar and not inherently scary. But adding sounds *cackling* *creaking doors* and you turn a nice environment into a nightmare.
Changing colours and shapes is also effective and this is all without the help of an axe wielding maniac or a ten foot tall monster. Games and films which involve more psychological horror are much scarier than ones which don't. They get inside your head and force you to imagine the worst possible outcome. On the other hand films with monsters etc. are still scary (if done well) but only to a certain extent. The monsters are clearly not real hence it being a monster, so if something can't exist its much less frightening than films which propose a very feasible terrifying situation you might find yourself in.
Right now I'm not saying Bioshock is a feasible idea but the design of the main enemy 'The Splicers' Is very clever because the way they speak, the language they use as well as their accent how they dress and even move, all combine into making a terrifying adversary. They speak like they did (stereotypically) in the 60s which is familiar as we've all seen films. The difference is that they're shouting at you, often when you aren't expecting it and they also charge at you trying to cave your skull in.
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I did Psychology for As level and found it really interesting so this lecture appealed to me in more than one way. The idea that these ideas could be incorporated into games and films makes it even more so. There are lots of games which use the 'Uncanny' term talked about in the lecture. Something familiar but is still different. This can be used to trick the mind in a sense to be off guard because what they see is familiar and not inherently scary. But adding sounds *cackling* *creaking doors* and you turn a nice environment into a nightmare.
Changing colours and shapes is also effective and this is all without the help of an axe wielding maniac or a ten foot tall monster. Games and films which involve more psychological horror are much scarier than ones which don't. They get inside your head and force you to imagine the worst possible outcome. On the other hand films with monsters etc. are still scary (if done well) but only to a certain extent. The monsters are clearly not real hence it being a monster, so if something can't exist its much less frightening than films which propose a very feasible terrifying situation you might find yourself in.
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| Freaky people |
Right now I'm not saying Bioshock is a feasible idea but the design of the main enemy 'The Splicers' Is very clever because the way they speak, the language they use as well as their accent how they dress and even move, all combine into making a terrifying adversary. They speak like they did (stereotypically) in the 60s which is familiar as we've all seen films. The difference is that they're shouting at you, often when you aren't expecting it and they also charge at you trying to cave your skull in.
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