Archetype and Individuation Process in Alan Wake (2010) Video Game
A. Abril Garcia
Journal of Games Game Art and Gamification January 3, 2023 DOI: 10.21512/jggag.v7i2.8857 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Interpretative qualitative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Archetype Individuation Interpretation philosophy Unconscious mind Collective unconscious Psychoanalysis Mythology Hero Literature Art history |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key findings | Alan Wake's journey through the nightmare and his completion of the 'Departure' manuscript represents an individuation process, as depicted through Jungian archetypes. |
Abstract
This research purpose aims to demonstrate the individuation process of Alan Wake through the archetypes by finishing the last page of “Departure” manuscript. The research uses interpretative qualitative method in extending the findings. Using interpretation analysis can depict phenomenon of video game from the act, figures, sources (game items; weapons, flashlight, manuscript, etc.), situation, by applying Carl Gustav Jung’s psychoanalytic theory of archetype and individuation process in the video game. In the video game story, Alan Wake is a writer who had had a writer’s block for 2 years and experiences a nightmare. The nightmare happens when Alice Wake has lost at the Cauldron Lake. To find Alice, Alan follow the journey from his nightmare, suddenly discovers something powerful to create and change things influenced by two mythical figures, namely Thomas Zane and Barbara Jagger. Both figures come into Alan’s nightmare following the unwritten manuscript “Departure” plot story, whose Alan is guided to contain several figures to overcome darkness figures and integrate light and darkness to be actualized. The findings show that archetype depictions are associated by mythological images reflected from the collective unconscious in Alan Wake. The forms such as Barbara Jagger, Thomas Zane, Taken, Alan as The Hero, and the Bird Leg cabin are the projected images that Alan created in his dream. Alan starts his nightmare journey, experiences all the archetypes contributed, and realizes how to end the “Departure” manuscript as Alan’s individuation process. In conclusion, Alan Wake's unconscious journey by ending at the point of self-realization and writing the "Departure" script is considered as an individuation process.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Other as a Nightmare: The Israeli-Arab Encounter as Reflected in Children's Dreams in Israel and the West Bank Jewish and Arab fifth to seventh graders living in various settings in Israel and the... | 1989 | Qualitative content analysis | n = 212 |
| Nonwaking Responses to Waking Stressors: Dreams and Nightmares1 Men from the cohort eligible for military duty during the Vietnam Conflict, varying in... | 1990 | Survey interview study | n = 442 |
| Communing with the Gods: The Dreaming Brain in Cross-cultural Perspective | 2011 | Phenomenological study | |
| Partial memory reinstatement while (lucid) dreaming to change the dream environment. Lucid dreamers | 2020 | Qualitative study | |
| Strange themes in pandemic dreams: Insomnia was associated with more negative, anxious and death‐related dreams during the COVID‐19 pandemic Global survey participants | 2022 | Longitudinal mixed-methods study | n = 2,240 |