Restless Dreams and Shattered Memories: Psychoanalysis and Silent Hill

This paper applies psychoanalytic frameworks to the survival horror franchise Silent Hill, a series which is itself informed by psychoanalytic themes. Concerns include the construction of game space as maternal womb, cinematic sequences as primal fantasies, and the representation of memory across th...

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Autor principal:	Ewan Kirkland
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN ES FR IT PT
Publicado:	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 2015
Materias:	Silent Hill survival horror psychoanalysis videogames memory. General Works A
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/d740868c235c4d2bbca407011c8f0300
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:d740868c235c4d2bbca407011c8f03002021-11-26T12:45:42ZRestless Dreams and Shattered Memories: Psychoanalysis and Silent Hill10.5565/rev/brumal.1822014-7910https://doaj.org/article/d740868c235c4d2bbca407011c8f03002015-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://revistes.uab.cat/brumal/article/view/182https://doaj.org/toc/2014-7910This paper applies psychoanalytic frameworks to the survival horror franchise Silent Hill, a series which is itself informed by psychoanalytic themes. Concerns include the construction of game space as maternal womb, cinematic sequences as primal fantasies, and the representation of memory across the games within a psychoanalytic context. The horror genres’ preoccupation with monstrous mother figures is evident in boss battle adversaries, the depiction of gamespaces as bloody «maternal caves», and in narratives concerning characters’ searching for their parental origins Distinguishing between videogames’ playable sequences and cinematics as conscious and sub-conscious aspects, cut-scenes are analysed as reproducing primal fantasies, serving to explain protagonists’ backstory and situating play within narrative contexts. Such moments intrude into the game, marking transformations between the ordinary world and the abject Otherworld, or heralding the emergence of psychoanalytically-resonant monstrous creatures which the protagonist must destroy. Finally, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is examined as a game which, even more than others, foregrounds the series’ explicit reference to psychoanalytic preoccupations, engaging with contemporary understandings concerning the relationship between memory, media and fantasy.Ewan KirklandUniversitat Autònoma de BarcelonaarticleSilent Hillsurvival horrorpsychoanalysisvideogamesmemory.General WorksAENESFRITPTBrumal: Revista de Investigación sobre lo Fantástico, Vol 3, Iss 1 (2015)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN ES FR IT PT
topic	Silent Hill survival horror psychoanalysis videogames memory. General Works A
spellingShingle	Silent Hill survival horror psychoanalysis videogames memory. General Works A Ewan Kirkland Restless Dreams and Shattered Memories: Psychoanalysis and Silent Hill
description	This paper applies psychoanalytic frameworks to the survival horror franchise Silent Hill, a series which is itself informed by psychoanalytic themes. Concerns include the construction of game space as maternal womb, cinematic sequences as primal fantasies, and the representation of memory across the games within a psychoanalytic context. The horror genres’ preoccupation with monstrous mother figures is evident in boss battle adversaries, the depiction of gamespaces as bloody «maternal caves», and in narratives concerning characters’ searching for their parental origins Distinguishing between videogames’ playable sequences and cinematics as conscious and sub-conscious aspects, cut-scenes are analysed as reproducing primal fantasies, serving to explain protagonists’ backstory and situating play within narrative contexts. Such moments intrude into the game, marking transformations between the ordinary world and the abject Otherworld, or heralding the emergence of psychoanalytically-resonant monstrous creatures which the protagonist must destroy. Finally, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is examined as a game which, even more than others, foregrounds the series’ explicit reference to psychoanalytic preoccupations, engaging with contemporary understandings concerning the relationship between memory, media and fantasy.
format	article
author	Ewan Kirkland
author_facet	Ewan Kirkland
author_sort	Ewan Kirkland
title	Restless Dreams and Shattered Memories: Psychoanalysis and Silent Hill
title_short	Restless Dreams and Shattered Memories: Psychoanalysis and Silent Hill
title_full	Restless Dreams and Shattered Memories: Psychoanalysis and Silent Hill
title_fullStr	Restless Dreams and Shattered Memories: Psychoanalysis and Silent Hill
title_full_unstemmed	Restless Dreams and Shattered Memories: Psychoanalysis and Silent Hill
title_sort	restless dreams and shattered memories: psychoanalysis and silent hill
publisher	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
publishDate	2015
url	https://doaj.org/article/d740868c235c4d2bbca407011c8f0300
work_keys_str_mv	AT ewankirkland restlessdreamsandshatteredmemoriespsychoanalysisandsilenthill
_version_	1718409381011259392

Restless Dreams and Shattered Memories: Psychoanalysis and Silent Hill

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