My Freud Meta
Hi again everyone!
Right, so, this is my meta. I'll explain what it is in a moment, but first a quick note about the date. I wasn't actually going to post this Freud meta until tomorrow night, but as sheer luck and good timing would have it; today is actually RealFreud's 154th birthday! ...Or, you know, it would be if he was alive. :S
But anyway, ever since I made Freud I wanted to explain who he's based on, the theories that I mentioned and failed to turn into real plot, and the character behind my lovely sim. This meta-narrative is basically just me blathering on about Psychology, psychiatry, Freud and sims, so if you don't want to read it, that's fine, you can just look at the comparison pictures and smile. :D
** For those of you who do read it, I warn you, I might sound confusing and strange at times, I love Psychology far too much as a subject, and sometimes I tend to run with it and leave people behind while I'm blathering on about my theories. This is a long yarn, trust me, you have been warned...and I'm not sure if it actually makes sense. **
Way back in November 2008, I was in the early stages of my final year of studying Psychology at university; writing my dissertation, going to lectures and trying to curb my sims addiction. I was sitting in our flat at the desk and looking at my laptop one morning, having had a chat earlier with my supervisor about how my dissertation was going. I was in two minds about what to do that day; do I work on sims or do I focus on Psychology? This got me thinking. The one point my supervisor had told me, among various ethical points and phrasings, was to under no circumstances ever mention Sigmund Freud in a dissertation.
Why? Well, Sigmund Freud is a very misunderstood Psychologist in my opinion. Yes, he was a little fixated and very strange; but amongst all that there were some theories with truth to them. Why, if he had these sound theories that a lot of Psychology today is based on, was he banned from Psychology degrees at my university?
And so, with my mind working on Freud, I hatched a plan. What if I combined my hobby and my studies, and undid the misunderstanding around Sigmund Freud? I couldn't put him in my dissertation, but could I write about him alongside it? And then, of course, I opened YACAS in Academie le Tour, and the rest is history.
The Beginning
To begin: Real Freud was born on the 6th of May 1856 in a small village in what is now the Czech Republic, but was then part of the Austrian Empire. There's a pretty long life story for him, but I want to focus on his theories and his mid-life, so if you really do want to read more, um, check wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud
Basically, Sigmund Freud was the Psychologist/Psychoanalyst that everyone's misconceptions of Psychology are based on. He was the first to use the couch, the first to use hypnosis for memory retrieval, the first to use loose association and open questions, the first to focus on the mind rather than actions, and of course he had an Austrian accent which tends to make its way into pop culture. And yes, as I have mentioned before, the SimsShrink is indeed meant to be Sigmund Freud, hence why he's not allowed in my Hypothesis main house.
The Photographs
The easiest place for me to start comparing the Freuds is with some photos:
In his younger life, Sigmund Freud isn't very recognisable to me. I know him from his mid 40s onwards, and have always pictured him wearing glasses, so I think that probably came across in my Freud a bit too much. :)
RealFreud went grey early, and this is arguably the most famous picture of him:
My Freud in his adult years looked a little like him, but the biggest note I took from RealFreud is that in every single picture of him, he's wearing a suit. And why not have it grilled cheese colours? :D
At elder, luckily for me Freud's face didn't explode, my Freud actually looks more like the Freud I know in my head if that makes any sense. RealFreud wore glasses for reading and analysis only, but obviously in sims that's impractical, so here we have what is hopefully the closest likeness. Yeah, I'm not so good at creating sims. :)
I tried to download those glasses RealFreud's famous for wearing, but in the end my Freud was just too hip for him and had modern ones haha.
The Creation and Personality
Onto when I made Freud. Although he looks a bit like RealFreud, I did want to make mine more approachable and a bit more...normal. :) In creating him, there were a few injokes in his appearance and personality. Some were more obvious, like me making him romance aspiration when RealFreud was obsessed with sexuality and repressed female memory (yes it is as weird as it sounds, sorry); and some were less obvious like his nose being pointy, for poking into other people's business.
I think to explain the personality I picked for Freud, I'll need to elaborate a bit more on Sigmund Freud.
10 neat points: RealFreud was meticulous in his analysis. He was always immaculately dressed and kept his apartment in Vienna spotless (it's still open for viewing today), and his techniques in Psychiatry were precise and clean to help his patients recover from mental trauma.
On the flip side, he had a dirty mind which he, of course, repressed; this did come through in his theories, some of which are very strange to read and I won't mention here, but he kept it all hidden behind a neat exterior.
6 outgoing points: Although he spoke to patients daily, Sigmund Freud had a very small circle of friends, most of whom he then stopped talking to when they disagreed with his theories. So his 6 outgoing is higher than normal as he was open with his views, but he's not going to go around hugging everyone anytime soon (as his daughter does).
4 active points: RealFreud basically spent the majority of his life indoors, analysing patients and writing letters and Psychological papers. He wasn't a big guy, but he did have a bit of a belly, much as my Freud did from all his grilled cheese sandwiches.
1 serious point: Do not mess with Freud, he does not do jokes. :) RealFreud was deadly serious about everything and you very rarely see him smiling on photos. He was very focused on his work, much of which was serious in nature, and it was never to be joked about.
4 nice points: Freud was a loving husband and father (I think he had 6 children), and away from work he was described as being a nice and friendly person. His eldest daughter, Anna Freud, took over all of his work and legacy when he died, and she has always spoken well of him; so he was nice really, just not when he was analysing you. :)
The Theories and Psychology
Ah the theories. As often happens with me, there's loads to say and I have no idea where to begin with it because it's all so confusing and I didn't put it across very well in my chapters anyway. But I'll have a go, stop me if I confuse you too much.
I tried to mainly focus on Freud's drives Libido and Thanatos (you'll actually come across that more in chapter 14); and on Id, Ego and Superego, although I actually only mentioned this by name once, because I fail. :)
To explain this I went out the other month and read some of RealFreud's translated works, and I have some quotes for you.
'Libido - the force that introduces disturbances into the process of life' and 'the total energy of Eros, which henceforward we will speak of as 'libido'.' are both quotes relating to the theory I mentioned first. I used the life drive, libido, to describe Zoe as a Pleasure sim, seeking fun and enjoyment, and disruption in a life that was going to settle down. It also made its way into chapter 3 with Nina also being a libido sim, looking for love and the disturbances that causes.
And on the other end of the scale, this is the quote I wanted to fit into chapter 13 but couldn't. I'm hoping to have Latane write it at some point, but this is what I wanted Freud to say as he saw the grim reaper.
'we put forward the hypothesis of a death instinct, the task of which is to lead organic life back into the inanimate state; on the other hand, we supposed that Eros...aims at complicating life and at the same time, of course, at preserving it'.
(yes, Freud does talk about himself in the plural term 'we' all the time, I never worked out why)
The Id, Ego and Superego I'm going to try and explain on my own. Basically, before we knew anything about the brain, Freud was theorising about the mind and split it into three areas.
The first he came up with was the Id (translated from the original German 'Das Es' it actually just means 'the it') This is the part of the mind that just want, want, wants and is sort of the unruly inner child in all of us. In my story this became Penny.
Next came the Ego, the one that tells the Id what it can and can't have or do. It tempers it and liases between the Id and the outside world, and contrary to popular use of the word, the Ego is what we present ourselves as in everyday life. The Super Ego is more rule-bound, it tells the Ego what to do and becomes the moral guidelines for us all. I actually meant for Bandura to be Super Ego and Oatley to be Ego, but in the end I think it became the other way around, as Penny always went to Bandura to see what she could do. :)
Erm, I think that's actually all I've got in my head at the moment. There's probably a lot more to say, but this is what I had written down to say about Freud and you've all read a heck of a lot of chatter from me already if you've got this far (hugs and cookies to you if you have).
I just wanted to just sort of explain a few things about my Freud and his origins now that he's no longer in my game, and I hope it wasn't too difficult to read or too long and boring either! I'm currently working at chapter 14 and keeping going with the challenge, and thanks if you read this, it won't affect anything in the chapter but it's really just me being Psychological and ranting about Freud and getting some closure, so yeah, thanks.
See you all soon; amylu! xxx
Right, so, this is my meta. I'll explain what it is in a moment, but first a quick note about the date. I wasn't actually going to post this Freud meta until tomorrow night, but as sheer luck and good timing would have it; today is actually RealFreud's 154th birthday! ...Or, you know, it would be if he was alive. :S
But anyway, ever since I made Freud I wanted to explain who he's based on, the theories that I mentioned and failed to turn into real plot, and the character behind my lovely sim. This meta-narrative is basically just me blathering on about Psychology, psychiatry, Freud and sims, so if you don't want to read it, that's fine, you can just look at the comparison pictures and smile. :D
** For those of you who do read it, I warn you, I might sound confusing and strange at times, I love Psychology far too much as a subject, and sometimes I tend to run with it and leave people behind while I'm blathering on about my theories. This is a long yarn, trust me, you have been warned...and I'm not sure if it actually makes sense. **
Way back in November 2008, I was in the early stages of my final year of studying Psychology at university; writing my dissertation, going to lectures and trying to curb my sims addiction. I was sitting in our flat at the desk and looking at my laptop one morning, having had a chat earlier with my supervisor about how my dissertation was going. I was in two minds about what to do that day; do I work on sims or do I focus on Psychology? This got me thinking. The one point my supervisor had told me, among various ethical points and phrasings, was to under no circumstances ever mention Sigmund Freud in a dissertation.
Why? Well, Sigmund Freud is a very misunderstood Psychologist in my opinion. Yes, he was a little fixated and very strange; but amongst all that there were some theories with truth to them. Why, if he had these sound theories that a lot of Psychology today is based on, was he banned from Psychology degrees at my university?
And so, with my mind working on Freud, I hatched a plan. What if I combined my hobby and my studies, and undid the misunderstanding around Sigmund Freud? I couldn't put him in my dissertation, but could I write about him alongside it? And then, of course, I opened YACAS in Academie le Tour, and the rest is history.
The Beginning
To begin: Real Freud was born on the 6th of May 1856 in a small village in what is now the Czech Republic, but was then part of the Austrian Empire. There's a pretty long life story for him, but I want to focus on his theories and his mid-life, so if you really do want to read more, um, check wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud
Basically, Sigmund Freud was the Psychologist/Psychoanalyst that everyone's misconceptions of Psychology are based on. He was the first to use the couch, the first to use hypnosis for memory retrieval, the first to use loose association and open questions, the first to focus on the mind rather than actions, and of course he had an Austrian accent which tends to make its way into pop culture. And yes, as I have mentioned before, the SimsShrink is indeed meant to be Sigmund Freud, hence why he's not allowed in my Hypothesis main house.
The Photographs
The easiest place for me to start comparing the Freuds is with some photos:
In his younger life, Sigmund Freud isn't very recognisable to me. I know him from his mid 40s onwards, and have always pictured him wearing glasses, so I think that probably came across in my Freud a bit too much. :)
RealFreud went grey early, and this is arguably the most famous picture of him:
My Freud in his adult years looked a little like him, but the biggest note I took from RealFreud is that in every single picture of him, he's wearing a suit. And why not have it grilled cheese colours? :D
At elder, luckily for me Freud's face didn't explode, my Freud actually looks more like the Freud I know in my head if that makes any sense. RealFreud wore glasses for reading and analysis only, but obviously in sims that's impractical, so here we have what is hopefully the closest likeness. Yeah, I'm not so good at creating sims. :)
I tried to download those glasses RealFreud's famous for wearing, but in the end my Freud was just too hip for him and had modern ones haha.
The Creation and Personality
Onto when I made Freud. Although he looks a bit like RealFreud, I did want to make mine more approachable and a bit more...normal. :) In creating him, there were a few injokes in his appearance and personality. Some were more obvious, like me making him romance aspiration when RealFreud was obsessed with sexuality and repressed female memory (yes it is as weird as it sounds, sorry); and some were less obvious like his nose being pointy, for poking into other people's business.
I think to explain the personality I picked for Freud, I'll need to elaborate a bit more on Sigmund Freud.
10 neat points: RealFreud was meticulous in his analysis. He was always immaculately dressed and kept his apartment in Vienna spotless (it's still open for viewing today), and his techniques in Psychiatry were precise and clean to help his patients recover from mental trauma.
On the flip side, he had a dirty mind which he, of course, repressed; this did come through in his theories, some of which are very strange to read and I won't mention here, but he kept it all hidden behind a neat exterior.
6 outgoing points: Although he spoke to patients daily, Sigmund Freud had a very small circle of friends, most of whom he then stopped talking to when they disagreed with his theories. So his 6 outgoing is higher than normal as he was open with his views, but he's not going to go around hugging everyone anytime soon (as his daughter does).
4 active points: RealFreud basically spent the majority of his life indoors, analysing patients and writing letters and Psychological papers. He wasn't a big guy, but he did have a bit of a belly, much as my Freud did from all his grilled cheese sandwiches.
1 serious point: Do not mess with Freud, he does not do jokes. :) RealFreud was deadly serious about everything and you very rarely see him smiling on photos. He was very focused on his work, much of which was serious in nature, and it was never to be joked about.
4 nice points: Freud was a loving husband and father (I think he had 6 children), and away from work he was described as being a nice and friendly person. His eldest daughter, Anna Freud, took over all of his work and legacy when he died, and she has always spoken well of him; so he was nice really, just not when he was analysing you. :)
The Theories and Psychology
Ah the theories. As often happens with me, there's loads to say and I have no idea where to begin with it because it's all so confusing and I didn't put it across very well in my chapters anyway. But I'll have a go, stop me if I confuse you too much.
I tried to mainly focus on Freud's drives Libido and Thanatos (you'll actually come across that more in chapter 14); and on Id, Ego and Superego, although I actually only mentioned this by name once, because I fail. :)
To explain this I went out the other month and read some of RealFreud's translated works, and I have some quotes for you.
'Libido - the force that introduces disturbances into the process of life' and 'the total energy of Eros, which henceforward we will speak of as 'libido'.' are both quotes relating to the theory I mentioned first. I used the life drive, libido, to describe Zoe as a Pleasure sim, seeking fun and enjoyment, and disruption in a life that was going to settle down. It also made its way into chapter 3 with Nina also being a libido sim, looking for love and the disturbances that causes.
And on the other end of the scale, this is the quote I wanted to fit into chapter 13 but couldn't. I'm hoping to have Latane write it at some point, but this is what I wanted Freud to say as he saw the grim reaper.
'we put forward the hypothesis of a death instinct, the task of which is to lead organic life back into the inanimate state; on the other hand, we supposed that Eros...aims at complicating life and at the same time, of course, at preserving it'.
(yes, Freud does talk about himself in the plural term 'we' all the time, I never worked out why)
The Id, Ego and Superego I'm going to try and explain on my own. Basically, before we knew anything about the brain, Freud was theorising about the mind and split it into three areas.
The first he came up with was the Id (translated from the original German 'Das Es' it actually just means 'the it') This is the part of the mind that just want, want, wants and is sort of the unruly inner child in all of us. In my story this became Penny.
Next came the Ego, the one that tells the Id what it can and can't have or do. It tempers it and liases between the Id and the outside world, and contrary to popular use of the word, the Ego is what we present ourselves as in everyday life. The Super Ego is more rule-bound, it tells the Ego what to do and becomes the moral guidelines for us all. I actually meant for Bandura to be Super Ego and Oatley to be Ego, but in the end I think it became the other way around, as Penny always went to Bandura to see what she could do. :)
Erm, I think that's actually all I've got in my head at the moment. There's probably a lot more to say, but this is what I had written down to say about Freud and you've all read a heck of a lot of chatter from me already if you've got this far (hugs and cookies to you if you have).
I just wanted to just sort of explain a few things about my Freud and his origins now that he's no longer in my game, and I hope it wasn't too difficult to read or too long and boring either! I'm currently working at chapter 14 and keeping going with the challenge, and thanks if you read this, it won't affect anything in the chapter but it's really just me being Psychological and ranting about Freud and getting some closure, so yeah, thanks.
See you all soon; amylu! xxx