Anima & Animus
In Xenogears, the Anima Relics searched for an appropriate Animus to bond and create the perfect Omnigear. The term is most likely from Jungian psychology.
Anima comes from the Latin feminine word for "soul." Only men experience the Anima. It appears in dreams, where it may be represented by either a womanly spiritual guide, a seductress, a young, spontaneous girl, or as a witch. The unindividuated man identifies with those personal qualities that are symbolically masculine. However, he does not recognize qualities that are symbolically feminine as part of his own personality but rather projects them onto women. Since the unindividuated man has not consciously developed any of his symbolically feminine qualities (e.g. emotion, need for relatedness), his personality is apt to be taken over or "possessed" by these qualities at times, so that his emotional behavior and relationships may be acted out in childish and immature ways that are apparent to others but not to him.
Animus comes from the Latin masculine world for "soul." It is basically the opposite of the anima. It only resides in woman and is the woman's unconscious masculine side. It usually appears in dreams where it is represented by muscular men, wise poetic men, or as a sorcerer. The unindividuated woman identifies with those personal qualities that are symbolically feminine; she develops these potentialities and to some extent integrates their unconcious influences into her conscious personality. However, she does not recognize qualities that are symbolically masculine as part of her own personality but rather projects them onto men. Since the unindividuated woman has not consciously developed any of her symbolically masculine qualities (e.g. logic, leadership, need for independence), her personality is apt to be taken over or "possessed" by these qualities at times, so that she appears opinionated, argumentative, or domineering to others, though she will not think of herself that way.
(Many thanks to our Contributor for the following additional information):
Ideally, Jung envisioned the anima and animus to be the formative
expression of the primordial archetypes formed via the intrinsic 'circuitry' of the collective unconscious. However, the difficulty in outlining such abstraction is that it is only observable in the physical realms, set far beyond the psychic construct.
This is a key point to consider when noting Takahashi's use of the gender aspects in his pieces. The visual here is not overwhelmingly pivotal in the case of our male aspect, Contact, because the very essence of such a concept must be limited to the interpretative 'slate' that is utilized in the creation of such fundamentally male traits. The male is intended to be a near collective expression of the male distinction. Fei is shown as a male with limited differentiation from any other. He is excessively macho at times. He has insecurities, others. There exists in this a silent device that is meant
to strengthen the bond the player will feel toward Fei because he
characterizes the core male figure--the everyman.
The gender creates the actual necessity for the differentiation of these roles. The problem in this, to the uninitiated, is that the character in question, if he is intended to personify such a general figure, must be relatively flat in presentation. This is folly because it disregards the fact that we are not speaking in terms of allegory. Xenogears is formed on the concept on a literal repetitive being--not archetypical symbol. This allows the characters to stand alone as pieces of advanced development and not predisposed allegorical assertions.
Such problems are only problems for those foolish enough to overlook the obvious pains taken in forming these characters. They are not the archetypes that they may be originated in because the creator does not wish to limit his characters, thus. This is all important when the gender elements are observed in Xenogears. Takahashi is not Jung, so do not expect that you can draw an absolute analogy between the two. Be wary of considering one man's philosophy coincidental with another's. The goal of philosophy is to add sources from which change may be elicited, not on the wider collective level, but by the solo discretion of the individual. The micro will eventually serve macro, given time.
|
|
|
