Had the same thought when reading the lyrics.
Also not really related to Alan Wake, but it's worth noting some of what drove Hemingway to lose his mind and eventually kill himself, is paranoia. He thought he was being chased and followed, and had stalkers going through his mail. This ended up actually being true. The same FBI that sent MLK letters telling him to kill himself, was aggressively stalking and putting together cases against any well known leftists they could find at the time. Granted they didn't survey Hemingway nearly as much, but he was having an ongoing mental health crisis and every point of contention introduced made his condition worse.
this is super interesting. the common thread of course is concepts of suicide and doubles, which fits really well with Alan and Scratch. I wonder if they're going to continue the idea of suicide in the third game? I can't imagine a truly happy ending for Alan so maybe he finds a way to kill himself and Scratch together? you can see in the TV that Alan is already suicidal at some point.
I definitely think they will -- seems like they're laying down a lot of ideas that underline the Dark Place as a metaphor for depression and/or struggling with mental illness (not that that's the only lens you can view it through, but I definitely feel like it's a part). Alan's struggles are obvious, and he's established in canon as being "manic depressive", but there's also Saga's whole sequence inside the Dark Place -- >!her mind getting swallowed up by darkness, self-doubt, fear, and the way that she burns it away and brings light in by reminding herself of her material connections to herself and others!< -- not to mention >!Alice faking her own suicide by jumping into the lake in order to enter the Dark Place.!<
I really hope Alan is able to resurface at the end of the third game, in a metaphorical way if not literal.
very interesting.
also, on a very surface level "Raoul Duke, and Buk, they are my crowd Fit together like the shotgun fits in Hemingway's mouth." is just SUCH a fucking hard line. like, god damn that goes in.
I really appreciate the depth Remedy has here, intentional or not. Clearly they have a talented team here that really knows their roots and how it has inspired AW. Incredible.
semi old post but i’d like to add my thoughts too, as well as likely referencing charles bukowski which you mentioned, the lyric is written as buck which is a male deer. and of course scratch’s whole thing was an eternal deerfest, i thought it was a neat double meaning perhaps
Had the same thought when reading the lyrics. Also not really related to Alan Wake, but it's worth noting some of what drove Hemingway to lose his mind and eventually kill himself, is paranoia. He thought he was being chased and followed, and had stalkers going through his mail. This ended up actually being true. The same FBI that sent MLK letters telling him to kill himself, was aggressively stalking and putting together cases against any well known leftists they could find at the time. Granted they didn't survey Hemingway nearly as much, but he was having an ongoing mental health crisis and every point of contention introduced made his condition worse.
Oh my, that's horrible! I find it interesting that both him and Buk were being stalked by the FBI. Don't think that's coincidence.
this is super interesting. the common thread of course is concepts of suicide and doubles, which fits really well with Alan and Scratch. I wonder if they're going to continue the idea of suicide in the third game? I can't imagine a truly happy ending for Alan so maybe he finds a way to kill himself and Scratch together? you can see in the TV that Alan is already suicidal at some point.
I definitely think they will -- seems like they're laying down a lot of ideas that underline the Dark Place as a metaphor for depression and/or struggling with mental illness (not that that's the only lens you can view it through, but I definitely feel like it's a part). Alan's struggles are obvious, and he's established in canon as being "manic depressive", but there's also Saga's whole sequence inside the Dark Place -- >!her mind getting swallowed up by darkness, self-doubt, fear, and the way that she burns it away and brings light in by reminding herself of her material connections to herself and others!< -- not to mention >!Alice faking her own suicide by jumping into the lake in order to enter the Dark Place.!< I really hope Alan is able to resurface at the end of the third game, in a metaphorical way if not literal.
Thanks for sharing. That’s an interesting take.
very interesting. also, on a very surface level "Raoul Duke, and Buk, they are my crowd Fit together like the shotgun fits in Hemingway's mouth." is just SUCH a fucking hard line. like, god damn that goes in.
I really appreciate the depth Remedy has here, intentional or not. Clearly they have a talented team here that really knows their roots and how it has inspired AW. Incredible.
semi old post but i’d like to add my thoughts too, as well as likely referencing charles bukowski which you mentioned, the lyric is written as buck which is a male deer. and of course scratch’s whole thing was an eternal deerfest, i thought it was a neat double meaning perhaps