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The influence of Twin Peaks is writ large on the game. Alan Wake goes down in a logging town in the Pacific Northwest, where quirky characters like the Lamp Lady seem to hide (or perhaps) reveal a dark secret buried in the shadows of looming pine.
David Lynch's pioneering 1990 TV series isn't the only bit of pop culture that influences Alan Wake. In the game's first moments it quotes Steven King. And throughout the game alludes to fairly predictable genre influences like The Twilight Zone, The Shining and H.P. Lovecraft.
But perhaps the biggest pop culture influence on Alan Wake isn't a horror novel or movie, but another game -- Konami's 1999 survival horror innovator Silent Hill.
Silent Hill was the first game to let us experience the creepy, psychologically fractured Americana of David Lynch in videogame form. But it also represents one of many volleys of cultural influence bounced back and forth between the U.S. and Japan -- a sort of pop culture echo chamber without which Alan Wake could never have existed.
But there's a excellent reason, besides the fact that shaved heads are easy to render, for games to continue flogging a dead horse born in 1986. People still want to experience the story of the space marine. That's why Aliens, with its underlying Vietnam metaphor, remains a major influence on games. The theme of un-winnable battles against enemies that can't be negotiated with is one that we're just not done exploring.
Its no surprise, then, that Cameron came back to the space marine milieu with Avatar. The director, digesting more than a little videogame influence, brought us full circle and assured that the space marine would continue to provide a compelling venue for gamers to play out videogame fantasies.
I'm particularly fond of the cultural reverb between David Lynch, Silent Hill, J-horror and Alan Wake because of the ways that it enforces and establishes new horror tropes. The notion of the Pacific Northwest as a setting for horror was hinted upon in Twin Peaks -- especially in the movie Fire Walk With Me. But Silent Hill, hugely influenced by Lynch, confirmed the notion that there's something creepy about looming pines and American cities seemingly lost in time. Then Ringu (itself heavily influenced by Lynch) and its remake The Ring cemented the setting as venue for horror.
The feedback here, rather than creating a cacophony of noise, helps turn up the volume on key images and themes in pop culture. Its a loop that digs deep grooves in the record, entrenching new, interesting themes into our collective unconsciousness. Alan Wake is just another example that storytellers, gamemakers and filmmakers have the power to define our nightmares.
Some might dismiss the adoption and adherence of these themes as a lack of originality. And they wouldn't be entirely wrong. But these critics are overlooking the fact that games are particularly well suited to attack similar themes again and again. Because videogames are, in part, about living out fantasies. And it just so happens that a handful of the fantasies of our time are inextricably wrapped up in pop culture.
The rise and fall of the gangster as told in Scarface and Grand Theft Auto, the plight of the reluctant soldier against terrible odds in Aliens and Gears of War and the existential terror and psychosis of Mulholland Drive and Alan Wake are all plots we want, and most likely need, to experience again and again.
Videogames may seem like they don't have an original bone in their body. But that's okay. They're part of a larger beast -- a recursive creature like the Ouroboros made from, but also consuming, our stories, experiences and culture. Its the kind of monster you'd put in your crosshairs and kill if you met it in the shadowy woods of Alan Wake. But I say let the thing live.
Pretension +1 is a weekly videogame column that seeks to stitch videogames into the tapestry of pop culture.
Tags: Alan Wake, Aliens, Avatar, David Lynch, Gear of War, J-Horror, James Cameron, Mulholland Drive, Ringu, Scarface, Silent Hill, The Ring, Twin Peaks
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