"Forma de Mente, Forma de Homem": processos identitários no choque entre o "Eu" e o "Outro", como visto no personagem Shinji Ikari, de Neon Genesis Evangelion

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze Shinji Ikari, the protagonist of the anime “Neon Genesis Evangelion” (1995), based on the notion that a psychoanalytic perspective could reveal contents in the plot, in his characterization and in his character development that were not only related to the constitution of identity, ego and self, but that offered rich and didactic perspectives on these concepts and their manifestations in an individual. In addition, the manifestation of these constructs and structures will be observed from the perspective of otherness (the differentiation, contact and relationship of an individual with external individuals) and human suffering (both that which originates from this differentiation and encounter, and how it influences the organization of identity). To achieve this objective, a theoretical survey on identity and identification processes and exploration on the nature of the ego and the self shall be carried out, and then related to selected and transcribed excerpts from the anime that could best strengthen the study, and then continued with a deeper analysis, based on each excerpt, interpreting and identifying the characteristics of Shinji's identity that were internalized in the trajectory of his life experiences, his ego defense mechanisms in terms of how this ego is constituted (or destroyed) and how his self and self-expression really act in the world.