Self-Creation through the Imaginary Friends

Abstract

This article aims 1) to study self and self-creation and 2) to analyze the self-creation through the Imaginary Friends. An in-depth interview was conducted to study the process of the self-creation through the imaginary friend. The case study is five people who used to have the imaginary friends and can remember every detail of their imaginary friends. The data were analyzed using theory and concept of self from Jacques Lacan as the main framework for the research. The study indicated that there are different ways of self-creation using a variety of imaginary friends depending on a style of people who created the imaginary friend. It is possible to classify the functions of imaginary friends into 3 major aspects: a friend who fulfills when they are lonely, a friend who fulfills what is missing and a friend who keeps the secret.

From Jacques Lacan, Self-creation through the Imaginary Friends can be explained by the fact that the self-creation is a shell that encapsulates the true self. An identity occurs in the imagination and then passes on to the symbolic part by the way people assume things as friends by talking via language system to fill in the missing part of them. Therefore, the process of self-creation through the imaginary friends is always changing. As you can see, imaginary friends will gradually disappear in the end when people have friends in their real life, not able to permanently exist. Therefore, the imaginary friends are a tool bringing us to the system of language and symbol. Self and identity will be transformed by social processes when people have society, culture, and communication. Self is just a thing in the imagination, not last forever, but will be refined by the social process to shatter a person's identity itself.