Background of the Study

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Film are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating – or indoctrinating – citizens. The visual elements of cinema give motion pictures a universal power of communication. Some of films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles that translate dialogue. 1 Kolker said that film has a great power because film gave the image that can bring us in deep understanding about the real life than the other media. 2 On its content film gives the emotional spot and popularity. So, film can be said not only contributed to a mass culture of entertainment and celebrity; it is also provided a forum for education and critique through the tradition of social documentary and served us a medium of personal expression in the form of avant-garde films and home movies. 3 Film does not only become something that entertains but also can inspire the spectators if it showed attractively. Many kind aspects of life become story 1 http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiFilm. Accessed on February, 2009. 2 David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art an Introduction New York McGraw-Hill, Inc fourth edition, p.3. 3 Maria Pramagiore and Tom Wallis, Film: A Critical Introduction London: Laurence King Publishing, 2005, p.1. theme in film including leadership. Film as a medium to investigate leadership topics, including the leadership theory of Emotional Intelligence. At its core, leadership is rooted in emotions. 4 Leadership, particularly in a period of rapid change, is about emotions - desire, fear, despair, caring, disillusionment, pain, anger, stress, anxiety and loneliness. Yet these are the aspects of leadership which tend to be neglected, played down, even denigrated in the literature, largely because emotionality has been cast in opposition to, and lesser than, rationality Blackmore, 1996. 5 Emotions are contagious. When members of a team work together they influence each other’s emotions at an unconscious level. 6 Emotion is assumed as human soul activity. According to Daniel Goleman emotion is absolutely the sequence of motivation to act. Goleman states that the key to understand people’s feeling is an ability to read non verbal message. 7 The rule of thumb is that interpersonal communication is 5 verbal and 95 nonverbal. This suggests that most of the communication in a team or group is not cognitive, but emotional. Thus, when members of a team are emotionally intelligent and use their emotional skills appropriately, they can create an atmosphere conducive to effective collaboration. 8 4 Daniel Goleman, et al,. Discussing their book, Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence , Harvard Business School Press Publishing, 2001. p.1. 5 www.educatejournal.orgindex.php?journal=educate. Accessed on February, 2009. 6 Daniel Goleman, et al,. Adapted from Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence , Harvard Business School Publishing, 2001. www.teleosleaders.com...Why_Emotional_Intelligence_Matters_for_Leaders.pdf -. Accessed on February, 2009. 7 Daniel Goleman, et. al., Introduction Psychology, USA: Random House, 1982. p.249. 8 Daniel Goleman, et al 2001 loc. cit.. Emotions are a feedback mechanism. The dictionary defines feedback as “information returned to the source.” Thus, emotions contain information for us. They are meant to help us manage our attention. If you do not manage your emotions and pay attention to the emotions of those around you, you will miss an enormous amount of information necessary for effective leadership. 9 Negative emotions powerfully disrupt work, hijacking attention from the task at hand. People who are upset have trouble reading emotions accurately in other people, decreasing the most basic skill needed for empathy and, as a result, impairing their social skills. An upbeat environment fosters mental efficiency, making people better at taking in and understanding information, at using decision rules in complex judgements, and at being flexible in their thinking Goleman, 2001. 10 In conclusion, emotions play a central role in leadership. More specifically, emotional intelligence is the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships. 11 People with good levels of emotional intelligence are said to be more able to manage and harness their emotions. They are also better able to understand other people’s emotions, to communicate with them, relate to them and influence them. 12 Goleman has claimed that 9 http:davejensenonleadership.blogspot.com200810leading-by-managing-emotions.html. Accessed on October, 2009. 10 www.vedpuriswar.orgbook_reviewThe20New20Leaders.doc by D Goleman – 2002. Accessed on October, 2009. 11 Daniel Goleman 1998b. Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. p.317. 12 http:www.cipd.co.uksubjectslrnanddevselfdevemotintel.htm. Accessed on October, 2009. approximately 90 of star performers’ success in leadership is attributable to Emotional Intelligence. 13 Emotional Intelligence is a term coined by Daniel Goleman. Emotional intelligence has as much to do with knowing when and how to express emotion as it does with controlling it. Emotional Intelligence sometimes characterized as an emotional quotient or EQ versus that stood in contrast to an intelligence quotient or IQ --it’s a term practically every leader of note has heard of. 14 According to Goleman, one key benefit is that “emotional intelligence can help people make better decisions.” 15 “EQ defines our capacity for relationship,” Goleman says, adding this is essential for leaders whose choices are echoed through dozens and hundreds of relationships in a complex web. Leaders who use their emotional efficacy to inspire confidence, commitment, and caring will get better results. 16 Not only do star performance excel as individuals, but Emotional Intelligence are the ones which are the best able to maximize a team’s potential in pursuit of collective goals. In the other word, Emotional Intelligence is needed for successful teamwork. In this research, the writer wants to analyze “We Were Soldiers” film that is released on March 1, 2002 and the film is adapted from the book ‘We Were Soldiers Once . . . And Young’ by Lieutenant Colonel Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway, the only journalist willing to go into the front lines to capture a first hand account of the war. The film produced by Arne L. Schmidt, Jim 13 Ibid 14 www.teachmeteamwork.comteachmeteam. Accessed on October, 2009. 15 http:www.nexuseq.compressGoleman.pdf. Accessed on October, 2009. 16 Ibid. Lemley, and Randall Wallace. It directed by Randall Wallace. The movie which adapted from the book is based on a true story about a gruesome depiction of the bloody engagement in which 400 American troops, under the leadership of Moore, took on 2000 North Vietnamese. 17 We Were Soldiers is the film which tells the role of main character, Lieutenant Colonel Harold G. Moore, that describes his effectiveness as a leader in leading his subordinates in the homeland and especially in the chaos of the battle. The film narrates the leadership under Moore, in which 400 American troops took on 2000 North Vietnamese. The story began when a French Army unit in Vietnam on July 1954 during the First Indochina 18 War is ambushed by soldiers of the Viet Minh. Eleven years later, Fort Benning, Georgia, Colonel Hal Moore Mel Gibson is deeply committed to training his troops, who are preparing to be sent to Vietnam. As a leader, Lieutenant Colonel Harold Moore who led his men in Vietnam War knows well how to drive his emotion and his subordinates’ emotion into a positive direction in purpose to pursuit collective goals. Landing in the Valley of Death on November 14, 1965, soldiers capture a North Vietnamese lookout who informs them that the nearby Chu Pong Mountain is the location of the headquarters of an entire North Vietnamese Division. An American platoon is isolated some distance from battalion’s main position, after 2 nd Lt. Henry Herrick saw a scout, and ran after him, ordering his reluctant to follow. The scout led him into an ambush. 17 http:www.reelviews.netmovieswwe_were_soldiers.html. Accessed on October, 2009. 18 Indochina: Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Led by Lieutenant Colonel Harold Moore, the writer saw the unit cohesion was shown by American troops in saving their trapped friend which ambushed by Vietnamese. That is why, in this thesis, the writer is interested to analyze the Emotional intelligence had by the main character that affect his subordinates’ successful teamwork by using Daniel Goleman leadership theory. It can be taken after watching the film.

B. Focus of the Research