Background of the Study
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the Beast 1991, Aladdin 1992, and others. The story of Walt Disney’s princess
mostly tells about the living of princess that mistreated by other people. For example is the story of Cinderella that has injustice treatment from her step
mother. Her life is full of misery until one day the charming prince comes to save her life. They both have a happy ending marriage and live happily ever after. Most
of princess classic story is almost the same. They have charming prince who comes to save their lives because they cannot struggle to get better life by
themselves. In this era, Disney princess story has changed. The princess on the movie
does not need prince to save their lives as they can save their own lives. For example is Mulan 1998 movie which tells about a girl who joins conscription to
replace her weak and old father. The characteristic of Mulan is different with other Disney princess movie. She is not feminine and has masculinity side inside
her. She is joining the war and winning it together with her friends. In recent years, the stories of princess have developed. Their lives and characteristic have
changed and different with the story of classic Disney princess. As the writer found on Brave 2012 and Frozen 2013 movie. Both of the princesses do not
have a man who saves their life. They save and change their life by themselves.
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In this research, the writer will use Brave
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movie as an object of study and analyze one of intrinsic elements on it which is character. Character is someone
who acts, appears, or is referred to as playing a part in a literary work.
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The writer chooses character to be analyzed because character is an important element in the
story and the story will not work without any figure on it. The character that the writer wants to analyze is the characteristics of Princess Merida in Brave movie.
Furthermore, in the movie there are many differences of characteristic in Princess Merida and other Disney princess which make the writer wants to further
analyze about it. Princess Merida is the daughter of King Fergus and Queen Elinor, they live in the mythical Scottish highlands. She has a distinct personality
of the princess in common. She would rather climb the cliff rather than primp in the mirror. She is the major and heroine character in the movie. The writer is
interested in analyzing this figure because she has strong, unique, and different characteristics with other princess in common.
One day, King Fergus and Queen Elinor match up Princess Merida with one of the princes from the three clans of their kingdom. However, Princess
Merida refuses it. She wants to choose her own path in life. Her mother wants the best for her daughter and also for her clan. She still forces Princess Merida to
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Brave has won many award, such as; Oscar in Academy Award and British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for category Best Animated Feature 2013, Golden Globes Award
for category Best Animated Film 2013, ASCAP Award for category Top Box Office Films 2013, American Cinema Editors for category Best Edited Animated Feature Film 2013, C.A.S. Award
for category Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures 2013, Golden Trailer Awards for category Most Original TV Spot 2013, VES award in category Outstanding Created
Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture 2013, and also included in the various award nominations. Retrieved from
http:www.imdb.comtitlett1217209awards accessed on October
27
th
, 2013
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Jerome Beaty, The Norton Introduction to Literature shorter eight edition New York: W.W Norton Company, Inc, 2002, p. 102
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marry with one of the suitors, because if the wedding is being canceled there will be a battle between the three clans of the kingdom. With a firm and dignified way,
she speaks with Princess Merida, but it does not make Princess Merida changing her mind. She does not want her mother controlling her life, and then she goes to
the forest and meets the witch. She gets the concoction to make her mother changes, but instead of changes her mind, Queen Elinor changes into a giant bear.
Princess Merida gets shock, she just realizes that the witch gives her the wrong spell. Then she brings her mother into the forest to get the herb bidder to change
her mother back to normal. But she does not find the witch because at that time, the witch is going for holiday and will be back in spring. The witch gives her
message that the spell on her mother will be permanent in the second sunrise, and the witch also gives her clue to make her mother back to normal again. So after
that, she and her bear mother have a journey together for looking the way out of how to make her mother back to normal. The journey that Princess Merida and her
mom get through in changing her mom back into human being and also to mend the bond of their family makes the story interesting and different with other
Disney princess movie. This movie is not telling about love story between the princess and the prince who save their life, instead it shows several things such as
the love between a mother, a daughter and a bond between their family and their clans is stronger.
In conclusions, Brave movie tells the story of Princess Merida in the effort to break the rule and tradition in the kingdom and gain freedom in choosing her
way of life. It also tells Queen Elinor’s generosity in accepting her daughter’s
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decision and the movie tells the audience the communication between the child and the mother is important, because the bond between them is really strong
especially after what happened to Princess Merida and her mom. The difference of princess representation in Brave movie with other Walt
Disney princess movie makes the writer gets interest in making a research about it is because the writer finds different characteristic of princess story in this movie.
Princess Merida is brave and not afraid to take risk in choosing her own path in life. She does not want her life to be controlled by anyone. The writer will use
Stuart Hall Representation theory with constructionist approach in doing this research to show the different princess representation in Princess Merida.