Background of the Study

11 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material. Broadly speaking, literature is used to describe anything from creative writing to more technical or scientific works, but the term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, including works of poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction. 1 Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and the mind. This definition contains three elements. The first is that psychology is a scientific enterprise that obtains knowledge through systematic and objective methods of observation and experimentation. Second is that psychologists study behavior, which refers to any action or reaction that can be measured or observed—such as the blink of an eye, an increase in heart rate, or the unruly violence that often erupts in a mob. Third is that psychologists study the mind, which refers to both conscious and unconscious mental states. These states cannot actually be seen, only inferred from observable behavior. 2 The behavior of human relates to psychological aspects. Specifically, the reality of psychology can be seen from any psychological phenomena which are 1 http:classiclit.about.comodliterarytermsgaa_whatisliter.htm accessed on February 11th, 2010. p. 1. 2 http:www.scribd.comdoc24166054I-Introduction-Psychology-The-Scientific-Study-of- Behavior-And accessed on February 12th, 2010. p. 1 . 12 suffered by human being when they respond or make a reaction toward themselves and surrounding. The writer can also identify mental state of them through behavior. Human behaviors itself are various. If the writer examine deeply, the writer can classify it as any phenomena and can be classified into certain category. The category represents any psychological signs such as phobia, anxiety, frustration, depression. Film, as a form of an art represents events and behaviors that are done by human being. Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. It is a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating — or indoctrinating — citizens. 3 It does not only become something that entertains but also can inspire the viewer if it showed attractively. Many aspects of life become story theme in movie, for example psychology. Film as medium to describe psychological topics is including development over the life cycle particularly childhood and adolescence, family dynamics, and mental illness. It is usually revealed through the characters’ behavior or acts. The director describes the character in several ways. Shehe can describe the character physical appearance, through dialogue, thought, actions or description of character’s behavior and the explanation given. It means that the director can develop the story and give a message to the viewer by focusing on behavior of the character itself, interaction among the other characters or the intrinsic elements of movie such as plot, setting, and character. 3 http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiFilm accessed on October 22nd, 2008. p. 1 . 13 One of the best American movies in 2007 which is written by Huggo is ‘JUNO’. The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and earned three other Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Page. The films soundtrack was the first number one soundtrack since Dreamgirls and 20th Century Foxs first number one soundtrack since Titanic. Juno earned back its initial budget of 6.5 million in twenty days; during the first nineteen of which the film was in limited release. And Juno received numerous positive reviews from critics, many of whom placed the film on their top ten lists for the year. The film has also received both criticism and praise from members of both the pro-life and pro-choice communities regarding its confrontation of abortion. 4 Juno is the teenage movie which is full of teenager’s problems. It tells us the story when a teenage girl faced an unexpected pregnancy; she enlisted the aid of her best friend in finding the unborn child. Juno might seem wise beyond her years, but after sleeping with classmate Bleeker, the pregnant teen quickly realized how little she really knew about life. 5 This movie has dynamic characters and the main character has lots of changes through her thought from the people and kinds of important events around her. This story took place in Minnesota and the main character was still 16 th year old high school girl when she had her unexpected pregnancy, named Juno. The anxious Juno called her best friend and they decided to abort the unborn baby. But, 4 http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiJuno_film on accessed March 20th, 2009. p. 1. 5 http:www.starpulse.comMoviesJunoSummary on accessed December 22nd, 2008. p. 1. 14 because of her friend’s words and the situation she faced in the women’s choice clinic, Juno changed her plan. She wanted to keep her unborn baby. In order that she had to tell her parents about her pregnancy and told about what she had been thinking with her best friend to give her baby to the mature and established couple who wanted baby in their family. They were quite wise facing the fact and agree even though they surprise hearing the news. Juno and her parents agree to give the baby right away after Juno having birth to Loring couple. Nevertheless, the events that occurred before she has a birth knocked her thought and made Juno changed her decisions. The writer is interested in analyzing Juno character of JUNO based on adolescence psychology theory because in the writer’s opinion, Juno, as a main character in this movie is faced by the situation that makes her changes in making decision to not aborting and giving the baby to the Lorings which are taken from her environment. As a regular teenager, Juno also has her own thought in facing her problems and sees the events through her society around. Juno’s emotional, conflict and her consciousness about what has happened have a strong relation to her decisions. A teenager who has herhis big problems and faces it alone without any people who makes herhim realizes or conscious about what shehe had done and bring herhim to a better way can be worse psychologically. From the explanation above, the writer thinks that it is necessary to analyze how Juno is described as an adolescent based on psychological approach that the 15 result will be reported in a “skripsi” which has title “Juno’s Character in “JUNO” movie viewed from Adolescence Psychology Theory”.

B. Scope of Problem