Summer has Complex Relationship

McKenzie : Come on. I dont believe that. Summer : You dont believe that a woman could enjoy being free and independent? The conversation between Summer and McKenzie above proves the characteristic of Summer. She wants to be free without having relationship and boyfriend. Besides that, the other side of „free spirit‟ Summer‟s character is that, she avoid the serious relationship. McKenzie : beat Are you a lesbian Summer : No, I‟m not a lesbian. I just don‟t feel comfortable being anyone‟s girlfriend. i dont actually feel comfortable being anyone‟s anything, you know? McKenzie : I don‟t know what you‟re talking about Summer : Really? McKenzie : Nope Summer : chuckles Okay. Let me break it down for you McKenzie : Break it down Summer : I like being on my own. Relationships are messy and people‟s feeling get hurt. Who needs it? We‟re young. We live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. more Summer : contd Might as well have fun while we can afford and save the serious stuff for later. From the dialog above, Summer and McKenzie have different perspective. Summer said that she wants to be free and be independent. She just does not feel comfortable being anyone‟s girlfriend. And she does not actually feel comfortable being anyone‟s anything. Summer‟s free spirit is shown when she tells that she likes being her own, she thinks that relationship is messy and most people get hurt from it, and Summer does not need the relationship. She rather thinks to have fun than make a serious relationship. Summer presents postmodern person who does not want to be attached with rules or she does not want to be attached with other man. McKenzie presents a conservative person who thinks that woman should have a boyfriend. When Summer does not want to have boyfriend, McKenzie thinks it is not normal, and he said that Summer is lesbian. Even Summer gets a bad assumption from McKenzie, but Summer said that she is not lesbian, she just does not feel comfortable being anyone‟s girlfriends, moreover she does not wants to be anyone‟s anything. She likes being free because she does not want to be owned by other people. She does not wants to be a „product‟ who owned by other people. Those dialog shows that there are some contradiction perspective between Summer who presents postmodern people, and McKenzie who still has a conservative perspective.

c. Summer Re-Evaluates Western Value Systems

Summer as a character with postmodern ideas or thoughts also re-evaluates western value system love, marriage, popular culture, etc.. Western value system is something correlate to modern values. Modernism refers to a certain period of great change in the western world. Modern societies through the means of „grand narrative‟ or „master narrative‟ every belief system or ideology has its grand narrative. Whereas modernism places faith the ideas, values, beliefs, cultures and norms of the west, postmodern rejects western values and beliefs as only a small part of the human experience and often rejects such ideas, beliefs, cultures and norms. Summer as a character with postmodern ideas or thoughts tries to re-evaluate the meaning of „love‟. Even though she has a relationship with Tom, but she never gives the label of „girlfriend‟ or „boyfriend‟. She avoids the words of love and replaces it with