AN ANALYSIS OF SIMON LYNCHÂ’S PSYCHOLOGICAL CONFLICT IN MERCURY RISING FILM

AN ANALYSIS OF SIMON LYNCH’S PSYCHOLOGICAL CONFLICT IN MERCURY RISING _FILM

THESIS

By

Olivia Anjar Puspita 07360182

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

This thesis written by Olivia Anjar Puspita was approved on January 27, 2014

By: Advisor II,

Drs. Mas’udi, M. Ed.

Advisor I,

This thesis was defended in front of the examiners of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of University of Muhammadiyah Malang

and accepted as one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education

on January 27, 2014

Approved by:

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education University of Muhammadiyah Malang

Dean,

Dr. Poncojari Wahyono, M.Kes.

Examiners: Signatures:

1. Dra. Erly Wahyuni, M. Si. 1. ____________________

2. Puji Sumarsono, M. Ed, M. Pd. 2. ____________________

3. Santi Prastiyowati, S. Pd. 3. ____________________

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Alhamdulillahirabbil ‘Alamin, the researcher expresses her highest gratitude to Allah SWT for blessing, love, opportunity, health, and mercy to complete this thesis.

In arranging this thesis, a lot of people have provided motivation, advice, support and even remark that had helped the researcher. The researcher would like to express and deep appreciation to:

1. Santi Prastiyowati, S. Pd. my first advisor for the worthy advice and suggestion, helpful correction, to complete and finish this thesis.

2. Drs. Mas’udi, M. Ed. my second advisor for the worthy advice and suggestion, helpful correction, to complete and finish this thesis.

3. Suharyanto (my beloved father), Nanik Astutik (my beloved mother), and Dedit (my beloved brother), for support, advice, prays, understanding, and finance also Sigit (my beloved little brother) for support and helpful.

4. Musadat Dwi Permana Hakim, my soulmate for support and helpful. 5. All my family and my friends

Malang, January 2004 The Writer

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL ... i

LEGALIZATION ... ii

MOTTO & DEDICATION ... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... iv

ABSTRACT ... v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study ... 1

1.2 Statement of the Problems ... 4

1.3 The Purposes of the Study ... 4

1.4 Significance of the Study ... 5

1.5 Scope and Limitation ... 6

1.6 Definition of Key Terms ... 6

CHAPTER IIREVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Film ... 7

2.1.1 Kinds of Film ... 8

2.1.1.1 Action Film ... 8

2.1.1.2 Adventure Film ... 8

2.1.1.3 Comedy Film ... 9

2.1.1.4 Crime Film ... 9

2.1.1.5 Drama Film ... 9

2.1.1.6 Epic Film ... 10

2.1.1.7 Horror Film ... 10

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2.1.1.9 Science-fiction film ... 11

2.1.1.10 War (and anti-war) Film ... 11

2.1.1.11 Western Film ... 12

2.1.2 MercuryRising Film ... 12

2.1.3 Elements of Film ... 13

2.1.3.1 Character ... 13

2.1.3.2 Plot ... 14

2.1.3.3 Conflict ... 16

2.1.3.4 Theme ... 16

2.1.3.5 Setting ... 17

2.2 Theory of Conflict ... 18

2.2.1 Psychological conflict ... 18

2.2.2.1 Approach-Approach Conflict ... 19

2.2.2.2 Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict ... 19

2.2.2.3 Approach-Avoidance Conflict ... 20

2.2.2 The Cause of Psychological Conflict ... 20

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design ... 22

3.2 Research Object ... 23

3.3 Research Instrument ... 23

3.4 Approach ... 23

3.5 Data Collection ... 25

3.6 Data Analysis ... 25

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Findings ... 26

4.1.1 The Psychological Conflicts Faced by Simon Lynch as the Main Character in Mercury Rising Film ... 26

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4.1.1.1 Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict ... 27 4.1.1.2 Approach-Avoidance Conflict ... 29 4.1.2 The Causes of the Psychological Conflicts Faced by

Simon Lynch as the Main Character in Mercury Rising Film ... 31 4.2 Discussions ... 32 4.3 Lessons ... 33

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1 Conclusions ... 35 5.2 Suggestions ... 36

REFERENCES APPENDIXES

REFERENCES

Arp, Thomas, R. & Johnson, Greg. 2006. Perine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Boston. Thomson Wardsworth.

Ary, Donald; Jacobs, Lucy C & Razavieh. 2002. Intoduction to Research in Education. Sixth Edition. New York: Holt, Rineharth, and Wadsworth, Inc.

Dirks. 2010. Main Film Genre. Retrieved from http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Glowacki, Agatha. 2011. Perception is at the Root of Conflict. Washington, DC. George Mason University,

Hartiningsih, Sri. 2001. Introduction to Literature. Unpublished Handbook. Malang: University of Muhammadiyah Malang.

Huffman, K. Vernoy, M. Vernoy, J. 1997. Psychology In Action. Fourth Edition. New York: Palomar College.

Jones, Jr Edward. H, 1983. Outline of Literary. New York: Macmillan Company. Klarer, Mario. 2006. An Introduction to Literary Studies. Second Edition. London and New York: Routledge.

Koesnosoebroto, S.B. 1988. The Anatomy of Prose Fiction. Jakarta: Depdikbud, Dikti, P2LPTK.

Lelyana, Lea. 2005. Psychological Conflicts of the Main Characters on ‘Deceptions’ Novel by Judith Michael. Malang. Muhammadiyah University of Malang. Wiyatmi. 2006. Pengantar Kajian Sastra. Buku Pengantar Teori Bagi Para Mahasiswa

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the writer would like to present background of the study, statement of the problems, purposes of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation, and definition of the key terms. It is important to discuss to make clear what actually the writer’s background in conducting this research.

1.1Background of the Study

English as a foreign language which has an important role in increasing the national development, because it is not only as an international language, but also a language to absorb science and technology. Language can express people’s thought, feeling, emotion and idea. There are many scientific and literary books written in English. In fact, realizing the use of English in Indonesia becomes very important especially for the students who want to improve their knowledge which are written in English.

People also use language as a medium to study literature. Literature is human’s creation or expression that is experience, thought, feeling and idea. When people learn to read literature, people acquire a pleasure and a resource that never lose, but many people think that literature is something abstract to learn and difficult to understand.

2

Kusnosoebroto states that literature is rooted in one of the most basic human desires, and men have taken pleasure in the imaginary adventures and experiences of imaginary people (1988: 1). It means that literature is connected with life because it describes the events and the things that can happen in a society, what human being has experienced in his life or it describes the reality. In discussing literature, it should be pointed out that literature could not be separated from its social environment, in which a close relationship between literature and society appears as the appreciation of the literary problem. Therefore, by reading literature, people will get new vision and new experience indirectly from the author’s solution.

In age of increasing electronic communication, film comes as new media of human’s real life reflection. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, film is as semi textual genre exerting influence on literature and literary criticism (Klarer, 2006: 53). It means that film has brought influence on literature and literary criticism because it can be said that film is a new form of drama which is presented with aspects such as: camera angle, editing, montage, and so on. Thus, since film is categorized into literature, it is also reflecting human real life which can be taken lesson from it such as: psychological effect of the main character.

In relation to this study, the film with title Mercury Rising is interesting to be analyzed because this film describes a child with disability, who succeeds to do something which is difficult to be done by normal adult with high intelligence. This film is directed by Harold Becker.

3

This film tells about an autistic child, Simon Lynch, who has high intelligence quotient (IQ). He is also very fond of puzzle or riddle. With his high intelligence, he succeeds to uncover a cryptographic code called "Mercury" which is created by the National Security Agency to keep the United States' highest priority secrets under wraps in a puzzle that is supposed to be unbreakable. He calls up the number uncovered and traced by the computers on the other end. As a result, he is threatened to be killed by the agent of National Security Agency (NSA). But agent of Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) protects his life. Since Simon Lynch is an autistic child who is easy to be panic and hysterical,he is difficult to be approached. Therefore, it is interesting to discuss Simon Lynch’s psychological conflict in this film.

Related to this study, there is previous study which was conducted by a student of English Department at University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Lelyana (2003) entitles “Psychological Conflicts of the Main Characters on Deceptions Novel by Judith Michael”. She focused on the psychological conflicts faced by the main characters, the most dominant psychological conflicts faced by main characters, and how the main characters solve the conflicts. The result shows that the psychological conflicts faced by the main characters are Avoidance-Avoidance Conflicts, namely: confused to choose between two or more unpleasant alternative that will lead to negative result, in this case, Sabrina feels confused whether she should reject or receive her sister’s desire to change position to change position, Sabrina feels confused whether she has to go back to her house in London or live with Stephanie’s family. Besides, the main characters also faced the Approach-Avoidance Conflicts,

4

namely: confused whether to do something that will have both desirable and undesirable result, in this case, Graft is confused whether he will live with his children forever or apologize and receive her as his wife and live together with his family.

While the previous study analyzed the psychological conflict faced by an adult woman, this research investigates the psychological conflict faced by a nine years old autistic boy. The psychological conflicts faced by Simon Lynch as an autism child who has problems that should not be faced by a boy on that young age. While, the previous study above focused on the adult women who were normal. So, the result of this study is supposed to be different from the previous study.

1.2Statement of the Problems

Based on the background of the study above, the problems can be formulated as follows:

1. What are the psychological conflicts faced by Simon Lynch as the main character in Mercury Rising Film?

2. What are the causes of the psychological conflicts faced by Simon Lynch as the main character in Mercury Rising Film?

1.3The Purposes of the Study

Related to the statement of problems above, the purposes of the study can be explained as follows:

5

1. To investigate the psychological conflicts faced by Simon Lynch as the main character in Mercury Rising Film.

2. To investigate the causes of the psychological conflicts faced by Simon Lynch as the main character in Mercury Rising Film.

1.4Significance of the Study

Theoretically, the findings of this study can be used as a reference of film analysis and literature theory, especially which have relation with the analysis. Practically, it will be useful to provide information about human behavior. By learning the characteristic of the conflicts on his life, we will understand human life and appreciate more someone who is autistic and the faced conflict and the causes of his conflicts on his life. So, we will understand human life and appreciate more someone who is different from us physically and mentally, and also are expected to try to help them.

It is expected that the result of this study can be a contribution for the English Department students of University of Muhammadiyah Malang. It is expected to motivate them to study about literary works, especially film. It also expected to make them realize that learning literature can help human solve their problem in their daily life. In addition, for the students who are interested in analyzing the literary works, especially in film, the result of this study can be used as a reference in doing the similar research.

6

1.5Scope and Limitation

The scope of this study is the psychological conflicts happen in Mercury Rising film by Harold Becker. Meanwhile, for the limitation of study, it is limited only psychological conflicts faced by main character of Mercury Rising film directed by Harold Becker. In this case, the writer tries to analyze one of the main characters’ psychological conflicts, Simon Lynch.

1.6Definition of Key Terms

1. Simon Lynch is the main character in Mercury Rising film.

2. Conflict is the struggle that the protagonist of a story or drama undergoes. Those conflicts can be external or internal, taking place within the character’s mind (Macmillan: 1984: 864).

3. Psychological Conflict is a negative emotional state caused by an inability to choose between two or more in compatible goals or impulses (Karen et al.,1997). So, it can be concluded that psychological conflict happens when a person is crashed with two or more impulses.

4. Mercury Rising is the title of the film which is directed by Harold Becker.

5. Film means of photographic depiction far surpass the means of portrayal in the theater, which deals with material aspects such as camera angle, editing, slow or fast motion, and sound, etc. (Klarer, 2006).

1

In this chapter, the writer would like to present background of the study, statement of the problems, purposes of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation, and definition of the key terms. It is important to discuss to make clear what actually the writer’s background in conducting this research.

1.1Background of the Study

English as a foreign language which has an important role in increasing the national development, because it is not only as an international language, but also a language to absorb science and technology. Language can express people’s thought, feeling, emotion and idea. There are many scientific and literary books written in English. In fact, realizing the use of English in Indonesia becomes very important especially for the students who want to improve their knowledge which are written in English.

People also use language as a medium to study literature. Literature is human’s creation or expression that is experience, thought, feeling and idea. When people learn to read literature, people acquire a pleasure and a resource that never lose, but many people think that literature is something abstract to learn and difficult to understand.

Kusnosoebroto states that literature is rooted in one of the most basic human desires, and men have taken pleasure in the imaginary adventures and experiences of imaginary people (1988: 1). It means that literature is connected with life because it describes the events and the things that can happen in a society, what human being has experienced in his life or it describes the reality. In discussing literature, it should be pointed out that literature could not be separated from its social environment, in which a close relationship between literature and society appears as the appreciation of the literary problem. Therefore, by reading literature, people will get new vision and new experience indirectly from the author’s solution.

In age of increasing electronic communication, film comes as new media of human’s real life reflection. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, film is as semi textual genre exerting influence on literature and literary criticism (Klarer, 2006: 53). It means that film has brought influence on literature and literary criticism because it can be said that film is a new form of drama which is presented with aspects such as: camera angle, editing, montage, and so on. Thus, since film is categorized into literature, it is also reflecting human real life which can be taken lesson from it such as: psychological effect of the main character.

In relation to this study, the film with title Mercury Rising is interesting to be analyzed because this film describes a child with disability, who succeeds to do something which is difficult to be done by normal adult with high intelligence. This film is directed by Harold Becker.

This film tells about an autistic child, Simon Lynch, who has high intelligence quotient (IQ). He is also very fond of puzzle or riddle. With his high intelligence, he succeeds to uncover a cryptographic code called "Mercury" which is created by the National Security Agency to keep the United States' highest priority secrets under wraps in a puzzle that is supposed to be unbreakable. He calls up the number uncovered and traced by the computers on the other end. As a result, he is threatened to be killed by the agent of National Security Agency (NSA). But agent of Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) protects his life. Since Simon Lynch is an autistic child who is easy to be panic and hysterical, he is difficult to be approached. Therefore, it is interesting to discuss Simon Lynch’s psychological conflict in this film.

Related to this study, there is previous study which was conducted by a student of English Department at University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Lelyana (2003) entitles “Psychological Conflicts of the Main Characters on Deceptions Novel by Judith Michael”. She focused on the psychological conflicts faced by the main characters, the most dominant psychological conflicts faced by main characters, and how the main characters solve the conflicts. The result shows that the psychological conflicts faced by the main characters are Avoidance-Avoidance Conflicts, namely: confused to choose between two or more unpleasant alternative that will lead to negative result, in this case, Sabrina feels confused whether she should reject or receive her sister’s desire to change position to change position, Sabrina feels confused whether she has to go back to her house in London or live with Stephanie’s family. Besides, the main characters also faced the Approach-Avoidance Conflicts,

namely: confused whether to do something that will have both desirable and undesirable result, in this case, Graft is confused whether he will live with his children forever or apologize and receive her as his wife and live together with his family.

While the previous study analyzed the psychological conflict faced by an adult woman, this research investigates the psychological conflict faced by a nine years old autistic boy. The psychological conflicts faced by Simon Lynch as an autism child who has problems that should not be faced by a boy on that young age. While, the previous study above focused on the adult women who were normal. So, the result of this study is supposed to be different from the previous study.

1.2Statement of the Problems

Based on the background of the study above, the problems can be formulated as follows:

1. What are the psychological conflicts faced by Simon Lynch as the main character in Mercury Rising Film?

2. What are the causes of the psychological conflicts faced by Simon Lynch as the main character in Mercury Rising Film?

1.3The Purposes of the Study

Related to the statement of problems above, the purposes of the study can be explained as follows:

1. To investigate the psychological conflicts faced by Simon Lynch as the main character in Mercury Rising Film.

2. To investigate the causes of the psychological conflicts faced by Simon Lynch as the main character in Mercury Rising Film.

1.4Significance of the Study

Theoretically, the findings of this study can be used as a reference of film analysis and literature theory, especially which have relation with the analysis. Practically, it will be useful to provide information about human behavior. By learning the characteristic of the conflicts on his life, we will understand human life and appreciate more someone who is autistic and the faced conflict and the causes of his conflicts on his life. So, we will understand human life and appreciate more someone who is different from us physically and mentally, and also are expected to try to help them.

It is expected that the result of this study can be a contribution for the English Department students of University of Muhammadiyah Malang. It is expected to motivate them to study about literary works, especially film. It also expected to make them realize that learning literature can help human solve their problem in their daily life. In addition, for the students who are interested in analyzing the literary works, especially in film, the result of this study can be used as a reference in doing the similar research.

1.5Scope and Limitation

The scope of this study is the psychological conflicts happen in Mercury Rising film by Harold Becker. Meanwhile, for the limitation of study, it is limited only psychological conflicts faced by main character of Mercury Rising film directed by Harold Becker. In this case, the writer tries to analyze one of the main characters’ psychological conflicts, Simon Lynch.

1.6Definition of Key Terms

1. Simon Lynch is the main character in Mercury Rising film.

2. Conflict is the struggle that the protagonist of a story or drama undergoes. Those conflicts can be external or internal, taking place within the character’s mind (Macmillan: 1984: 864).

3. Psychological Conflict is a negative emotional state caused by an inability to choose between two or more in compatible goals or impulses (Karen et al.,1997). So, it can be concluded that psychological conflict happens when a person is crashed with two or more impulses.

4. Mercury Rising is the title of the film which is directed by Harold Becker.

5. Film means of photographic depiction far surpass the means of portrayal in the theater, which deals with material aspects such as camera angle, editing, slow or fast motion, and sound, etc. (Klarer, 2006).