The personality structure and defense mechanism of the main character in the house at the end of the street film

THE PERSONALITY STRUCTURE AND DEFENSE MECHANISM OF
THE MAIN CHARACTER IN THE HOUSE AT THE END OF THE
STREET FILM
A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty of Letters and Humanities
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Strata One (S1)

Eris Widya Astuti
1111026000046

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH
JAKARTA
2015

ABSTRACT

Eris Widya Astuti, The Personality Structure and Defense Mechanism of the Main
Character in the House at the End of the Street Film. A Thesis. Department of
English Letters, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, State Islamic University

Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta, 2015.
This research focuses on Ryan Jacobson as the main character in House at
the End of the Street film. The aim of this research is to know the personality
structure of Ryan Jacobson and analyze his defense mechanism using
Psychoanalysis theory by Sigmund Freud. This research uses qualitative method
and descriptive analysis as the technique to analyze the data with theory of
Psychoanalysis that related to structure of personality and defense mechanism in
the film. The data are collected from dialogues in the script and pictures in the
film.
The findings show that Ryan Jacobson as the 18 years old man has
abnormal obsession to have his sister named Carrie Anne alive. His sister is died
after falling from the swing in 6 years of age. Ryan kidnaps a girl resembles his
sister in white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes at the basement. His parents blame
him for her death and treat Ryan as Carrie Anne to substitute his sister. Due to
that traumatic experience, Ryan has unbalanced personality structure caused by
disturbance in his childhood. His ego is dominated by the id when it is about his
secret and trauma in the past. Although Ryan has done some defense mechanism;
repression, fixation, denial, projection and fantasy, but it is not enough for him to
remove his trauma and anxiety.

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DECLARATION

I hereby declared that this submission is my own work and that, to the best
of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or
written by another person non material which to a substantial extent has been
accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of the university or other
institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement has been made in
the text.

Jakarta, December 2015

Eris Widya Astuti

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful
May peace and blessing of Allah be upon all of us
First of all, I would like to give the most appreciation and many thanks to
Allah SWT, for His blessing and guidance all these years so I could finish this
thesis. Then, may peace be upon to our beloved prophet Muhammad SAW, his
family, his companion and all his followers.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Mrs. Inayatul
Chusna, M.Hum., for her great patience, time, guidance, kindness, and
contribution in correcting and helping me to finish this thesis. Thanks for all of
her advices and efforts that have been given to me. May Allah SWT bless her and
her family.
I also would like to convey his sincerity grateful particularly to these
following people:
1. Prof. Dr. Sukron Kamil, M.A., the Dean of Letters and Humanities
Faculty.
2. Drs. Saefuddin, M.Pd., the Head of English Letters Department.
3. Elve Oktafiyani, M.Hum., the Secretary of English Letters Department.

4. Pita Merdeka, M.A., and Maria Ulfa, M.A., M.Hum., as the thesis
examiners.
5. All lectures of English Department for helping and educating me during
my study at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta.

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6. My family; especially my beloved Father and Mother who always give
their never ending love, patience, prayers, spirits, motivations, advices,
hopes, and supports in financial and material to me all the time. I also
extend my gratitude to both of my beloved sisters for their motivation,
support, and prayers.
7. My closest people; especially Aab Abdullah who has accompanied for
years. Thanks for his time, patience, affection, supports, prayers, advices,
knowledge and many inspirations to me. My best friends; Euis, Maydina,
Mita, Vina, Anita, Erni, Ardhina, Maya, and Gresshia for their joy,
laughter, affection and supports that bring happiness to me.
8. My beloved classmates in English Letters Department; the students of
Class B and Literature since 2011 for spending time and supporting each
other during study at University. And for all those who cannot be

mentioned here, may Allah always give His bless in every our step.
Finally, I realize that this thesis is far from being perfect. Therefore, I
welcome any constructive criticism, suggestion, and advice for better
improvement.

Jakarta, December 2015

Eris Widya Astuti

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... i
APPROVAL SHEET .......................................................................................... ii
LEGALIZATION ............................................................................................... iii
DECLARATION ................................................................................................. iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................................. v
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... vii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION....................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study ........................................................ 1
B. Focus of the Study .................................................................. 3
C. Research Question .................................................................. 4
D. Significance of the Study ....................................................... 4
E. Research Methodology ........................................................... 5
1. The Objectives of Research............................................. 5
2. The Method of Research ................................................. 5
3. The Instrument of the Research....................................... 6
4. The Unit of Analysis ....................................................... 6
5. The Technique of Data Analysis ..................................... 6
6. The Research Design ....................................................... 7
CHAPTER II. THE THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION ................................. 8
A. Previous Research .................................................................. 8
B. Character ................................................................................ 10

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C. Characterization in Film ......................................................... 12
1. Characterization through Appearance ............................ 13
2. Characterization through Dialogue ................................. 13

3. Characterization through External Action....................... 14
4. Characterization through Internal Action ....................... 14
5. Characterization through Reactions of Others
Character ......................................................................... 14
D. Sigmund Freud‘s Psychoanalysis ........................................... 15
1. Structure of Personality ................................................... 18
a. Id............................................................................... 18
b. Ego ........................................................................... 18
c. Superego ................................................................... 19
2. Psychosexual Development Stages ................................. 21
a. Oral Stage ................................................................. 21
b. Anal Stage ................................................................ 22
c. Phallic Stage ............................................................. 23
d. Latency Stage ........................................................... 23
e. Genital Stage ............................................................ 24
3. Defense Mechanism ........................................................ 24
a. Repression ................................................................ 26
b. Fixation..................................................................... 27
c. Denial ....................................................................... 28
d. Projection ................................................................. 28

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e. Fantasy ..................................................................... 29
CHAPTER III. DATA ANALYSIS / FINDINGS ............................................ 31
A. Character Analysis ................................................................. 31
B. Structure of Personality and Defense Mechanism ................. 38
CHAPTER IV. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ............................... 59
A. Conclusions ............................................................................ 59
B. Suggestions ............................................................................. 62
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 64
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................... 68

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study
Films often portray and represent about life, culture and social reality. The

different traditions, beliefs, and cultures of the world are shown in films. It is a
media to illustrate about the world with a lot of meaning that inspiring and
entertaining people. Cesare Zavattini asserted, ―film is overwhelming desire to
see, to analyse, its hunger for reality, is an act of concrete homage towards
other people, towards what is happening and existing in the world.‖1
Films portray life in its own when it records and reveals the reality. It tries
to narrate something in real situation. Colman wrote, ―through its various
assumptions and different purposes, film represents and questions the ways in
which we think about things in the world, including the very nature of thinking as
a perceptual activity that is entirely mediated in some form or another.‖2
Therefore, films should not be created in perfunctory way because it can
affect the viewer about things around them. Sandy added in his journal, ―it is
really interesting about the unconscious process of film transformation that
permits us to relate the illusory story to the real life.‖3 Films are easy to influence

1

Stephen Synder and Howard Curle, Contemporary Perspective, (Canada: University of
Toronto Press, 2000), p. 51.
2

Felicity Colman, Film, Theory, and Philosophy: The Key Thinkers, (Canada: McGillQueens University Press, 2009), p. 17.
3
Sandy Flitterman et al., ―Psychoanalysis, Film, and Television‖, The International
Journal
of
Advertising
(May
1998),
accessed
on
April
13,
2015.
http://journalism.uoregon.edu/~cbybee/j388/psych.html.

1

2

visually and verbally. Siegfried implied, ―those films are true to the medium to the

extent that they penetrate the world before our eyes.‖4
Films start to portray the personality and behavior of character that refer to
psychological films. This genre relates to the psychological disturbance in mental,
mind and behavior of character in the film but it is often presented in the form of
thriller according to Sharon in his book, ―a distinguishing characteristic of a
psychological thriller is a marked emphasis on the mental states of its character:
their perceptions, thoughts, and general struggle to grasp reality about death‖5.
Although the character in films are fiction, but it can be interpreted as person and
analyzed as human. A famous theory that is related to the psychological analysis
of character in the film is Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud. As Moesono stated,
―psychoanalysis has special relationship with cinema before appointed as one of
the approaches and considered as a proper method for the world of
cinematography.‖6 This theory has provided a useful way of analyzing the
character in films.
House at the End of the Street is 2012 psychological horror thriller film
about Ryan Jacobson as the main character who has psychological problem. He
has trauma and mental illness about his dead sister, Carrie Anne. His sister is died
after falling from the swing when they were playing together at backyard. His
parents get angry to Ryan and blame him for her death because they were on the

4

Siegfried Kracauer, Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality, (London:
Oxford University Press, 1960), p. ix.
5
Sharon Packer, Movies and the Modern Psyche, (London: Greenwood Publishing
Group, Inc., 2007), pp. 87-90.
6
Moesono Anggadewi, ed., Psikoanalisis dan Sastra, (Depok: Pusat Penelitian
Kemasyarakatan dan Budaya Lembaga Penelitian Universitas Indonesia, 2003), p. 59.

3

swing together. Carrie Anne is the heart of the family. Hence, his parents punish
him to dress like Carrie Anne. It is their way to pretend that she is not dead yet.
When Ryan refuses to act like Carrie Anne, his parents will hit and yell at him.
Due to his unpleasant memories in childhood, Ryan has obsession to make
Carrie Anne alive. He kidnaps a girl who resembles his dead sister—in blonde
hair, white skin, blue eyes, and skinny body—at his basement. If the girl tries to
run away, he will inject tranquilizer in high doses. Overdosing of tranquilizer
often leads to death. When the girl is dead, he will find another girl that resemble
of Carrie Anne. Ryan still believes that he needs his sister to stay alive, so his
parents will not hurt him. These are the painful memories from his childhood that
haunt his life. Ryan stuck in his memory about the death of Carrie Anne and his
abusive parents.
Based on the explanation above, I am interested in analyzing the
psychological condition of Ryan Jacobson as the main character House at the End
of the Street film by using Sigmund Freud‘s Psychoanalysis because this theory is
considered as the proper method to analyze the psychological condition of the
character.

B. Focus of the Study
Based on the background of the study above, I analyze the characteristic
and psychological problem of Ryan Jacobson in House at the End of the Street
film by using the theory of Sigmund Freud‘s Psychoanalysis. To make the

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research more focus, I limit the scope of the research on the characteristics,
personality structure, and defense mechanism in Psychoanalysis.

C. Research Question
According to the background of study, the interesting research problems
are as follows:
1. How is the character of Ryan Jacobson described in the film?
2. How does the psychological condition of Ryan Jacobson reflect his
structure of personality and defense mechanisms according to the theory
of Sigmund Freud‘s Psychoanalysis?

D. Significance of the Study
The result of this research is expected to give the benefit of the
information and the knowledge for the readers in understanding Sigmund Freud‘s
Psychoanalysis. I also hope this research can provide an interesting explanation
about the personality structures and defense mechanism of character, especially
Ryan Jacobson in House at the End of the Street film. Moreover, this study can be
used as one of the references in studying and comprehending movie which uses
psychoanalysis approach of the literary work in English Letters Department,
Faculty of Letters and Humanities at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University,
Jakarta.

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E. Research Methodology
This research methodology includes several important aspects of research,
such as the objectives of the research, the method of research, the instrument of
the research, the unit of analysis, the technique of data analysis and the research
design.
1. The Objectives of Research
The objectives of the research are to explain the character of Ryan
Jacobson showed in the film, his structure of personality and defense mechanism
according to the theory of Sigmund Freud‘s Psychoanalysis.
2. The Method of Research
The method of this research is qualitative method with descriptive
analysis. Noeng stated in his book, ―qualitative research methods observe the
relationship between words or sentences that forms particular meaning. The word
or phrase is a system of signs that parse the data in deep appreciation will be
achieved as good.‖7 As a whole, Nyoman made another statement that,
―qualitative used a ways of interpretation by presenting it in the form of
description. In study of literature, the data source is the work and the script. The
data research, as the formal data are words, sentences, and discourse.‖8
As the qualitative method, I try to explicate, describe, and analyze the
personality structure of Ryan Jacobson using the Psychoanalysis theory of
Sigmund Freud and finds the answer of the research question through the data
7

Noeng Muhadjir, Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif, (Yogyakarta: Rake Sarasin, 2002),
pp. 301-302.
8
Nyoman Kutha Ratna, Teori, Metode, dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra, (Jogjakarta: Pustaka
Pelajar, 2008), p 47.

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analysis and relates it to the theory. I use two data sources; the primary source of
the data is House at the End of the Street film and the secondary data are taken
from other sources that support the data such as articles, journals, books, pictures,
dialogues and the scenes of the movie.
3. The Instrument of the Research
This qualitative research sets I myself as the main instrument in collecting
data by watching House at the End of the Street carefully, analyzing the scenes or
the parts that describe the problems, and collecting the data by writing down some
dialogues and taking some snapshots of the scene to support the research that
related to the changing of personality structures from the main character.
4. The Unit of Analysis
The unit of analysis that used in this research is House at the End of the
Street film that released in 2012 directed by Mark Tonderai and starring by Max
Thieriot as Ryan Jacobson, Jennifer Lawrence as Elissa, Elisabeth Shue as Sarah
Cassidy and Gil Bellows as Officer Bill. This film is produced by Film Nation
Entertainment and distributed by Relativity Media Aliance Films.
5. The Technique of Data Analysis
In this study, I use descriptive analysis technique to analyze the data and
use the theory that related to structure of personality in the film. First, I give the
description about the film and the character. Then, I start to analyze the structure
of personality and defense mechanism using Sigmund Freud‘s Psychoanalysis.

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6. The Research Design
In this study, I divide some chapter to discuss the research. Chapter 1 as
the introduction section, it consists of background of the study, focus of the study,
research question, significance of the study, and research methodology that
includes several important aspects; the objectives of research, the method of
research, the instrument of the research, the unit of analysis and the technique of
data analysis. Chapter 2 as the theoretical description, it consists of previous
research and the concept. Chapter 3 as the data analysis or findings, it consists of
the data description and the data analysis. And the last is Chapter 4 as the
conclusions and suggestions; it consists of the conclusion of the research and the
suggestion to the reader about the research.

CHAPTER II
THE THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION

A. Previous Research
For consideration in this study, I have found some of the studies by several
researchers related to psychoanalysis. Because the House at the End of the Street
film as a corpus of research is rarely analyzed by others, I study the similar issue
of Psychoanalysis in other film criticisms. The first paper is The Character of the
Joker from The Dark Knight by Hannah L. McCormack.9
This paper examines the personality case study of a fictional character, the
Joker, in the 2008 Batman film, The Dark Knight. The writer uses psychoanalysis
of Freud, cognitive-behavioral and trait perspectives to identify the Joker‘s
personality. This paper also demonstrates that the Joker is likely affected by
antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), it is often equated with psychopathy. The
Joker appears visually to be a type of clown, with green hair, painted on make-up,
colorful outfits, and painted on crudely red grin and barely cover disfiguring scars
on either side of his mouth. He appears disheveled and unkempt; his appearance
reflecting his maniacal attitude.
From the psychoanalytic perspective, the Joker has the weak ego and
superego, but disproportionately strong id. He operates on the pleasure principle
of doing what he wants. The Joker cannot control or manage his id, like an adult.
This is because his id, ego and superego imbalance due to disturbance in
9

Hannah L. McCormack, The Character of the Joker from The Dark Knight, Yorkville
University PSYC 6113, accessed on March 3, 2015 http://www.lopdf.net/preview/Hannah-LMcCormack-Yorkville-University-PSYC-6113.html?query=Characteristics-of-Thanatos.

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childhood and problematic relationships with his parents. The Joker absolutely
has imperfect psychosexual stages; it is possible he is fixated at the anal stage of
psychosexual development due to cruel treatment by his sadistic and abusive
father. His father is the one that disfigure his son‘s mouth with a razor; that is the
reason he has a smile grin on his face. He is growing up in an abusive family that
makes him apathetic, contempt for society, and triggered into madness.
From the behaviorist perspective of personality, the Joker learns his
aggressive and violent behavior from family, peers, or society. He is unable to
read the emotions of others or he chooses to ignore them, low in emotional
intelligences; as he does not display empathy, smooth social interactions, and has
fatalist view of human nature and society. And the last is trait perspective, he
enjoys being wild, creative, energetic, and original in masterminding his criminal
plans. He is low in agreeableness and high in neuroticism, it is indicating a
possible personality disorder, closely linked to psychopath which is serious and
extreme mental condition. The Joker has no motive or logic for his crimes, he
only wishes to dominate, control, and have fun to prove his narcissistic desire of
being a master manipulator.
The second paper entitled Bullying in Harald Zwart’s Karate Kid: A View
of Freud’s Psychoanalysis from Its Characters by Irfan Rifai10. This paper
analyzes the character in the Karate Kid by Harald Zwart as cause and result of
bullying act. This analysis uses psychoanalytic study, three provinces of mind by
Sigmund Freud; id, ego, and super-ego.
Irfan Rifai, Bullying in Harald Zwart’s Karate Kid: A View of Freud’s Psychoanalysis
from Its Characters, accessed on March 15, 2015 http://eprints.binus.ac.id/id/eprint/26153.
10

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This film is about the main character as a victim of physical bullying. Dre
wants to take revenge on Cheng even he has incapability to defend himself. Cheng
always mock Dre about his brown skin. Dre also throws a pail of dirty water to
Cheng and his friends to fulfill his pleasure. The ego is weaker, but it is more
organized and logical if it is compared with the id. The ego also takes part in
Dre‘s struggle to defend himself by learning Kung-Fu. He realizes that he has to
adapt in new environment although he does not like it. Although Dre receives
physical bullying because he has brown skin and lives in different type of skin
color in China, but he successfully passes through his fear being a victim of
bullying and manage his id, ego and superego in a good way.
Both papers explain that every character in the film has their own
psychological condition and could be analyzed as a human. The unpleasant
feeling and trauma in childhood could affect and change someone‘s attitude and
personality structure. The family role is very important in the form of a
character‘s personality. After I analyze both of paper above, I use the same
Psychoanalysis issue in this research that focus on character‘s structure of
personality.

B. Character
Another element in film that has important role is the character. The story
in film can not exist without the character‘s role. The character is created in such
way to make an interesting story, Jens asserted ―Characters are important points
of reference in the criticism and the analysis of films and also occupy a central

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position in the production process: film scripts are rejected because one cannot
identify oneself with the characters, or they are accepted because they offer good
parts for stars.‖11 The role of character can not be played carelessly, because all
that appears in the film such as the appearance, feelings, and dialogue, will
describe the character in the film. The image of the character also continuously
exists as the remembrance of the movie.
The character that appears in film as human could be imagined as ―real
person‖, Richard Barsam wrote:
―We can imagine as real people, with complex personalities and lives. […]
Thus, when we talk about characters in our analyses of movies, we should
consider them both as beings who (much living, breathing people) have
discernible traits, habits, and dispositions and as formal elements that help
develop the narrative.‖12
But not only Richard, Lloyd also gave his statement that the character as
‗possible person‘ reflecting either someone or something,
―Film characters are real, it seems at least reasonable to consider a movie
character as a ‗possible person‘—the view that will be taken here—when
she is represented by a real person, or, more properly, the image of a real
person formed by light reflecting off a real performer and reacting with a
chemical emulsion.‖13
Therefore, the role of character in film is very necessary, because they
tend to be considered as imaginary human beings. If the character has special and
unique properties or traits, it will make the film more interesting. When people go
to see the movie, the first thing that attracts them is the character.

11

Jens Eder, The Character in the Film. Basics of Character Analysis, (Marburg: Stoke,

2008), p 7.
Richard Barsam, Looking at Movies: an Introduction to Film, 2 nd ed., (New York: W.
W. Norton & Company, 2007), p. 72.
13
Lloyd Michaels, The Phantom of the Cinema: Character in Modern Film, (New York:
State University Of New York Press Albany, 1998), p 3.
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The character also has a special attraction to be analyzed. It can be
analyzed as human, but certainly it is not easy to analyze the character, Jens Eder
asserted, ―The process of analysis, as a rule, follows certain steps: one watches the
film or reads the script several times, concentrates on the aspects relating to
characters and supplements the resulting impressions with additional information,
e.g. about viewers or historical contexts.‖14
Richard Barsam also made another interesting statement in analyzing the
character,
―We develop our knowledge of all characters in several ways: from their
traits, motivations, and actions; from the ways in which a narrator or other
characters describe them; and from the style in which the actors who play
them interpret them. Part of the challenge and enjoyment of interpreting a
movie is figuring our characters‘ motivations, something we do all the
time in our daily lives when interpreting other people‘s behavior.‖15
In creating the character can not be separated from the role of filmmaker.
They create story and character through a lot of consideration, it is crucial to
capture the features of characters and to reach agreement about them, Jens added,
―Filmmakers discuss their creation, viewers the experiences they evoke, critics
their interpretation, cultural theorists and practitioners their causes and
consequences.‖16

C. Characterization in Film
After discussing the character, I discuss the characterization. The character
and characterization are different things. Character is a figure that plays a role in
14

Jens Eder (2008), Op.Cit p. 14.
Richard Barsam, (2007), Op.Cit. p. 74.
16
Jens Eder, ―Understanding Characters‖, Berghahn Journals Volume 4, Issue 1,
Summer 2010: 16–40, (2010), doi: 10:3167/proj.2010.040103, p. 16.
15

13

the story and characterization is how a character portrayed in the film. As Richard
Barsam emphasized:
―Here we must distinguish between character and characterization, the
process of the actor‘s interpreting a character in a movie. Characterization
differs according to the actor, the character, the screenplay, and the
director. As narrative movies developed through their history, filmmakers
increasingly left things out of their movies‘ characterization, or left them
implicit, or left them to viewers to determine.‖17
In order to make an interesting story and attract the viewer, the
characterization of a character has to be looking real, unique, and easy to
understand. Therefore, Joseph and Dennis have mentioned 8 characterizations, but
I apply 5 characterizations which are:
1. Characterization through Appearance
A major aspect of film characterization is revealed visually and
instantaneously. When the actors are on the screen, their facial features,
mannerism, and physical build become the assumption from the viewer.18
2. Characterization through Dialogue
Characters in fictional film naturally reveal a great deal about themselves
by what they say and how they say it. Their true thoughts, attitudes, and emotions
can be revealed in subtle ways through word choice and through the stress, pitch,
and pause patterns of their speech. From their grammar, vocabulary and dialects
also reveal their character‘s social, economic and educational background.19

17

Richard Barsam, Op.Cit. p. 74.
Joseph M. Boggs and Dennis W. Petrie, The Art of Watching Films: 7th edition, (New
York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2008), p. 50.
19
Ibid, p. 50.
18

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3. Characterization through External Action
The best reflections of character are a person‘s action, the real character
are more than mere instruments of the plot that do for a purpose. Thus, there
should be a clear relationship between a character and his or her actions; the
actions should grow naturally out of the character‘s personality. Every action that
the character takes in some way is reflecting the quality of his or her particular
personality. Sometimes the most effective characterization is achieved not by the
large actions in the film but by the small, seemingly insignificant ones.20
4.

Characterization through Internal Action
Some of internal actions from character are mind, emotions, unspoken

thought, aspiration, memories and fantasies. People‘s hopes, dreams, and
aspirations can be as important to an understanding of their character as any real
achievement, and their fears and insecurities can be more terrible to them. The
filmmaker reveals inner reality by taking us visually or aurally into the mind so
that we see or hear the character remembers, thinks, and imagines about.21
5. Characterization through Reactions of Others Character
The way other characters view a person often serves as an excellent means
of characterization. Sometimes, a great deal of information about a character is
already provided through such means before the character first appears on the
screen.22
All characteristics above are portrayed as the way to understand the
character when acting in the film. The character is considered as the real image
20

Ibid, p.52.
Ibid, p.53.
22
Ibid, p.53.
21

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that represents as human and reality. Dudley emphasized, ―All films present
themselves to us as real or image according to various ratios. Reality is here taken
to be a type of consciousness characterized by certain indices of appearances and
a certain mental activity.‖23

D. Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is originally known as the method of healing people with
mental illness by knowing the conscious and unconscious elements in mind. It is
also an approach to understand the behavior of person. Daniel stated,
―Psychoanalysis is one of those rare intellectual achievements that had the effect
of radically transforming human self-understanding.‖24 This theory was developed
in late nineteenth century by Sigmund Freud, Ferdinand added, ―he is one of the
figures that succeeded in introducing Psychoanalysis‖.25
Psychoanalysis extends the fundamental idea that all thoughts and
consciously actions are the process in unconscious. Our behavior in everyday life
is conscious which buried in the unconscious, and affect the conscious behavior.
Sigmund Freud asserted,
―Freud‘s immense influence arguably revolves around his basic claim that
most of our behavior is a product of an unconscious but very active part of
the mind. This unconscious is full of unacceptable urges, intolerable
memories, conflicts, defense mechanisms, and so forth. Part of Freud‘s

23

Dudley Andrew, Concepts in Film Theory, (New York: Oxford University Press,
1984), p 43.
24
Daniel K. Lapsley and Paul C. Stey, Id, Ego, and Superego (appear in Encyclopedia of
Human Behavior 2nd Ed.), (Indiana: Elsevier, published by University of Notre Dame, 2011), p. 1.
25
Ferdinand Zaviera, Teori Kepribadian Sigmund Freud, (Jogjakarta: Primasophie.
2008), p. 91.

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lasting significance in the history of ideas is that psychoanalysis was
conceived as a means of opening the black box of the unconscious.‖26
The basic concept of psychoanalysis consists of conscious and
unconscious. The conscious is only a small part of mind that contains certain
moment in awareness and it will be repressed to the unconscious. We can think
and talk rationally based on this mental processing. William wrote,
―Consciousness, he believed, is a transitory mental state since what is
conscious one moment may not be conscious the next moment. That which
exist on the fringe of the conscious Freud called the preconscious. The
preconscious consists of what was earlier verbalized ideas and can again,
with relative ease, be verbalized. [. . .] Freud regarded them as only a small
portion of the total mental life of the person.‖27
Related to conscious, there is also preconscious; a bridge between
conscious and unconscious that contains ideas or memories that could be retrieved
at any time and brought into our awareness. Ferdinand has noted, ―in
psychoanalysis, the unconscious takes precedence over the conscious because it
affects person's behavior and demands to be satisfied.‖28 The ordinary memories,
desires and believes in the preconscious are not currently conscious, but it can
easily appear in our mind.
The unconscious is the most important of the human psyche which
contains desires, thoughts, and behavior since childhood. Unconscious is the most
dominant and important in determining a person's behavior and experience. Most
of the contents of unconscious are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as the feeling
of pain, anxiety, or conflict. Moesono stated in his book, ―this unawareness is the
26

Sigmund Freud, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, translated by Alan Tyson,
(New York: Norton, 1965), p 238.
27
William B. Arndt, Jr., Theories of Personality, (New York: Macmillan Publishing
Company, 1974), p 322.
28
Ferdinand Zaviera, (2008), Op.Cit. p. 22.

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experience that we never realized, it occurs out of the focus and we are not aware
of this case or tries to eliminate it, because we think it is disturbing our mind.‖29
Large parts of human thought remain unconscious. It needs much effort to make
the certain troubling ideas appear in conscious. Undesirable thoughts will be
repressed from consciousness by the ego. Freud mentioned his idea about the
normal personality structure,
― An investigation of normal, stable states, in which the frontiers of the
ego are safeguarded against the id by resistances (anti-cathexes) and have
held firm, and in which the superego is not distinguished from the ego,
because they work together harmoniously—an investigation of that kind
would teach us little. The only thing that can help us are states of conflict
and uproar, when the contents of the unconscious id have a prospect of
forcing their way into the ego and into consciousness and the ego puts
itself once more on the defensive against this invasion.‖30
The ego is the part of the system that manages the id and superego wisely.
When the ego is weak, it would be happened abnormal behavior because the ego
can not balance the strong desire from id and superego. William Siegfried added
in his journal, ―As humans our behavior, our thoughts and actions, are the product
of our psyche. In order to have an understanding of why we behave as we do, it is
necessary to identify the formation and structure of the human psyche.‖31
In 1923, Freud introduced his book The Ego and The Id about the structure
of human personality; the id, ego and superego. The structure of human
personality contains thoughts, feelings, social adjustment, and behavior influence

29

Moesono Anggadewi, (2003), Op.Cit. p 3.
Sigmund Freud, An Outline of Psycho-analysis edited by James Strachey, (New York:
W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 1949), p. 22.
31
William Siegfried, ―The Formation and Structure of the Human Psyche Id, Ego, and
Super-Ego‖, Athene Noctua: Undergraduate Philosophy Journal Issue No. 2, (2014), published by
Florida Atlantic University, p. 1.
30

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on expectations, responses, values, and attitudes. As the id, ego and superego has
different function.
1. Structure of Personality
a. Id
Id is the oldest of physical provinces. Id lies in the unconscious mind;
there is the native instinct of sexual and aggressiveness in repression or on hold.
Id is obtained from the childhood as basic formation of a person's life. Yustinus
has written in his book that ―Id works with pleasure principle that always tries to
get away from something that makes it uncomfortable. The id ignores and
demands to fulfill as soon as possible; as the infant who has native desire to
suckle at mother as his pleasure and he will cry if his pleasure is not immediately
fulfilled. The id does not recognize the morality.‖32 Actually, the id represents as
human biological needs. Id also can be regarded as the inner world before people
have the experience of the outside world. Freud also added, ―It contains
everything that is inherited, that is present at birth, that is laid down in the
constitution—above all, therefore, the instincts, which originate from the somatic
organization and which find a first physical expression. […] moreover, the
investigation of psychoanalysis started with it.‖33
b. Ego
The ego connects the world in the level of human consciousness. Yustinus
added in his book, ―The ego distinguishes between fantasy and reality with the
principle of reality (reality principles). Ego can not operate on the pleasure
32

Yustinus Semiun, Teori Kepribadian dan Terapi Psikoanalitik Freud, (Yogyakarta:
Kanisius, 2006), pp.61-63.
33
Sigmund Freud, (1949), Op.Cit. p 2.

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principle because the real world does not operate on that principle. Ego runs the
defense mechanism to reduce the anxiety and fear that may be appear.‖34 Freud
gave his statement:
―[…] the ego has the task to mediating between the external world and the
id. It must seek a compromise between the strivings for immediate
gratification of the id and the realities of the external world. The tools with
which it accomplishes this task of arbitration are attention, perception, the
control of motor activity and repression‖.35
In relation to the id, the ego works to satisfy the needs, relieve anxiety or
desire and solve the conflict that does not fit each other. The ego also controls the
task by deciding whether satisfaction is allowed, postponed or repressed. The ego
is continually changing depends on the situation.
c. Superego
The last personality structure is superego. Yustinus wrote in his book,
―Superego is the manifestation of values and norms prevailing in society. The
superego is formed in four to six years of age. Superego evolves from prohibition
and rule from the outside. The superego is the fundamental of moral conscience
which contains the applicable rules and has an explanation about right and wrong
to help the ego holds the desire of id.‖36 Superego has two sides; conscience about
warning of punishment and the ideal ego contains praise and positive examples.
Conscience is the result of the child‘s experience when parents give the
punishment to them in doing inappropriate behavior and telling the child about
prohibited behavior. The ideal ego evolves from the experience when children do

34

Yustinus Semiun, (2006), Op.Cit. pp. 64-66.
William B. Arndt, Jr., (1974), Op.Cit. p 269.
36
Yustinus Semiun, (2006), Op.Cit. pp. 66-68.
35

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proper behavior then his parents give the reward and tell their child another proper
behavior. It could be said that a child receives the moral norms from parents.37
The superego is controlled by the principles of moralistic and idealistic
that contrary to the id in pleasure principle and the ego in reality principle.
Superego has self-control that requires human perfection in thought, action and
word.38 Sigmund Freud stated in his book about Superego,
―Superego is the long period of childhood, during which the growing
human being lives in dependence on his parents, leaves behind it as a
precipitate the formation in his ego of a special agency in which this
parental influence is prolonged. An action by the ego is as it should be if it
satisfied simultaneously the demands of the id, of the superego and of
reality—that is to say, if it is able to reconcile their demands with one
another.‖39
Superego begins to develop when ego is internalizing social norms and
moral, it could be said that superego is an internal manifestation of the values and
ideals of traditional society. The superego will control the sexual impulse and
aggressiveness through the process of repression. Superego does not repress the
desire but orders the ego to do repression. The feeling of guilt occurs when the
ego is acting contrary to the moral norm of superego. The feeling of low selfesteem or inferiority will arise when the ego is unable to get the perfection of the
superego. The feeling of guilt is the conscience while feeling of inferiority due to
the ego-ideal.40
―A person is healthy psychologically when the ego has been coordinating
the demands of the id and superego; she or he is the person who can control both

37

Ibid, pp. 66-68
Ibid, pp. 66-68
39
Sigmund Freud, (1949), Op.Cit. p. 3.
40
Yustinus Semiun, (2006), Op.Cit. pp. 66-68.
38

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the pleasure and moral principle. In summing up, the system of personality
structure is not the system that running a person‘s personality. These three
systems are just the names for various psychological processes with the different
systems each other.‖41
2. Psychosexual Development Stages
Freud believed that human had passed number of psychosexual stages
since childhood into an adult. When someone unsuccessful to complete a certain
stage, he or she will stuck in certain characteristics that relate to the failed stage.
―It may well be believed that psychoanalysis provoked astonishment and
denials when, partly on the basis of these three neglected facts, it
contradicted all the popular opinions on sexuality. Its principal findings
are as follows:
a. Sexual life does not begin only at puberty, but starts with plain
manifestations soon after birth.
b. It is necessary to distinguish sharply between the concepts of ‗sexual‘
and ‗genital‘. The former is the wider concept and includes many
activities that have nothing to do with the genitals.
c. Sexual life includes the function of obtaining pleasure from zones of
the body, a function which is subsequently brought into the service of
reproduction. The two functions often fail to coincide completely.‖42
a.

Oral Stage ( 0 – 15 month)

This is the first stage of psychosexual development stages. In this stage,
the mouth is the first pleasure organ for the infant. Most of libido is available
since at birth in the oral zone and all activity is concentrated to this zone. The
infant achieves gratification through oral activities such as feeding, thumb
sucking, babbling or putting something into the mouth, tongue and lips. The infant
only has the id that always wants to be satisfied and fulfilled immediately, and the

41
42

Ibid, pp. 67-68.
Sigmund Freud, (1949), Op.Cit. p. 9.

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baby will be crying if his demands are not fulfilled. The success of this stage
depends on the quality of parents as the caregiver and the relationship between the
infant to his parents. Parents have an important role in fulfilling the desire of the
baby, but the role of a mother is more needed by the infant. Infant‘s basic desire is
derived in the mouth by sucking the breast of mother and it makes the infant
satisfied. The infant only makes a respond toward other by biting, smiling and
crying.43
b. Anal Stage (1,5 – 3 years of age)
In this anal stage, the satisfaction of the infant is concerned in the
excretory function. The child learns to respond some of the demands of society
(such as bowel and bladder control). The role of caregivers is also important in
this stage how to dispose feces. The major portion of Freud‘s work on the
formation of character focused on the anal type.44 Freud noticed that,
―the three character traits of orderliness, including cleanliness, parsimony,
and obstinacy, were often found in combination with a history of marked
difficulty in toilet training such as retention of feces. He postulated that in
this cases pleasure in the stimulation of the bowel and anus was intensified
because of innate, constitutional factors.‖45
In this stage, the formation of ego continues to form. The children could
distinguish and balance the demands of the id and social boundaries. A child who
is treated with extremely hard by parents during this stage to control the bladder
will be a rude person and uncontrollable.46

43

William B. Arndt, Jr., (1974), pp. 200-201.
Yustinus Semiun, (2006), Op.Cit. pp. 103-105.
45
Sigmund Freud, Character and Anal Erotism: Collected Papers, translated by In Joan
Riviere, (London: The Hoghart Press Ltd., 1950), p. 45.
46
William B. Arndt, Jr., (1974), Op.Cit., p. 418.
44

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c.

Phallic Stage (3 – 6 years of age)

This stage focuses on children‘s development of sexual feeling for their
parents, gender identity formation, and discovery masturbation. Genitals are the
focus of sexual activity. This is the important development stages of Oedipal
Complex in boys and Electra Complex in girls. It is the most important case in the
child‘s mental life. The child learns to realize the differences between male and
female and they become aware of sexuality.47 Ian Ridgway also added, ―If this
complex is not resolved, males (or females) will remain attracted to women (or
men) who are like their respective mothers (or fathers) perhaps to their great
detriment. Freud understood this stage to be a problem-generating stage for later
life because of the Oedipal complex.‖48
d. Latency Stage (6 / 7 – 12 years of age)
Freud considered in this stage, the puberty of boy and girl experienced a
stop period of psychosexual development. Yustinus noticed about latency stage in
his book, ―This stage known as latent phase because the suppression of sexual
instinct and others organic factors that received from others‖49. In this stage, the
restrained sex drive, ego and superego begins to develop and has the ability to
adapt to the environment. The child continues his or her stages of development
and his defense mechanism. Latent stage is reinforced by feeling of shame, guilt
and politeness. Children also become more social in developing same-sex and

47

Ibid, p. 418.
Ian Ridgway, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), accessed on January 15, 2015
http://myauz.com/ianr/articles/lect3freud07 p. 9.
49
Yustinus Semiun, (2006), Op.Cit., p. 111.
48

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cross-sex friendships. In latency, the sublimated libido is aimed in social and
cultural achievement, such as schoolwork and establishes friendships.50
e. Genital Stage ( 12 years of age – Adult )
The genital stage is the sexual reawakening period; the sexual libido that
holds in previous stage is now appearing. The pleasure relates to someone other
than the family. Freud believed that if someone had unresolved conflicts in
previous stage with parents during adolescence, it would appear in this stage. But,
when the conflicts are resolved, the individual is capable to develop a mature love
relationship as an adult.51 William gave his statement, ―The earlier sources of
sexual pleasure are coordinate and subordinate to the genital organ. This is the
adult stage of psychosexual development that is seldom, if ever, completely
attained.‖52
This stage is signed with the puberty at the adolescent when the sexual
purposes are awakening. The sexual life of someone in puberty enters the second
phase that is different from infantile phase.53 Each aspect of personality structure
has its own unique features that often conflict with one another but they also work
harmoniously to resolve these conflicts.
3. Defense Mechanism
Defense mechanism is the ego‘s method to reduce anxiety, threatening and
unpleasant feeling. Freud believed that the person who had conflict with
personality components and his ego did not run the defense mechanism; he would
50

Ibid, p. 111.
Myre Sim, Guide to Psychiatry, 3rd ed., (London: Churchill Livingstone, 1974), p. 3