Flame Princess and Patriarchal Culture In
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FLAME PRINCESS AND PATRIARCHAL CULTURE IN ADVENTURE TIME ANIMATED SERIES A Thesis Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for The Degree of Strata One Nur Alawiyah 1111026000092 ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENTS ADAB AND HUMANITIES FACULTY STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH JAKARTA 2016 ABSTRACT Nur Alawiyah. Flame Princess and Patriarchal Culture in Adventure Time Animated Series, Thesis, English Letters Department, Faculty of Adab and Humanities, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta 2015. Purpose of this research is to explain how Flame Princess, as a strong woman character in Adventure Time, animated series is shown and to reveal how patriarchal culture is presented. To examine mentioned problems, descriptive- qualitative is used as the method of research. This research explains how Flame Princess, as a main character of the nine episodes, is shown and how patriarchal culture is presented in the series. Feminist film theory is applied to answer both problems. The result shows that Flame Princess is categorized as an ordinary woman who turns into extraordinary because she raises and struggles to be a new leader of Fire Kingdom. However, even though Flame Princess is shown as a strong and a leading female character, she always depends on male characters to help and support her which indicates that patriarchal culture presents in the series. Keywords: feminism, feminist film theory, animated series, patriarchal culture. i DECLARATION I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, do the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published and written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of the university or other institution of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement has made in the text. Jakarta, November 2015 Nur Alawiyah iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In the name of Allah, the most Gracious and the most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, the Beneficent, and the Merciful, with His guidance and blessings, the writer is able to complete this research. Salutations and peace be upon our prophet Muhammad SAW, his family, and all of his followers. First of all, the writer would like to dedicate this thesis to her parents; Husein Shahab, and especially her mom, Syifa Shahab, in which without their support, she wouldn’t have been studying this far. Thank you for all the support, love, and affection that is given to her. The writer would also express her gratitude to her advisor, Mrs. Pita Merdeka M.A, and her two kids that are cheerful and cute. Thank you for the tutor, advice, time, and patience during this research, without those that you sacrificed, this research would have taken longer to complete. Deepest gratitude is also addressed to those who has helped the writer in the process of completing her thesis as follows; 1. Dr. Syukron Kamil, M.Hum, the dean of Adab 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. All lecturers of English Letters Department. Thank you for the knowledge that you have passed on sincerely. 5. Viraj Koshimkar, who is always available for her. Thank you for never ending support, happiness, patience, and everything. 6. The writer’s siblings; Shirin, Ahmad, Imah, Afifah, and Ali. v 7. The writer’s closest friends; Sarah, Dicha, Harli, Iwa, Maryanti, Nepo, Uswa, Nung, Rego, Gladi, Jaisy, Ade. Thank you for support, memories, and laughs that you all have given me throughout this time. 8. English Letters Department students, especially Literature and C class member whose name cannot be mentioned one by one. Thank you for being awesome friends. Thanks for the togetherness, happiness, time, and memories that have been shared throughout these years. Lastly, the writer hopes that this thesis can be useful, especially for the writer and the reader. Jakarta, November 2015 The Writer vi LIST OF TABLE Table 1. Flame Princess’ description ............................................................ 16 Table 2. Patriarchal culture ........................................................................... 19 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................. i APPROVAL SHEET .................................................................................... ii LEGALIZATION ......................................................................................... iii DECLARATION .......................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................. v LIST OF TABLE .......................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................... viii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................... 1 A. Background of the Study ............................................................. 1 B. Focus of the Study ....................................................................... 6 C. Research Questions ..................................................................... 6 D. Significance of the Study ............................................................ 6 E. Research Methodology ................................................................ 6 1. Objective of the Research ............................................... 6 2. Method of the Research .................................................. 7 3. Technique of Data Analysis ............................................ 7 4. The Instrument of the Research ...................................... 7 5. Unit of Analysis .............................................................. 8 F. Research Outline ......................................................................... 8 CHAPTER II. THEORITICAL DESCRIPTION ......................................... 9 A. Previous Research ........................................................................ 9 B. Feminist Film Theory ................................................................... 10 viii C. Patriarchal Culture ........................................................................ 13 CHAPTER III. DATA ANALYSIS .............................................................. 16 A. Data Description ........................................................................... 16 B. Data Analysis ................................................................................ 22 1. Flame Princess Description ............................................ 22 2. Patriarchal Culture .......................................................... 25 a. Male Domination ........................................................ 25 b. Male Dependent .......................................................... 32 CHAPTER IV. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ........................... 46 A. Conclusions .................................................................................. 46 B. Suggestions ................................................................................... 47 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 48 ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Cartoon or animated film is a type of show that was first made in 1908. The first animated film was released by Vintagraph with title Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, created by a cartoonist James Stuart Blackton. The film is composed of series of scenes featuring letters, words and faces drawn by an “unseen” hand1. The time when animation film was made without any sound is known as The Silent Era. It only contained moving images and written words. However, silent cartoon did not get good response from viewers due to animators concern only in animation; this include drawings and inconsistent use of cartoons balloon over the subject’s head to describe dialogue or action2. According to Dick Huemer (1989-1979), an animator of Mutt and Jeff, sound is the most important thing in animated cartoons. First animated cartoon with sound was made in 1927, produced by Fleischers. Song Car-Tunes, a series of “bouncing ball singalongs,” were synchronized to popular music by a revolutionary DeForest Phonofilm system3. A year later, Walt Disney made first cartoon with synchronized sound, Mickey Mouse’s “Steamboat Willie.” Walt Disney gave huge contribution in cartoon world. He was the first person who suggested to put individual personality in 1 The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoon, 3rd ed., s.v. “A Nutshell History of The American Animated Cartoon.” p.1 2 Ibid, p. 2 3 Ibid, p. 3 1 2 animated cartoon characters. Therefore, from mid-1930s on, animated cartoon has contained story, personality of each character, voice, and background sound, which formed narration. Narration in film is not narrated by a narrator, like it is in textual literature. The absence of a narrative subject is to be compensated for by the construction of a “visual narrative instance” mediating the paradigms of overtly cinematographic devices (elements relating to camera, sound, editing), the mise-en-scène (arranging and composing the scene in front of the camera), and a distinctly filmic focalization4. Film analysis has traditionally privileged narrative5, which