Chapter 1 Introduction

perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION A. RESEARCH BACKGROUND American families generally extol the type of traditional nuclear family. This type of family is the kind of appropriate family in America during the Twentieth Century. As a matter of fact, “During the twentieth century, Americans have tended to identify the traditional nuclear family as the family” (Strong and DeVault, (1992): p. 6). Accordingly, American family in that century appreciated traditional nuclear family. It also proves that the characteristics of traditional family values portray a form of harmonious whole family that lives in a house. The closeness of the family relationship between husband, wife and children can still be seen in the form of traditional nuclear family. Strong and DeVault stated, “until recently, American researchers have focused on the traditional nuclear family, composed of a marriage couple and their biological children; in this family, the husband is employed outside the home while the wife remains at home performing housework and child-care tasks” (1992: 6). Furthermore, this type of family does not break the function and the rule of the family; and also can keep the intimacy of family in their society. Moreover, the concept of traditional nuclear family provides appropriate values to take care of their families. However, it still creates a big question for the researcher. Does the system of traditional nuclear family still exist or vanish to the next period? commit to user 1 perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id2 Nowadays, the common family values shown by American traditional nuclear family start to collapse. Times have changed toward a new perspective of the way to lead the family. Most of American families are busy with their careers. The wave of consumerism also influences the married couple trying hard to earn money. Therefore, they begin to ignore the norms of family values. It happens because industrialization attacks most of American society. It provokes married couple, both husband and wife to go outside to seek a job. The situation that attacks the middle class family cause changes in the structural pattern of traditional nuclear family‟s character to become working class. The new era proves that blue collar affects all of the family couple to work. Therefore, the character of father as a breadwinner and mother as a housewife are changes along with the equal gender positions in the modern American family. The shifting family starts in the middle of 1980‟s where industrial movement attack American societies. Many couples in the family start to seek a job for fulfilling their needs. The generalization of working status influences the function of mother as a household to become an industrial worker. Certainly, the mother will leave her main task to preserve the coziness of her children and the wholeness of her household. The activity of the parents outside the house makes they cannot control their children activities. It will cause a risk for children who do not get affection from their parents. Before moving on to the next discussion, the question must be answered. Working class family type portrayed by Burnham‟s family in the film American Beauty is the answer of the question. The film mentioned in the answer is the object of the research. commit to user perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id3 On September 17, 1999, the film American Beauty was released in America. This film lasts around 122 minutes. It becomes the greatest movie in the end of 1990. It wins many awards, such as People's Choice Award at the 1999, Golden Globe Awards on January 2000, Academy Awards at March 26, 2000, British Academy of Film and Televisionon April 9, 2000, and many other nominated awards. This movie was directed by Sam Mendes, the film script by Alan Ball, and cinematography by Conrad Hall. American Beauty is casted by many of excellent actors and actresses such as Kevin Spacey (Lester Burnham), Annitte Bening (Caroline Burnham), Thora Birch (Jane Burnham), Mena Suvari (Angela Hayes), Wes Bentley (Ricky Fitts), Chris Cooper (Colonel Frank Fitts), Allison Janney (Barbara Fitts), Peter Gallagher (Buddy Kene), Amber Smith (Christy Kane), ScottBakula (Jim Olmeyer), Sam Robards (Jim Berkley), and many more, retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169547/fullcredits on January 2, 2013. American Beauty was filmed on soundstages at the Warner Bros. It also takes the pictures in Burbank, California, and at Hancock Park and Brentwood in Los Angeles. The aerial shots at the beginning and end of the film were captured in Sacramento, California, and many of the school scenes were shot at South High School in Torrance, California. Moreover, several extras in the gym crowd were South High students. The film starts to produce on December 14th, 1998 until February 1999, retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169547/locations on January 2, 2013. American Beauty tells about a nuclear family which lives unhappyly in industrialization era. The era forces this family for becoming working class commit to user perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id4 family. The activity of Burnham‟s family makes their loss of the intimacy in family respect. Lester Burnham starred by Kevin Spacey is a father who loses respect from his wife and his daughter. He works in a popular magazine company for many years, but he is fired because his boss does not see his competence in the office. Lester Burnham was offended by the words of his boss and he decides to resign. While he loses his work, his wife Caroline Burnham starred by Annitte Bening is successful with her career as a property agent. Their daughter Jane starred by Thora Birch is a passive and arrogant teenager. She feels like losing the affection from her parents. At, the first scene of the movie, she tells her boyfriend Ricky Fitts starred by Wes Bentley that she feels empty in her house. Her father cannot be a role model for her life, and her mother is too busy with her career. She asks her boyfriend to “lose” her father. On the other position, Lester Burnham feels useless in his life. He loses love and respect from his beloved family and his job too. Mr. Lester Burnham and Mrs. Caroline Burnham lose the passion of sexuality because they are busy in their career, although, both of them still need it. When their daughter becomes a cheerleader for a basketball competition in her school; they come to see it. The mood of Lester changes when he looks at Jane‟s friend Angela Hayes, starred by Mena Suvari. She can revive Lester Burnham‟s sexual libido that has disappeared for a long time. Starting from that, Lester always imagines Angela through his sexual fantasies. Lester shouts that in their married life there is no longer sexual intimacy. It influences this couple to lose family values. It causes their daughter to really hate them, because they cannot give her affection and there is no harmony in the house. commit to user perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id5 The problem which appears in the movie is interesting topic to discuss. It causes the researcher to want to dig the family problem in the area in the frame of family studies. The type of nuclear working class family cannot be succeeded in building the harmony in the family. B. SCOPE OF THE STUDY This research is conducted to criticize the main characters in the movie: Lester Burnham, Caroline Burnham, and Jane Burnham as they reflect figures of postmodern family in America. This research discusses about family crisis representation through American Beauty movie and the construction of “red rose” represents of Burnham family character. C. RESEARCH QUESTION This research is done to answer the following questions: 1. What are the factors that cause the destruction of family value in Burnham family? 2. How the construction of red rose represent the destruction of family value in Burnham family. D. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The objectives of the studies are: 1. To explain the factors that causes the destruction of family value in Burnham family. commit to user perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id6 2. To explain the construction of red rose represents the destruction of family value in Burnham family. E. BENEFITS OF THE STUDY This research is aimed to analyze the society life of American family during the new thought. Understanding about family life assists in learning about family studies. Moreover, the research is intended to know about the sociology of life and the new thought in America. This research is an interesting topic to discuss. It discusses about American family type in the frame of American studies research. Furthermore, it will give benefits for the other researchers to discuss the related topic in Sebelas Maret University. F. RESEARCH METODOLOGY 1. TYPE OF RESEARCH This research is analyzed using the descriptive qualitative method of research. The type of research explains more about the understanding of the researcher in her analysis related to the topic of discussion. The type of the research suggests that the researcher writes according to the interpretation; however, it is related with the work. Indeed, descriptive qualitative does not allow analyzing about numeric data. Moreover, the researcher tries to write all of the implicit messages in the research object without compromising the core of the story. It also helps the reader to understand overall content of the work with reading the summarizing of the workcommit (Santana to user. ( 2010): p. 198). perpustakaan.uns.ac.id digilib.uns.ac.id7 2. DATA AND SOURCE OF DATA The main data of this research are the script, character, and settings taken from source of data.

Load more