CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

“Eat, Pray Love” is a movie directed by . Ryan Murphy was born

on November 30, 1965. He is an American writer, film and television director and

producer, best known for creating the television shows Nip/Tuck , Popular and Glee .

He started out as a journalist working for The Miami Herald , The .

New York Daily News . Knoxville News Sentinel Knoxville News Sentinel and

Entertainment Weekly . He began scriptwriting in the late 1990s, when Steven Spielberg

purchased his script, Why Can't I Be Audrey Hepburn?

In 2006, Murphy wrote the screenplay for and directed the feature film Running with Scissors based on the memoir by Augustine Burroughs the movie version starred

Annette Bening. Alec Baldwin and Brian Cox, and, as the young Burroughs, newcomer

JosephCross. A lawsuit was filed by Burroughs's mother and other relatives regarding the film, alleging defamation. The outcome of the case is unknown.

In 2010 Murphy directed in an adaptation of 's memoir Eat, Pray, Love . The film was a box office success but a critical failure, getting harsh reviews criticizing its pacing and lack of credibility. To date, the film has grossed

$204,482,125 worldwide.

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As of 2011, Murphy has several films in development – Dirty Tricks , a political comedy;

Face , a plastic surgery thriller; Need , an erotic thriller, and Alfred Hitchcock and the

Making of Psycho .

This movie actually about a woman’s life named Liz Gilbert play by Julia Roberts

who had depression in her life. She is a modern woman in her country which has a

freedom in her life. One day she supposed to dream of having a husband, a big house and

a successful career like so many others. Sometimes she feels confused about herself. And

finally she decides to search for what she really wanted in life. She changes her life with

a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self discovery. In her travels, she

discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in , and the power of prayer in

India, and the last she finds the inner peace and true love in .

Liz Gilbert’s problem that was delivered the whole story encourages the writer to

analyze the feminist character which is role by Julia Roberts. This movie described the

feminism theories pointed out in 19 th century very few women work for a living, unless they are driven to it by dire necessity. Instead, the focus of interest is on the heroine’s choice of marriage partner, which will decide her ultimate social position and exclusively determine her happiness and fulfillment in life, or her lack of these.

This movie also described the theory of self identity. Self-concept (also called self-construction, self-identity or self-perspective) is a multi-dimensional construct that refers to an individual's perception of "self" in relation to any number of characteristics, such as academics (and non academics), gender roles and sexuality, racial identity, and many others. While closely related with self-concept clarity (which "refers to the extent

3 to which self-knowledge is clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable"), it presupposes but is distinguishable from self-awareness, which is simply an individual's awareness of their self. It is also more general than self-esteem, which is the purely evaluative element of the self-concept.

The self-concept is an internal model which comprises self-assessments. [Features assessed include but are not limited to: personality, skills and abilities, occupation(s) and hobbies, physical characteristics, etc. For example, the statement "I am lazy" is a self- assessment that contributes to the self-concept. However, the statement "I am tired" would not be part of someone's self-concept, since being tired is a temporary state and a more objective judgment. A person's self-concept may change with time as reassessment occurs, which in extreme cases can lead to identity crises.

Furthermore, the self-concept is not restricted to the present. It includes past selves and future selves. Future or possible selves represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, or what they are afraid of becoming. They correspond to hopes, fears, standards, goals, and threats. Possible selves may function as incentives for future behavior and they also provide an evaluative and interpretive context for the current view of self.

The writer is interested in this story because normally women are passive who always entrust to condition. They are waiting for their future will come to their life. They do not try to find it by themselves but in this story the character of Liz Gilbert is different. She is an active woman. She struggle to find her own identity. She has never surrendered in everything. She tries to find out her happiness in her life.

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1.1 Statement of Problem

The statement of problems in this research are:

1. How is Liz’s process in finding her self identity?

2. What did Liz get after the process?

1.2 Scope and Limitation

The scope in this paper is the movie of “Eat Pray and Love”. The limitation is

only focuses on the character of Liz Gilbert which is role by Julia Roberts.

1.3 Goal and Function

The goals of this research are:

1. To analyze How Liz’s process in finding her self identities

2. To analyze What Liz got after the process

The function of this research is expected to give the readers a clearer picture on a

feminist issues especially in self identity theory.

1.4 Research Methodology

The writer conduct this paper with qualitative research to get information. The

writer uses library research by searching books which related with this theory. The

analysis also done by watching the movie thoroughly and also try to identify the

problems.

Then the writer searched for supporting information and references that were

related to the topic. Besides using books, the data are also collected from the

resources from website in internet.

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