1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study Psychological Thriller Was a Famous Movie Sub-Genre, Especially in Early 1960S Becau
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1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study Psychological thriller was a famous movie sub-genre, especially in early 1960s because of the appearance of a well-known movie, Psycho, one of Alfred Hitchcock‟s greatest directed movies. Psycho was a turning point, it gives a deeper focus on human and the psychological issue of the characters compared to usual horror movies at that time. The etymology of psychological thriller itself first appeared in 1925 (MrRyanSIS, “The Psychological Thriller”). William Indick, an author and an associate professor of psychology at Dowling College, writes in his book Psycho Thrillers, that psychological thriller focuses in psychological possibilities. “Mind control, madness, the parapsychological, the pathological, the paranormal, psychosis, and the altered states of reality are the dominant themes of psychological fiction” (1). However, this sub-genre might not be a sub-genre that attracts many readers and moviegoers especially in this twenty-first century because the filmmakers‟ interest in this century is in showing the special effects in the movie instead of psychological issues of the character. I choose to analyze a movie with this special sub-genre, psychological thriller, because of two reasons, that are the focus of the movie and the challenge that psychological thriller movies offer. As written before, psychological movies focus on the issues of psychological problem. There is a heavy concern on the psychological issue. As written in the Dictionary.com writes, psychological thriller emphasizes the psychology of its characters rather than the plot. It is something unique compared to other genres like action, horror, sci-fi, even though psychological thriller can be in the forms of those genres. While other genres focus more on the action or plot, psychological thriller focuses more on its psychological issues. In other words, the focus of psychological thriller is different from the other genres. Psychological thriller also provides its own challenge. This sub-genre is usually a combination of three basic genres which are suspense, horror and fantasy. The challenge here is that 1 Petra Christian University there are always twisted elements, like the plot or the behavior of the character that other Hollywood movies do not usually provide in other genres but this sub-genre (Squidoo, “Psychological Thriller Movies”). One of the greatest yet heavy psychological thriller movies is Secret Window that is directed by David Koepp, who is famous with his epic productions like Jurassic Park and Spider-Man. This movie is based on a Stephen King‟s novella Secret Window, Secret Garden (Kish, “Secret Window”). Stephen King is a famous author with a lot of literary reputations and achievements. The world knows Stephen King as “The King of Horror” because his fields are in horror, suspense, science fiction and fiction. There are hundreds of awards that Stephen King has won, for his books and for himself as an author. Some world-class awards are Bram Stoker Awards, World Fantasy Awards, Horror Guild, Horror Writers Association, British Fantasy Society Awards, and many more. His novels that get most awards are Duma Key, The Dark Tower, Bag of Bones, IT and Cujo (stephenking.com, “Awards & Nominations”). The novella Secret Window, Secret Garden itself has won no awards. Little do people know that the stories and literary works King produces apparently have connections with King‟s life and personality. Stephen King admits that he is a very introvert person. He is also a very suspicious person, especially to groups, crowds and dark motives. King is also pessimistic and melancholic and is depressed. No wonder, in King‟s pieces, most of the main characters have dark motives and are introvert (Topsynergy, “Stephen King Challenges and Difficulties). It seems like King always re-creates himself in the main character in his works. Based on the King‟s personality, it is obvious that he also re-creates himself in Secret Window, as the main character, Mort Rainey who has the exact traits that Stephen King has. In addition, the fact that Stephen King always creates an analogue of himself in his works, one of them is Secret Window, shows that King always put himself in his works (Williams, “Explaining Stephen King's life and work”). The significance of Secret Window lies on three factors which shows that this movie is worth being analyzed. The first factor lies on its complex storyline. Unlike 2 Petra Christian University usual movies, Secret Window combines the atmosphere of mystery, thriller, and eventually psycho. The storyline is also complex because of the presence of the villain, John Shooter, that makes the viewer confused on which character does what. As the story slowly builds upon itself, the mystery gradually takes a solid shape. While the formulation of the mystery leads to slow pacing, viewers will hardly notice considering that the atmosphere takes precedence with Depp and Turturro presenting a multifaceted human drama to its best advantage. Eventually, the true action begins to take over and events rapidly spiral out of control as Mort and his antagonist rush toward an unavoidable, climatic confrontation. Having never read the original Steven King novella this film was based upon, I was pleasantly surprised along the way and the conclusion, while perhaps inevitable, certainly was not predictable. Through the eyes of retrospection, clues and numerous hints throughout the film lead into the perfect ending, yet the true answer will not click until the final few minutes when everything flies together and the inevitable, disturbing, and shocking events take over (Epinions, “Plagiarism Can Kill :Secret Window Leads to Murderous Mischief”). It is also important to know that the idea of the story is from King‟s experience himself, that King got an accusation of stealing someone else‟s story, just like Mort Rainey in the movie who got the same accusation. As written before, the main character in the movie, Mort Rainey, without doubt is the analogue of King himself. Therefore, the inner conflicts of the writer might be the reflection of King‟s at his time (Williams, “Explaining Stephen King's life and work”). The last factor that makes this movie worth-analyzed is that this movie is based on King‟s novella with the same genre, psychological thriller. The interesting thing is that Stephen King‟s fields are usually horror, fantasy and science fiction. The only heavy psychological thriller novels that Stephen King ever wrote are Carrie and Secret Window. However, since Secret Window contains heavy issue of psychology and contains pure psychological issue, the interest from the reader to make this book and movie become entertainments is low. 3 Petra Christian University Briefly, the movie talks about a writer, Mort Rainey, who just experienced a divorce because his wife has an affair with another man and chooses to be with that man instead of him. Rainey then isolates himself and feels depressed. One day, someone knocks his door and says his name is John Shooter and Shooter claims Rainey has stolen his story. The terror of John Shooter is felt in most part of the movie but then at last it is discovered that John Shooter does not actually exist in real life but only in Rainey‟s mind. Rainey is in his attempt to create his own defense mechanism towards his anxiety, Rainey experiences split personality and creates another character who later „kills‟ the real Mort Rainey (Ebert, “Secret Window”). It is discovered in the last minutes of the story that Shooter is just another form of Rainey‟s personality. It is proven by a dialogue from John Shooter : “I exist Mr. Rainey. I exist, because.. you made me. Gave me my name, told me everything you wanted me to do. I did them things.. so you wouldn't have to” (Script-o-rama, “Secret Window Script”), which suggests the problem of personification of Rainey‟s psyche agents. In other words, the main issue that dominates the whole story here is the psychological issue. Therefore, I choose to analyze the issue of split personality of the main character, Mort Rainey. Split Personality, which is also known as Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder, is a chronic emotional illness in which the person has two or more distinct personalities that each personality has its own style (“Multiple Personality Disorder”). The significance of the issue here shows that a repression of behavior and thoughts as a response towards a traumatic experience could result in a formation of another personality and the issue can be dangerous if it is not diagnosed. It is very important to acknowledge and understand more deeply about issue because most of the time the patient does not realize that he has the issue because split personality works unconsciously. 4 Petra Christian University 1.2 Statement of the Problem The statement of the problem will focus on the issue of split personality. I am curious to know why Mort Rainey experiences split personality and how Mort Rainey‟s personality splits into different personalities. 1.3 Purpose of the Study The analysis of Mort Rainey‟s psychology aims to answer the statement of the problems. Thus, the purpose of the study here is to see the reason Mort Rainey experiences split personality and to show the process of how Mort Rainey‟s personality splits into two personalities. 1.4 Significance of the Study The significance of the study here is to encourage the readers to see movie as something more than just an entertainment. A movie can tell about the condition of current society that people might be too busy to notice, or as a criticism by the society to the government, or even as a reflection for each individual. As in the case of Secret Window, this movie might be too complicated and heavy for some people because there is no action scene in the movie, neither or special effects.