PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM OF AMY ELLIOT DUNNE CHARACTER IN GONE GIRL FILM (2014) A Thesis Submitted to Faculty of Adab and Humanities In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Strata One YUNIA SARI CHAIRUNNISA 1112026000073 ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF ADAB AND HUMANITIES STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH JAKARTA 2019 ABSTRACT Yunia Sari Chairunnisa. Psychological Problem of Amy Elliot Dunne Character in Gone Girl Film (2014). A Thesis: English Language and Literature, Faculty of Adab and Humanities State Islamic University of Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, 2019. This thesis focuses on Amy Elliot Dunne as the main character in Gone Girl film. The aims of this thesis to observe the psychological problem of Amy’s character from the concept of characterization, personality structure, anxiety, and defense mechanism. This research employs descriptive analytical as the technique to analyze the data with the theory of Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud and also characterization by Petrie W. Dennis and Joseph M. Boggs. The data are collected from the narrative of scripts and several pictures in the film. From the analysis of this film, the writer concludes that Amy Dunne has some genuine characterization those are; emotional, manipulative, and lack of remorse. Her negative personality occurs because she suffers from neurotic anxiety. The antecedent of her anxiety based on the presence of Amazing Amy book who portrayed the life of a fictional perfect girl. Furthermore, unpleasant treatment from her parents and the shadow of the Amazing Amy makes her unconsciously has an obsession towards the Amazing Amy. Based on the research findings, the writer finds that Amy's obsession motivates her to always forces her life as perfectly as the Amazing Amy. When there is an object that prevents her from accomplishing her obsession and causes her in discomfort situation. Thus, she does not hesitate to act destructively to her obstacle. This action is due to an imbalance of the three parts of Amy's personality structure. Although her ego uses some defense mechanisms to protect against anxiety, these methods are not enough for her to eliminate her anxiety. Keywords: Personality Structure, Anxiety, Defense Mechanism, Trauma, Psychoanalysis. i ii iii DECLARATION I hereby declare that this submissions is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other diploma of the university or another institute of higher learning, except where due the acknowledgement has been made in the text. Jakarta, 7th May 2019 Yunia Sari Chairunnisa iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT 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, the writer would like to give the most appreciation and eternal gratitude to Allah SWT, for his infinity guidance and blessing to the writer so she could accomplish her thesis. Then may peace be upon to our beloved prophet Muhammad SAW and all of his followers. This thesis is dedicated to the writer’s everlasting role models Sutikah and H. Chairun Anwar who always give their never-ending supply of love, energy, and patience for her in accomplishing this thesis. The writer also wants to express the highest gratitude to her great advisor; Inayatul Chusna M. Hum for her great patience, time, kindness and contribution in correcting and helping the writer to finish this thesis. Thanks for all of her advices that have been given to me. May Allah always bless her and her family. Another special gratitude is also dedicated to all writer’s anti stressors during her study - Rumpun Tawa member; Sharfina Shabirahannisa, Mita Ekasari, Fitri and Mustika Oktavia who always encourage the writer to finish her thesis. The writer is truly thankful that you are always being her daily dose of happiness. To Fita Megeta Sari for being her endorphins who always create positive synergy The writer also would like to convey her sincerity grateful particularly to: v 1. Saiful Umam, Phd., the Dean of Faculty of Adab and Humanities. 2. Drs. Saefudin, M.Pd., the Head of English Letters Department. 3. Elve Oktaviyani, M.Hum., the Secretary of English Letters Department. 4. Elve Oktafiyani, M.Hum, and Pita Merdeka, M.A, the writer’s thesis examiners. 5. All lecturers of English Letters Departments who could not be mentioned one by one. 6. Ika Chairina Nurul A, Septianto Arief, Permata Vyrna Andani and Berlianamora who always being the writer’s ultimate support system. 7. Riska, Tiara, Bella, and Indri who always cheers and gives support to the writer. 8. ELD B 2012, Literature Class 2012, and KKN Prasasti 2015 members who cannot be mentioned one by one. Finally, the writer hopes this thesis will be useful for the readers or researchers who are interested to analyze the unit of analysis by applying Freud’s psychoanalysis theory. The writer realizes her thesis is far from being perfect. Thus, the writer welcomes any advice, criticism, and suggestion for better improvement. Jakarta, May 15th 2019 Yunia Sari Chairunnisa vi TABLE OF CONTENT ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………. i APPROVAL SHEET………………………………………………………….. ii LEGALIZATION……………………………………………………………… iii DECLARATION………………………………………………………………. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………………... v TABLE OF CONTENT……………………………………………………….. vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………………………………….…... 1 A. Background of the Research………………………… 1 B. Focus of the Research……………………………….. 4 C. Research Question…………………………………... 4 D. Significance of the Research…………………….…... 4 E. Research Methodology…………….………………... 5 1. The Objectives of the Research…………………. 5 2. The Method of the Research…………………….. 5 3. The Instrument of the Research…………………. 5 4. The Unit of Analysis…………………………….. 6 5. The Technique of Data Analysis………………… 6 6. Research Design…………………………………. 6 CHAPTER II THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION……………………. 8 A. Previous Research…………………………………… 8 B. Character Theory……………………………………. 10 C. Techniques of Characterization……………………... 12 D. Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis…………………… 15 vii 1. The Structure of Personality……………………. 18 2. Anxiety…………………………………............ 22 3. Defense Mechanism……………………………. 24 CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDINGS……………………………… 27 A. Character Analysis…………………………………. 29 B. Amy Dunne’s Psychological Problem……………... 40 C. Personality Structure of Amy Dunne………………. 53 CHAPTER IV CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTION……………… 61 A. Conclusions…………………………………........... 61 B. Suggestions..………………………………………. 62 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………. 64 APPENDICES………………………………………………………............... 66 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Research Presently, film is one of the media that are often used by the scriptwriter, and director to express their ideas about issues which related to the element of human life, such as political, social, and psychological problems. There are many characters in film who suffers from psychological problems, such as; Tyler Durden the main character in Fight Club (1999) film who suffers from dissociative identity disorder, he does not realize that he has two different personalities in his body, the character of Jerry Hickfang in The Voices (2014) film who has a schizophrenia problem, he cannot understand what is real and what is imaginary, and also obsessive-compulsive disorder in Nina character in Black Swan (2010) film. Another film that also deals with the psychological issue is Gone Girl. This film depicts the life of a woman, named Amy Elliot Dunne who looks perfect but actually has a psychological problem. She is a career woman and works in a women's magazine company as a writer questionnaire. Both of her parents are the author of a children's book Amazing Amy. This book tells about the life of a fictional girl character named Amy which is portrayed as a perfect girl. Amazing Amy has several series, that tell the life of Amy character from childhood to adulthood, and it ends with happiness when the character of Amy married with a perfect man. The book series of Amazing Amy is very popular and successful in America. As the effect of this book, Amy Elliot Dunne 1 2 who is the main inspiration behind this book is considered by American public as a perfect girl figure. At first, Amy Dunne is described as a smart woman, beautiful, and rich. She is the only child of her parents. Many people admire her because they believe that the character of Amy in Amazing Amy represents Amy Dunne whereas, behind all of her achievements, she has a dark side that is not known by people around her. She has a psychological problem that is caused by the pressures that she experienced when she was a child. Amazing Amy portrays herself as the perfect girl, and that perfect side is the strong pressure for Amy Dunne. Amy hates her parents because she has to be perfect image and live behind the shadow of Amazing Amy fictional character. Amy Dunne is married to a man named Nick Dunne. He works as a writer in a men’s magazine. Their married life is perfect, but after several years, their married life begins to deteriorate. One day, Amy Dunne discovers her husband having an affair with a young woman, Amy feels betrayed by her husband. She wants to take revenge on her husband by making herself disappear. Through a variety of evidence that has been prepared, Amy wants her disappearance to be a murder case, and make her husband as the murderer. To succeed her plan, Amy has no doubt to do anything such as kill someone or even herself. Besides her husband, Amy has also framed her ex- boyfriends, Tommy O’Hara, and Desi Colling. She reported to the police that Tommy has raped her, and she is also set Desi as the person who kidnaps her. The summary above indicates that the main character suffers has a psychological problem, she does many excessive actions to several persons who hurt 3 her. This is the main reason Gone Girl film is chosen as the object of this research. To find out the background of the main character actions, it required a study of psychology that related to the literary studies.