DEFENSE MECHANISM OF JERRY SHAW IN D.J.CARUSO’S EAGLE EYE MOVIE (2008): A PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH

AKBAR, MOCHAMAD ADAM ALI (2010)

Abstract
The research is proposed to analyze a defense mechanism in a movie with the title Eagle Eye with Psychoanalytic Approach. There are two objectives: the first is to analyze the movie in term of structural elements, and the second is to analyze the movie based on Psychoanalytic Approach. This Research is a descriptive qualitative study, using the movie of D.J. Caruso’s Eagle Eye as the object of analysis of the style study. There are two kinds of data sources use in this analyzing, namely primary and secondary. The primary data are the movie and script of the movie itself and the secondary data sources are some books, internet and articles related to the subject. The technique of data collection in this research is library research by summarizing, paraphrasing and documenting the data. In analyzing the data, the writer employs descriptive qualitative analysis. The analysis is started by analyzing Jerry Shaw’s id, ego, superego, and then his anxiety. For the last, the writer makes an analysis of Jerry Shaw’s character using defense mechanism. The outcome of the Research shows that the movie illustrates a defense mechanism of Jerry Shaw in modern world twenty first century. He works as a copy man and ARIIA suddenly comes then Jerry shows his defense to protect himself. Finally, the conclusion of this analysis is that people can do anything to protect their selves and people who they love.

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Problem is the one thing that always comes into human’s life. It is a fact
that people cannot avoid the problem in life. One that people can do just face it as
well as they can. Usually someone will do something as the defense from his
problem or anxiety of something. For example a man that does not know anything
in any situation suddenly has a phone call from a stranger and has to do what the
speaker says in the phone call, he will do something to protect himself or to do
what he wants. Maybe in other situation such as in an office, an officer will do
anything that the boss says because he is scared. An officer also realizes that at
office, boss is the leader and what he says is something that any officers have to
do even though they do not like it. When they are out from the office far from
their boss, they do what they want and sometime they switch all the pressure from
their boss to their friends. In this case, people show defense against open
expression of id impulses.
Defense mechanism is a way that people use to protect the individual selfesteem
and defend them against excessive anxiety when facing with continuing
frustration (Hilgard, 1962: 511). The ego defense mechanism can make people
feel satisfied, although it cannot help them much. This way just gives another way
on giving the perfect reason on doing something, rejects about something and
makes their personality better when they feel inferior and anxious. Freud (in
Hjelle and Ziegler, 1976: 38) stated that defense mechanism is a strategy used by
the individual to defense against open expression of id impulses and super ego
pressure. Here, the writer wants to explore the defense mechanism on the major
character’s personality that is shown in Eagle Eye, a movie written by Dan
McDermott and directed by D.J. Caruso.
Nowadays, the story of the movie based not only on true story of the
writer, but also from the imagination story of someone or something in the world.
Usually the director takes one of the greatest thought or one of the greatest people
as the resources or the idea to make a movie.
There are many directors who make the movie based on imagination story.
One of them is D.J. Caruso. Daniel John "D.J." Caruso was born in January 17,
1965. Caruso graduated from Pepperdine University. He married Holly Kuespert
on July 6, 1991 and they have 5 children. He is an American director and producer
from Norwalk, Connecticut. Caruso has directed the movies Disturbia, Two for
the Money, Taking Lives, The Salton Sea, and Eagle Eye. He has also directed
television episodes for shows such as The Shield, Over There, Smallville, Dark
Angel. His first feature movie as a director was The Salton Sea which starred Val
Kilmer. It was released in 2002. In 2004, Caruso directed Taking Lives with
Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke and Kiefer Sutherland. The movie was released in
theaters on March 16, 2004. He directed his first music video in 2007 for the song
"Don't Make Me Wait" by This World Fair. In 2007, Caruso was asked by Steven
Spielberg to direct Disturbia. The movie was Caruso's first big hit grossing over
$117 million, with only a $20 million budget. It starred Shia LaBeouf, Sarah
Roemer, David Morse, Aaron Yoo, and Carrie-Anne Moss. It was released April
13, 2007 in theaters and on DVD August 7.
Eagle Eye movie was released in September 26, 2008, and published
Dream Works Picture. This movie was played in 118 minutes. Eagle Eye was
Caruso's second collaboration with Shia LaBeouf. It also starred Michelle
Monaghan, Billy Bob Thornton, and Rosario Dawson and was released in theaters
September 26, 2008. It was produced by Steven Spielberg. Critic reactions were
mixed but, on its opening weekend the movie grossed $29.1 million dollars in
3,510 theaters in the United States and Canada. It has grossed $201 million
worldwide with a movie budget of $80 million.
The movie begins with Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) who is a Stanford
University dropout who lacks direction and faces financial difficulty. He finds out
that his more ambitious twin brother Ethan, an Air Force lieutenant with expertise
in parallel algorithms and quantum electronics, is dead. Following the funeral in
January 2009, he goes to withdraw some money from an ATM and is surprised to
see that he has $750,000 in his account. When he returns home, he finds his
apartment filled with a large number of weapons, explosives, and forged
documents. He receives a phone call from an unknown woman, with a vaguely
familiar voice, who explains that the FBI will apprehend him in thirty seconds and
that he must escape.
Not believing her, he is caught by the FBI and sent to an interrogation
room where he meets Special Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton). When
Morgan leaves the room to meet with Air Force Office of Special Investigations
Special Agent Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson), the unknown woman arranges Jerry's
escape over a phone by a crane which hits the building. Jerry has escaped and the
unknown woman has him join up with single mother Rachel Holloman (Michelle
Monaghan). The unknown woman is coercing Rachel into assisting Jerry by
threatening to kill her son, Sam, a trumpet player on his way to Washington, D.C.,
from Chicago for a band recital.
The woman helps the pair to avoid the Chicago Police and FBI units,
demonstrating the ability to remotely control virtually any networked device, such
as traffic lights that turns into green, cell phones, automated cranes, and even
electrical wires. While Jerry and Rachel follow her instructions, the woman has
other 'agents' (other people whom she has blackmailed) create a crystal explosive
made into a necklace and its sound-based trigger placed inside Sam's trumpet.
Jerry and Rachel are led from Chicago to Washington, D.C. via Kendall County,
Indianapolis and Dayton, Ohio through various means. They reach a Circuit City
electronics store to which the woman directs them. Over several television screens
she introduces herself to them: she is a top secret supercomputer, the same one
seen in the beginning of the movie, called "Autonomous Reconnaissance
Intelligence Integration Analyst" (ARIIA) (voiced by Julianne Moore) tasked with
gathering intelligence from all over the world.
In light of the mistake made by the President at the beginning of the
movie, ARIIA has decided that the executive branch is a threat to the public good
and must be eliminated. ARIIA plans to destroy the President's cabinet, and calls
this Operation Guillotine. She has decided to leave the Secretary of Defense who
had agreed with her recommendation to abort the mission as the successor to the
presidency. ARIIA does not reveal this to Jerry or Rachel, merely explaining that
she is trying to help the people of the United States.
At the Pentagon, where ARIIA is housed, Agent Perez discovers that
Jerry's late brother, Ethan, worked as a technician for the computer and locked it
down to prevent ARIIA from carrying out her plan. Perez warns the Secretary of
Defense and they discuss the situation in a sealed room to prevent ARIIA from
hearing their conversation. Jerry and Rachel arrive at the Pentagon and are led to
the supercomputer, where ARIIA forces Jerry to impersonate Ethan and use his
own biometrics to override the lockdown, allowing her to go ahead with the plan.
ARIIA shows Jerry CCTV footage displaying Ethan's fatal car crash,
explaining that she orchestrated his death because he was a threat to her plans.
ARIIA then instructs Rachel to eliminate Jerry to prevent the lock from being
reinstated, but Rachel cannot bring herself to do it. Rachel is led out of the
building, when ARIIA calls in some guards, while Jerry is caught by Agent
Morgan. Having been warned by Agent Perez, Morgan believes Jerry's story and
takes him to the United States Capitol. ARIIA sends a MQ-9 Reaper UCAV after
them. They barely escape the drone's first pass, and Agent Morgan sacrifices
himself to destroy the drone and save Jerry. Meanwhile, Agent Perez returns to
the supercomputer and destroys it by draining out the cooling fluid.
Rachel is unknowingly given the explosive necklace by an official who
was also coerced by ARIIA and Rachel is sent to the Capitol to watch the
President's speech where she is left to die along with her son and the presidential
staff. Sam's class, whose recital has been moved from the Kennedy Center to the
Capitol for the President's State of the Union Address, begins to play. The trigger
that will set off the explosive necklace is set to activate when Sam plays a
sustained "high F" on his trumpet corresponding to the word "free" in the last
stanza of the U.S. national anthem, as ARIIA had arranged this as poetic justice,
believing the president to not be brave. Jerry successfully gains entry dressed as a
Capitol policeman and fires his pistol into the air, stopping the performance just
before the deadly note. Jerry is then shot several times by a confused Secret
Service agent.
In a hearing after the chaos ARIIA caused, the Secretary of Defense urges
that another supercomputer should not be built: "sometimes the very measures we
put into place to safeguard our liberty become threats to liberty itself," he cautions
them. Ethan posthumously receives the Medal of Honor and Agent Morgan
posthumously receives the Commendation Medal, while Jerry, injured but alive
and well, receives the Congressional Gold Medal. The movie ends with Jerry
attending Sam's birthday party. Rachel thanks him for attending, which her exhusband
had never done, and kisses him on the cheek. She then tells Jerry that
she's glad he's there. He then responds, "Me too".
Considering the above explanatory ideas, the writer turns to analyze the
movie by using psychoanalytic approach because of some consideration. The first
reason because of Jerry Shawn’s personality is the mirror of human being. He has
the feeling of ambition, anxiety and confusion when he meets something and faces
the reality in his life. The second is that the movie has great possibility to know
the phenomenon of psychological problems in the character.
The third is that the movie really interesting because it uses many
experienced actors and actress. So it makes this movie really promising to be
watched. The fourth reason is that this movie has a good story that not all modern
technology are useful for all sectors in human life, in this case used by security
military sector that illustrated in this movie. The fifth reason because this movie
teaches not to depend on technology. In this study the writer encourages himself
to give a title: DEFENSE MECHANISM OF JERRY SHAW IN D.J. CARUSO’S
EAGLE EYE MOVIE (2008): A PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH.
B. Literature Review
As long as the writer knows, there is no other research that has been
conducted to study the movie Eagle Eye in Muhammadiyah University of
Surakarta and Surakarta Region.
C. Problem Statement
Based on the title and background of the study, the writer formulates the
problem as follows: “How is the defense mechanism reflected in the main
character’s personality of Jerry Shawn in Eagle Eye movie?".
D. Limitation of the Study
In this study, the writer will focus on the analysis of main character’s
personality and the ego defense mechanism, which appears using psychoanalytic
approach.
E. Objectives of the Study
Dealing with the problem statement above, the objectives of the study are
as follows:
1. Analyzing the structural elements of the movie Eagle Eye.
2. Analyzing the movie based on the psychoanalytic approach.
F. Benefit of the Study
There are some benefits expected from this study, such as:
1. Theoretical Benefit
This research can contribute to the knowledge about literary study especially
psychological approach toward the literary work.
2. Practical Benefit
This research can give more understanding about the movie, especially the
main character in Eagle Eye from psychoanalytic approach.
G. Research Method
1. Object of the Study
The writer takes the film Eagle Eye as the object of the study. This
movie is directed by D.J. Caruso and published by Dream Works Pictures.
2. Type of the Data and the Data Source
The writer divides the data source into two categories:
a. Primary data source
The primary data source of the study is Eagle Eye movie.
b. Secondary data source
The writer takes the secondary data source, including reference and
materials related to the study whether picking up from books or internet.
3. Technique of the Data Collection
The writer uses two techniques of data collection:
a. Observation
It is used to make the analysis by watching the movie several times to get
the understanding about this movie.
b. Library research
There are some procedures in library research:
1) Watching the movie several times and determining the character that
will be analyzed.
2) Reading some related books to find out the theory, data and
information required.
3) Making notes of important parts in both primary data and secondary
data.
4) Classifying the data into categories.
5) Drawing conclusion to get the last result.
4. Technique of the Data Analysis
The writer uses two techniques in analyzing the data:
a. Analyzing the structural elements of the movie includes the narrative
elements and technical elements.
b. Analyzing the defense mechanism of main character using descriptive
qualitative analysis.
5. Type of the Study
The type of this study is descriptive qualitative. Descriptive qualitative
is a type of research which result the descriptive data in the form of written
or oral words from the observed object.
H. Paper Organization
The writer makes an organization of this paper in order to make an easy
understanding. There are five chapters in this research paper. Chapter I is
introduction which consist of background of the study, literature review,
problem statement, limitation of the study, objective of the study, benefit of
the study, research method, and paper organization. Chapter II is underlying
theory. It deals with the notion of psychoanalytic theory, the basic concepts of
psychoanalysis and theoretical application. Chapter III is structural analysis of
the movie, including narrative and technical elements. Chapter IV is dealing
with the analysis of the major character using psychoanalytic approach.
Finally Chapter V is conclusion and suggestion of the research.