ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN CHARACTER’S MENTAL DEPRESSION IN “A GIRL LIKE HER FILM” DIRECTED BY AMY S. WEBER USING FREUD’S PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

Abstract

Psychoanalysis is a method for treating mental illness and also a theory which explains human behavior. In psychoanalysis itself, there is defense mechanism, the psychological strategies that are unconsciously used to protect a person from anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts or feelings. This research will focuses on the main character’s mental depression in “A Girl Like Her” film directed by Amy S. Weber in 2015. This film raises the issue of depression. The main character, Jessica Burns was a victim of bullying and it makes her commit a suicide because of depression. This research uses the theory of Defense Mechanism in Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud (1936) to find out the behavior of the character. Therefore, this study aims to find the defense mechanism in depression experienced by Jessica Burns. The data are taken from all utterances spoken by the characters in the film, and journals, articles related to film, also websites to support. This research uses a qualitative method, the type of method that uses words, images, and feeling except numbers. As a result, this research shows that there are six defense mechanisms related with the film, repression, denial, projection, displacement, regression, and sublimation, which show that the behavior can lead to depression.
 Keywords: Psychoanalysis, Defense Mechanism, Depression, Bullying.