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THE SOCIOPATH ANALYSIS OF JOSHUA’S CHARACTERIZATIONS ON JOSHUA FILM
A THESIS
Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
The Degree of Strata 1 (S1)
PRAPDITA HARY MURTI
NIM: 203026002137
ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF ADAB AND HUMANITIES
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH
JAKARTA
2009
2
APPROVEMENT
THE SOCIOPATH ANALYSIS OF JOSHUA’S CHARACTERIZATIONS ON JOSHUA FILM
A THESIS
Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
The Degree of Strata 1 (S1)
Prapdita Hary Murti
NIM. 203026002137
Approved By:
Moh. Supardi, M. Hum
Supervisor
ENGLISH LETTER DEPARTMENT
LETTERS AND HUMANITIES FACULTY
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH
JAKARTA
2009
3
LEGALIZATION
The thesis entitled “The Sociopath Analysis of Joshua’s Characterizations on Joshua
Film” was examined by examination board of Faculty of Adab and Humanities, State
Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta on October 12, 2009. The thesis has been
accepted as a partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Strata 1 (S1).
Jakarta, October 12, 2009
Examination Committee
Chief, Secretary,
Dr. H. M. Farkhan, M. Pd Drs. A. Saefuddin, M. Pd
NIP. 150.299.480 NIP. 150.260.902
Members:
Examiner 1: Examiner 2:
Drs. A. Saefuddin, M. Pd Inayatul Chusna, M. Hum
NIP. 150.260.902 NIP. 150.331.233
4
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of myknowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by anotherperson nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award ofany other degree or diploma of the university or other institute of higher learning,except where due acknowledgment has been made in the text.
Jakarta, October 12, 2009
Prapdita Hary Murti
5
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
In the name of Allah, the most gracious, merciful, praise and gratitude be to
Allah for giving the writer ability and health to finish this paper. Blessing is upon our
prophet Muhammad SAW, his descendent and his followers.
This paper presented to the English Letter Department Faculty of Adab and
Humanities Syarif Hidayatullah, State Islamic University Jakarta as a partial of
requirements for the Degree of Strata 1. This work could not be completed without a
great deal of help from many people, especially Mr. Moh. Supardi, M. Hum, an advisor
who always guides and supports the writer until this paper finished. Without his
guidance, this paper is never completed.
The writer also would like to express the deepest gratitude to those who
helped him finishing this paper, namely:
1. Dr. H. Abdul Chair, M.A. a Dean of Adab and Humanities Faculty.
2. Dr. M. Farkhan, M.Pd. the Head of English Letter Department.
3. Drs. Asep Saefuddin, M.Pd. the secretary of English Letter Department.
4. All the lectures of English Letter Department who have taught and educated me
during my study.
5. My beloved parents: Mother, Father and my sister that have given me spiritual
support and financial during the time of study and the process of making the
paper.
6. All the staff of library of Adab and Humanities Faculty and UIN.
6
7. All friends at English Letter Department, especially to Siswanto, Wawan, Sarah,
Ajeng, Teh May, Iway, Yamin, Ulul, Aka, Yuyun, Rio, Ikmal, Elyas, Sudrajat, Angga,
and those who cannot be mentioned one by one.
May Allah blesses, protects and guides them. The writer assumes that this work is
far from perfection. In any case, it is able to be a reference of some literary
interpretation. Therefore, various critics and suggestion are needed to make it better
than before.
Jakarta, October 12, 2009
The writer
7
ABSTRACT
Prapdita Hary Murti. The Sociopath Analysis of Joshua’s Characterizations on JoshuaFilm. Faculty of Adab and Humanities, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic UniversityJakarta, 2009.
This research is aimed at finding the sociopath characterizations on the maincharacter of Joshua. The writer studied the Joshua film as a unit analysis and usedpsychology theory as the theoretical framework of the research. Joshua, who frames thefilm with his criminal behavior, has made the writer interest to analyze his characterdeviation. The writer hopes that his analysis of Joshua’s character can help and givemore information to anyone who is interested with sociopath deviation.
To analyze the data, the writer uses the qualitative – descriptive method bywatching the movie, quotes the dialogues, reading, identifying, and classifying theinformation related to Joshua’s characters and psychology. The research is performed inseveral phases. The writer also collects the data from many sources such as book,internet and the others that are related to the research, presenting the data description,analyzing the problem and then making the conclusion.
Joshua Cairn was particularly reflected his struggle in fulfilling his own needs anddesires to serve himself. He started to play some tricks to eliminate people surround himincluded his family members. His actions that typically showing sociopath deviationswere become more skilled in manipulate people.
As the result of the analysis, the writer concludes that there are many deviationsof Joshua’s characterizations that can be analyzed by the theory of psychology,especially in sociopath field.
8
TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPROVEMENT ...................................................................................................... i
LEGALIZATION ........................................................................................................ ii
DECLARATION ........................................................................................................ iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................ iv
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................... vi
TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................................ vii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .............................................................. 1
A. Background of the Study ........................................................................ 1
B. Focus of the Study .................................................................................. 3
C. Research Questions ................................................................................ 3
D. Significance of the Research ................................................................... 4
E. Methodology of Research ....................................................................... 4
1. The Objective of the Study ........................................................ 4
2. Method of the Research ............................................................ 4
3. Technique of Data Analysis ....................................................... 5
4. Research Instrument ................................................................. 5
5. Unit of Analysis Data ................................................................. 5
6. Place and time ........................................................................... 5
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................... 6
A. Abnormal Psychology .............................................................................. 7
1. Definition of Abnormal ...……………………………...... 7
2. Sociopath …………………………………………...…… 7
a. Common Sociopath……………………………….. 8
b. Alienated Sociopath ……………………………… 9
9
c. Aggressive Sociopath ……………………………. 9
d. Dissocial Sociopath ………………………………. 9
B. Character and Characterization .............................................................. 10
1. The Definitions of Character and Characterization ................... 10
a. Major Character ……..……………………………. 11
b. Minor Character …………………………………... 11
CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDING ........................................................ 12
A. Data Description ..................................................................................... 12
B. Data Analysis .......................................................................................... 19
1. Joshua’s Characters ................................................................... 19
a. High Intelligent ………………………………….... 20
b. Talking-well and Clear-headed …………………… 22
c. Callousness and Lack of Remorse ………………... 24
d. Bully and Tyrannize ………………………………. 26
e. Serving Themselves ………………………………. 26
2. Joshua’s Sociopath ..................................................................... 28
a. Manipulate Other …………………………………. 28
b. Lying All The Time ………………………...…….. 32
c. Denying his involvements ………………………... 33
d. Brilliant to Changing The Subject ………………... 34
e. Trying to Make People Seem Crazy …………….... 36
CHAPTER IV CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ................................ 40
A. Conclusions ............................................................................................. 40
B. Suggestions ............................................................................................. 41
APPENDIX .............................................................................................................. 43
10
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of Study
Films are cultural artifacts, created by specific cultures that reflect those
cultures, and in turn, affect them. Film also begins from a scenario. Film relates
with literature, because, literature is a creative activity of an art.
Film itself has many explanations. It depends upon from point of view of
someone. Film is an artwork for the film lovers, such as the combination of
moving picture. Film, as a product of director’s minds, indirectly can influences to
the audiences about what they imagine from the film they watched. For the
directors, film is something that they have to visualize, as a description of a story,
based on a certain idea, or has adaptation from a short story, a true story, drama’s
manuscript, and novel.
There are many films that can be analyzed by psychological approach, but
in this opportunity the writer is going to analyze a film entitled “Joshua”. The
film shows the personality deviation on main character behaviors and actions.
Joshua was a psychological thriller film about an affluent young Manhattan
family. The movie centers on the lives of Brad and Abby Cairn. They were living
in a nice apartment with their son, Joshua, and a Brad’s lovely dog. Brad was a
Christian affluent young who worked as a stockbroker. His wife, Abby, was a
11
Jewish housewife. She was also a temperamental and obstinate mother. She had a
nervous breakdown that made her easy to be hysterical and depression. She
consumed the depression medicines everyday with high dose to treat her illness.
She did not give any belief for everyone to caring her children although to her
mother-in-law, Hazel. So that, she often fought about care the children with
Hazel, especially about religious.
Joshua was a frighteningly high intelligent child for such a degree that he
thought and acted decades ahead of his age. He liked reading the science books,
and playing piano. He always wore in formal cloth and demonstrating unlimited
brilliance as a pianist. He often played piano together with his uncle. Joshua
considered his gay uncle as his close friend. Firstly, Joshua was a nice child. But
he was going to change after his little sister birth, Lily, particularly when Abby
brought Lily home from the hospital and unwisely alienate him. He became a
quite child, full of charming, and often gave a lot of odd questions to his parents.
He became closer with his uncle, but distanced himself from his immediate kin.
As the day passed, one at the time, the mood at the house regressed from healthy
and happiness became strange, unsettled, and disorienting, meanwhile, the bizarre
events transpired. When the Lily’s whines drove Abby who already strained to the
point of nervous breakdown, Joshua devolved from eccentric to downright
abnormal behavior. He started to make a game and planned to eliminate his
family. Eventually, family members also began to suffer tragic fates.
Lily’s born had changed Joshua’s personality. His goal to live together
with his uncle, Ned, had made him became more aggressive to hurt his family and
12
relatives. He mixed his intelligent to purpose his goal and created some tricks to
hurt them.
Based on the statement above, the writer is interested in analyzing about
the psychological aspect that happened to the personality of Joshua. Such as Bully
and Tyrannize, but the writer will give the further analysis about it in chapter three
B. Focus of the Research
This paper focuses on the analysis of Joshua character as the main
character that suffers from psychological disturbance in the movie (Joshua).
C. Research Question
Relating to the limitation of problem above, the questions can be
formulated as follows:
1. What are the characteristics of Joshua on Joshua film?
2. Are there any personality deviations of Joshua and what causes the
deviation?
D. Significance of the Research
Through this research the writer expects, this research can give the
awareness readers and audiences, in order not to see the film only from
13
entertainments view, but rather to see the form of the main character’s personality
and its ideas that gives the positive meaning. This research also expects can be
drawn the enthusiasm of other researchers and readers who want to analyze and
perform the same research at film main character. The result of the research
hopefully will be useful for the process of learning English literature.
E. Methodology of Research
1. The Objective of The Study
The objectives of this research are to know about the psychological
characteristic and personality deviation of Joshua.
2. Method of The Research
To analyze the data, the writer uses the descriptive – qualitative method.
First, the writer watches the movie over and over again. Second, the writer quotes
the dialogues that have sociopath deviation in direction. Third, the writer put them
together in order.
3. Technique of Analysis Data
The data will be analyzed by using the psychological approach. First, the
writer gives description about the film; and the second, the writer began to
analyze the psychological problem of the main character through psychological
approach.
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4. Research Instrument
In collecting data, the writer uses himself as the instrument who tries to
analyze accurately the phenomena relating with the research question reveals in
this research, by watching the movie, reading, identifying, and classifying the
information related to Joshua character and psychology.
5. Unit of Analysis Data
The unit that is analyzed in this research is “Joshua” film, which directed
by George Ratliff in 2007.
6. Place and Time
The writer is begun this research at seventh semester of academic years
2007 – 2009, at the Department of English Letters, the Faculty of Adab and
Humanities, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta. And others
libraries located in Jakarta.
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CHAPTER II
THEORETICHAL FRAMEWORK
Psychology has always been a popular topic within the movies; however,
there has been concern raised within the discipline that its portrayal in general
along with that of psychologists and psychological disorders has been far from
accurate on the whole. Psychologically minded investigator can approach movie.
From one direction, film is a representational medium that is capable symbolizing
an enormous range of human actions using such cinematic or narrative devices as
character, action, plot, them, editing, etc. The actions in the film are the
analyzable from the perspective of variety of psychological theories.
Psychology is a study of behavior. According to Dr. Sarlito Sarwono,
psychology is a science that learns about human behavior in relationship of the
environment1. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to
various areas of human activity including the issues that related to daily life.
Everyone certainly has an uniqueness or specific characteristic that would be
coloring the interesting about reality, because everyone has different experiences
at the process of growth. The descendant factor can also caused someone does not
have love feeling. A mother is an influential figure within her child character
development too. If a mother has personality deviation too, so there is no place
for a child to learn the meaning of love and affection.
1 Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono, Pengantar Umum Psychology. (Jakarta: Bulan Bintang, 1976), p. 5
6
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A. Abnormal Psychology
1. Definition of abnormal
In Sarlito’s book Pengantar Umum Psikologi explained that abnormal
psychology is the scientific study of abnormal behavior in order to describe,
predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning2. Abnormal
psychology studies the nature of psychopathology, its causes and treatments in
clinical psychology. Abnormality is those behaviors or thought processes which
are commonly agreed to be bizarre, unusual or odd. Any kind of behavior could
be classification as abnormal. Some abnormal behaviors have acute and temporary
nature that caused by some phenomenon which full of stress, other abnormal
behaviors have chronic and forever nature.
2. Sociopath
Society has norms for appropriate conduct. Sociopath is chiefly
characterized by something wrong with the person’s conscience3. Sociopath is
similar with psychopath. But all sociopaths are psychopathic, while not all
psychopaths are sociopathic. The sociopaths only care about fulfilling their own
needs and desires - selfishness and egocentricity to the extreme4. One of the most
striking characteristics of the sociopaths typical is their charm. They are talking
2 Wikipedia, Abnormal Psychology. Accessed on October 2, 2007.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abnormal_psychology. p. 2
3 T. O’Connor, Antisocial Personality, Sociopathy, And Psychopathy. Accessed on September 24,2007. http://www.apsu.edu/oconnort/crim/crimtheory08.htm. p. 5
4 Ibid.
17
well, give the impression of being alert and clear-headed, know how to employ
their skills to manipulate other people, and how to ingratiate themselves by
entertaining people with exciting accounts of their exploits. There are three main
indicators of sociopath, they are, cruelty toward the animals, fire setting, and
longer than normal bedwetting.
Dr. Robert D. Hare who has made extensive studies of people with
psychopathic personalities told that the sociopaths are lying all the time and they
do not see this behavior as a wrong. Their quest is only to serve themselves, and if
need to lying, cheating, or even murder, they will do so. The sociopaths are
brilliant to changing the subject when people catch them in lies, placing the onus
on the people, and denying their involvement or even trying to make people seem
crazy. They may seem laugh or cry but they present with no depth of emotions.
The sociopaths are more spontaneously and disorganized act out in doing the
crimes. So that, they are easier to catch but they are more apt to leave the ample
evidence in their explosions of violence. There are four subtypes of sociopaths:
a. Common sociopath
The common sociopaths are more likely the feral sociopath that grown up,
taking pleasure, and gratifying impulse at each opportunity or temptation. They
especially enjoy and feel pride in breaking the rules. As teenagers, they often
runaways from home. While as adult, they often living in the shelters,
geographically mobile, and taking the advantage of welfare systems.
18
b. Alienated sociopath
An alienated sociopath never developed the ability to empathize, love,
chronic complainer, and affiliate in real life with another person. They also live in
a shell and callous attitude toward the human suffering or social problems. They
may hate animals and leave out their emotional life by watching television.
c. Aggressive sociopath
An aggressive sociopath is really like to hurt, frighten, tyrannize, bully,
and even manipulate others. They do any hurt just for a sense of power and
control, or often only drop the subtle hints about what they are up to. They polish
their aggression and domineering manner to disguise any intimidation at others
that feel. They also like to hunt or do the sadistic things like find a stray dog and
cut it up. This subtype does not follow the social norms of reciprocities like
people do.
d. Dissocial sociopath
Dissocial sociopath identifies and holds an allegiance with a dissocial,
outcast, and predatory subculture. They are capable of intense loyalty, a feeling of
guilt and shame, within such limited circles. They seem to continually fall upon
the bad luck and bad companions, however. While they will constantly complain
that none of this is their fault, behind it all is a kind of self-defeating mechanism
in the poor choices they made themselves.
19
In Ephraim Rosen’s book, abnormal psychology second edition explained
that the causes of sociopath are the genetic factor and environment. A child that
lives in a family that one of his or her parents has a tendency of mental illness is
easier to get this disorder. But a sociopath can be also born into a normal and
loving family. They are also the products of parental neglect, fatherless homes,
and illegitimacy. The father absence produces many consequences to the
symptoms of sociopath. However, a large number of delinquents and sociopaths
do not come from institutions or broken homes but from homes that are physically
intact but emotionally disturbed5. At a deeper level, overindulgence may be a
manifestation by a parent who does not care enough to control the child, or a
reaction formation to ward off the guilt that would be aroused by conscious
recognition of hostility and feelings of rejection toward the child6.
B. Character and Characterization.
1) The definitions of character and characterization
Characterization is the process that the director reveals personality of a
character. Character can be defined as people created by a playwright, and
imagined by the audiences. They must fiction and non-fiction. The characters
usually presented by description and through their actions; speech, and thoughts.
5 Ephraim Rosen, Ronald E. Fox, et al., Abnormal Psychology Second Edition, (Philadelphia,London, and Toronto: W. B. Saunders Company, 1972), p. 265
6 Ibid.
20
A well-developed character is one that has been thoroughly characterized, with
many traits shown in the narrative7. Character development is very important in
character-driven literature, where stories focus not on events, but on individual
personalities8.
There are some characters that viewed from the role aspect and the
importance level of a characters in a story, they are:
a. Major characters
Round character is a character with complex and many-sided moral
qualities and personal traits. Round characters can be classified into two kinds of
characters, protagonist and antagonist. Protagonist is the central character in the
story, whereas, antagonist is the force in the story that is a conflict with
protagonist.
b. Minor characters
A flat character is a minor character in a work of fiction who does not
undergo substantial change or growth in the course of a story9. Flat character has
only one or two distinguishing moral qualities or personal traits. The characters
play a supporting role to the major or main character that, as a rule should be
round.
7 Wikipedia, Characterisation. Accessed on July 25, 2007.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characterisation. p. 1
8 Ibid
9 Ginny Wiehardt, flat character. Accessed on January 21, 2009.http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/glossary/9/flatcharacters.htm. p. 1
21
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH FINDING
A. Data Description
In this chapter the writer wants to divide the discussion of Joshua
characteristic in two kinds of analysis. First the writer wants to analyze the
characteristics and personality deviations of Joshua from the dialogues. The writer
will use the general psychology theory to analyze the characters psychology of
Joshua.
These are the data that the writer is going to use:
No Corpus Explanation CaptureCharacteristic Sociopath
1. Joshua : Is that hurt, Mommy? 00:05:10
2. Brad : Joshua, he’s, uh… Howsmart is he?
Danforth : Well, this might begetting ahead of ourselves,but we think Joshua mightbenefit by skipping a grade,maybe two.
HighIntelligent
00:15:20
3. Joshua : In Egypt, when theyembalmed people, likePharaohs, they broken thenose and removed the brainthrough the opening.Theydrained the body of all itsfluid on a special stoneslab.This guarantees him a
HighIntelligent
00:29:53
12
22
glorious afterlife.(Humming…) Theychanted something, too, butI’m making that part up.
4. Joshua : Seth. He’s the god ofchaos.
Hazel : Seth? That’s the name ofthe god of chaos? Pity thoseheathens.
Joshua : Seth cut Osirus intofourteen pieces.
Hazel : Bad Seth…Joshua : But Seth is also good.
Without Seth, there is noorder. Because Seth is theonly one who can battle theevil serpent, Apep. Apep isall bad. Pure darkness. Heeats his own screams.That’s his onlynourishment. …If Apepswallowed you, youbecome nothing. Anonbeing. Till the end ofexistence, you’d remain inApep’s guts, slowlydigested for all of eternity.And nobody would care‘cause nobody wouldrealize you were missing.
HighIntelligent
01:11:45
5. Joshua : You know someone diedin this apartment?
Brad : I-I-I… I’m pretty surethat’s not true.
Joshua : If you think about it,someone has died, on prettymuch every inch of thisplanet. You know, digdown anywhere, and you’llfind bones.
Abby : (Abby laughs) I don’tknow. I think you…We would probably know
if someone was killed here.Joshua : I didn’t say killed. Why do
you think killed?Do you have the sense,
too?Brad : Nobody died here, man.
00:30:16
6. Joshua : Do you ever feel weird Talking well 00:40:05
23
about me? Your weirdson?
Brad : No. No, no, no, no, not atall. Not at all.
Joshua : You know that magictrick where the magicianputs the person in the boxand spins the box andmakes the persondisappear? I know howthat trick is done. If youlook carefully, you cantell.
Brad : Well, you know, hey,maybe magic is your thing.We could take you to amagic store. Get you sometricks.
Joshua : You know, you don’thave to love me. That’snot like a rule orsomething.
Brad : But I do love you.You’re my boy. I’llalways love you, nomatter what. Okay?
and clear-headed
7. Hazel : Joshua! Joshua!JOSHUA!!! What wereyou doing?!
Joshua : Where were you?Hazel : Where were you?!
Callounessand Lack of
remorse
01:30:25
8. Old man : Can you help me out,little man? Justsomething, anything.I’m no chooser here.
Joshua : I’ll give you five dollarsif I can throw a rock at you.
Bully andTyrannize
00:57:16
9. You know they didn’t ever have tolove me.No, no, no.And no one will ever love themnow.But they always wanted thatsomehow to save me. Why ohwhy?For pity’s sake they should havesaved themselves.But you, you always said I never
Servingthemselves
01:56:05
24
missed a note.And nobody ever knew me like Ido.You always said it was gonna beokay.I only ever really wanted to be with
you.10. Joshua :Dad, is Mommy alright?
Brad : Yeah, yeah. She’s justtired, pal. Why do youask?
Joshua : Nothing. Lily asleep?Brad : Yeah, I got her to fall
asleep. Pretty good, huh?Joshua : You’re better at it than
Mommy.Brad : (laughs) I’m not sure
about that.Joshua : You are. Really.
Manipulateother
01:25:46
11. Joshua : Are we save, Mommy?Abby : Well, what do you mean?Joshua : Does Daddy love me?Abby : Of course he loves you.
Yes, he loves you very,very much. Yeah.
Joshua : But not like a Mommy
Manipulateother
00:59:45
12. Betsy : Yeah. Maybe you couldshow me your room. I hearyou have a guinea pig. Ilove guinea pigs.
Joshua : My guinea pig? Okay. Doyou like draw?
Betsy : Oh, I love drawing.
Diverts thetopic
01:20:00
13. Brad : Do you see…? This…thisis off. Something is wronghere. This has got to be thesign of some kind of…sociopath.
Betsy : No, no, no, Mr. Cairn.That’s…that’s not it. Thispicture is a textbookexample of abuse. Okay?That boy is being abused…
Brad : No, no, no, no, no, no. Letme tell you what you’redealing with here.
Betsy : I don’t care…Brad : …he probably researched
ManipulateOther
01:15:25
25
it. He probably looked it upon the computer. Heprobably knew exactly whatto draw.
Betsy : This is abuse I’m talkingabout right here. Do youunderstand what I’m saying?
Brad : What are you…? Nobody’sbeating him. I’m not…heprobably…
Betsy : Why are you being sodefensive? I’m just pointingout the fact that your son hasbeen abused.
Brad : I’m not being…
14. Chester : …Uh over thirtyeyewitnesses, your boytells the cops he’s beenbeing abused since hissister was born, bruisesall over his body, a sheafof Joshua’s drawing thathave the authoritiesdrooling…
Brad : Chester, goddamn it, itisn’t the whole story,okay? I’m trying to tell Ihave to get out of herenow.
Chester : They say you weretampering with Abby’smedication.
Brad : What? That’s – that’sinsane.
Lying all thetime
01:40:30
15. Joshua : Daddy? Do you like myhouse? I made it last night.
Brad : I know what you’redoing, Josh. I don’t know‘why’ you’re doing it, butI’m on to you.
Joshua : They’re just blocks,Daddy.
Brad : You’re not going to hurtanybody else.
Joshua : Are you made at me? Doyou still love me, Daddy?
Brad : I think you’re sick, Josh.Joshua : I don’t feel sick. Not at
Denying hisinvolvements
01:15:25
26
all.Brad : why are you doing this?
Huh?Joshua : You know what the bestpart is, Daddy?
16.
17.
Hazel : You know what, sweetie; Ireally need to use this littlegirl’s room right here for asec, all right? You stay righthere with the, uh…
(Few minutes ago…)Hazel : Joshua! Joshua! Joshua!!!
What were you doing?!Joshua : Where were you?Hazel : Where were you?! Oh,
Brad. So sorry. My God.Bradley
Brad : She was up there with Josh.You know, they said sheslipped.
Ned : No doubt about it. Youhave had one fucked-upmonth.
Brad : I think he pushed her.Ned : Come on. You’re… You’re
talking about a nine-year-oldboy.
Brad : I think all of this has beenhis doing. I think Abby…I think the screaming –Lily’s screaming… Theremust be something we cando.
Brilliant tochanging the
subject
Brilliant tochanging the
subject
01:10:40
01:18:23
18. Joshua : Can we play together?Abby : (sniffles loudly) Yeah,
yeah, let’s play a game,huh? What do you want toplay, backgammon?
Joshua : Hide-and-seek.Abby : Hide-and-seek? Oh, well,
I… Okay, fine.Joshua : Good. I’ll hide, you seek.Abby : Yeah, I figured as much.Joshua : You close your eyes and
count to fifty. AndMommy. No peeking.
Abby : Okay. One, two, three,four, five, six, seven, eight,nine, ten…
Trying tomake peopleseem crazy
01:00:20
27
Abby : Joshua! Where are you?!(crying) Oh… (sigh)…
Brad : Okay, sweetie. Do youhurt? It’s okay. Shh, shh,shh… Lily’s fine. See, look.She’s asleep in her crib.She’s fine. See? Okay?
Abby : You!! (scream)Joshua : Did you even look for me,
Mommy?Abby : (Abby screams) YOU!
19. Joshua : Beware of theJabberwocky.
Brad : What? (Lily cries). Did hejust… just take your fuckin’binky?!(crying continues) Joshua,
Joshua, Joshua! Where’sLily”s binky?Joshua!
Joshua : Come on. Let’s goBrad : I’m talking to you. You
better come down here rightnow.
Joshua : You better come downhere right now.
Brad : Joshua, Joshua.Joshua : Joshua.Brad : I’m not fucking around
with you right now.You understand me?
Come down right now!Joshua : Come down right now.Brad : Where is it? Where’s
Lily’s binky?Joshua : Where’s Lily’s binky?Brad : You answer me. Answer
your father.Joshua : Answer your father.Brad : Answer your father!
(slapping Joshua)Joshua : No, no, no, Daddy!
Nobody will ever love you.(slyly smile)
Brad : You… fuck! (stifledmoans)
Trying to makepeople seem
crazy
01:30:20
28
B. Data analysis
1. Joshua’s Characters
The director described Joshua firstly as a normal child. His activities were
doing normally as a common child. One day in the hospital, Joshua and his father,
Brad, visited his mother, Abby that bore Lily. In the hospital, Joshua did not
directly join with Brad and Abby. He just looked them from the door with weird
looking.
Joshua: Is that hurt, Mommy?
On a dialogue above, Joshua tried to ask his mother about how she felt like when
she born Lily. After Abby went back home, then his grandparents and uncle came
together into his apartment. Joshua was really like to play piano and he performed
his performance to them. He often played it together with his lovely uncle named
Ned. But after Lily’s born, Joshua started to feel be alienated by his parents and
grandparents. Joshua always tried to disturb Lily to make her cry and wake up
Brad and Abby. This lifestyle continued for few days. Then he saw the recorded
video of Abby that showed her mental illness tendency when she cared him. Since
that, Joshua started to act strange and aggressive.
The writer subtypes Joshua as aggressive sociopath because his characters
and personalities show many tendencies of it.
29
a. High Intelligent
The sociopaths could be the intelligent and very successful businessmen
that goes home each night and abuses their families.10 They usually have a normal
or above normal intelligence level and good verbal fluency.11
George Ratliff described Joshua as a child that had high intelligent. He
was very clever in science and played some tricks to trap his victims. He often
used his intelligent to hurt, manipulate, abuse, or even to kill people. In support
the writer analyze it can be seen from some dialogues beneath.
First dialogue:
Brad : Joshua, he’s, uh… How smart is he?
Ms. Danforth : Well, this might be getting ahead of ourselves, but we think
Joshua might benefit by skipping a grade, maybe two.
The first dialogue above is a conversation between Joshua’s father, Brad,
and his teacher, Ms. Danforth; that explained about how smart Joshua was at
school. His smart was exceeding over his grade and it made Ms. Danforth to
propose him for skipping two grades “…we think Joshua might benefit by
skipping a grade, maybe two.”
The second dialogue beneath is a conversation between Joshua and his
father, Brad, in Joshua’s bedroom. Joshua that fanatic with Egypt’s myths was
10 KEEBU, DEFINITION OF A SOCIOPATH. Accessed on March 5, 2008http://www.findlaci2003.us/sociopath.html. p. 2
11 Ibid. p. 1
30
practicing his knowledge about the embalming into his puppet that to be known as
one of the Egypt custom, front of his father “In Egypt, when they embalmed
people…”
Second dialogue:
Joshua : In Egypt, when they embalmed people, like Pharaohs, they broken thenose and removed the brain through the opening. They drained the body ofall its fluid on a special stone slab. This guarantees him a gloriousafterlife. (Humming…) They chanted something, too, but I’m making thatpart up.
He completely explained the steps of embalming that he believed as the
guarantee of a glorious afterlife for the people “This guarantees him a glorious
afterlife”. He cut the puppet’s nose by a scissor “…they broken the nose and
removed the brain through the opening”, and then, he cut the puppet’s stomach
then took the fills out as if he drained the body from all fluids “They drained the
body of all its fluid on a special stone slab”.
Third dialogue:
Joshua : Seth. He’s the god of chaos.Hazel : Seth? That’s the name of the god of chaos? Pity those heathens.Joshua : Seth cut Osirus into fourteen pieces.Hazel : Bad Seth…Joshua : But Seth is also good. Without Seth, there is no order. Because Seth is the
only one who can battle the evil serpent, Apep. Apep is all-bad. Puredarkness. He eats his own screams. That’s his only nourishment. …If Apepswallowed you, you become nothing. A nonbeing. Till the end of existence,you’d remain in Apep’s guts, slowly digested for all of eternity. Andnobody would care ‘cause nobody would realize you were missing.
The third dialogue above is a conversation between Joshua and Hazel
when visiting the Brooklyn Museum of Art that performing the relics and myths
of Egypt which he interesting on it. He stood look into an ancient symbolic picture
31
of Seth and Apep that hung on the wall, then he explained the story details with
specified to Hazel. He told her about Seth as the god of chaos that had cut Osirus
into fourteen pieces “Seth cut Osirus into fourteen pieces”, and as the only one
who could battle against Apep, the evil serpent from darkness “…Seth is the only
one who can battle the evil serpent, Apep.” He also made Hazel felt suddenly
frightened when he explained that she would be nothing, nobody would care and
realize about your missing if Apep swallowed her, then she would remain in
Apep’s guts until the end of her life to slowly digested for the eternities “If Apep
swallowed you, you become nothing. A nonbeing. Till the end of existence, you’d
remain in Apep’s guts, slowly digested for all of eternity. And nobody would care
‘cause nobody would realize you were missing.”
According to the dialogues that the writer puts above are proving that
Joshua had extremely high intelligent in knowledge that will always help him on
doing the crimes. His intelligent and ability level are exceeding the average
standard level of children on his age.
b. Talking-well and Clear-Headed
Not only as a high intelligent kid, Joshua was also had verbal intelligent
and clear-headed. He was highly competence in using his verbal ability to
manipulate and provoke people and his family. His clear-headed made him
capable to twist the subjects’ words by quickly and skillfully and did not need
much time thinking for answering the questions or interrogations. But much of his
statements those he speech were just a lying.
32
The dialogue beneath was happened when Joshua ate together with Brad,
Abby, and Lily in their dining room. In a quiet, he suddenly opened a
conversation about the dead people in their apartment “You know someone died in
this apartment?” that made his parents became confused. But after his father
answers him that it was not true, he quickly told the words that never the kids
could happen to be thought so quickly about this earth that filled up by bones of
the dead bodies that people will find if they dig it down “…someone has died, on
pretty much every inch of this planet. You know, dig down anywhere, and you’ll
find bones.”
First Dialogue:
Joshua : You know someone died in this apartment?…Brad : I-I-I… I’m pretty sure that’s not true.Joshua : If you think about it, someone has died, on pretty much every inch of
this planet. You know, dig down anywhere, and you’ll find bones.Abby : (Abby laughs) I don’t know. I think you…
We would probably know if someone was killed here.Joshua : I didn’t say killed. Why do you think killed? Do you have the sense, too?Brad : Nobody died here, man.
He said that this planet was full of bones that would be found if they dig it
down “If you think about it, someone has died, on pretty much every inch of this
planet. You know, dig down anywhere, and you’ll find bones”; to get their
reactions of those words. After he succeeded to make Abby go into his
provocation by answer his question, by quickly he twisted her sentences by saying
“I didn’t say killed. Why do you think killed? Do you have the sense, too?” that
made them felt weird of his statement for a while. It proved that he was a talking
33
well and he manipulated people by mixing his verbal intelligent and clear-headed
together.
Second dialogue:
Joshua : Do you ever feel weird about me? Your weird son?Brad : No. No, no, no, no, not at all. Not at all.Joshua : You know that magic trick where the magician puts the person in the box
and spins the box and makes the person disappear? I know how that trickis done. If you look carefully, you can tell.
Brad : Well, you know, hey, maybe magic is your thing. We could take you to amagic store. Get you some tricks.
Joshua : You know, you don’t have to love me. That’s not like a rule or something.Brad : But I do love you. You’re my boy. I’ll always love you, no matter what.
Okay?
The second dialogue above which happened between Joshua and Brad,
Joshua suddenly opened a conversation with asking a question about was Brad
ever felt weird about him “Do you ever feel weird about me? Your weird son?” He
also told him that he did not need to love him because it was not a rule. He said
the words about the tricks of magic that could make people disappear as if he
wanted to give a sign of his plan to eliminate his parents by twisting the words as
his tricks “You know that magic trick where the magician puts the person in the
box and spins the box and makes the person disappear? I know how that trick is
done”, but Brad did not realize it and just deemed it as a usual topic of Joshua’s
interest.
c. Callousness and Lack of remorse
Sociopaths are usually unable to sustain relationships and have a total lack
of remorse for their actions and may also be very prone to aggressive, hostile, and
34
sometimes violent behavior.12 Joshua, who always acted spontaneously and
disorganized on doing his crimes, he also showed the callousness and lack of
remorse feeling into his victims. The dialogue beneath can supports the writer’s
analyze about it.
Hazel : Joshua! Joshua! JOSHUA!!! What were you doing?!Joshua : Where were you?Hazel : Where were you?! Brad. So sorry. My God. Bradley.Brad : Jesus Christ, Mom.Hazel : I’m so sorry. Bradley. I’m so sorry. You gave me such a fright. Don’t!
No! No! Oh! YOU… (Thudding, woman gasps).
The dialogue above happened when Joshua, Lily and his grandmother,
Hazel visited the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Joshua tried to push Lily on her baby-
train down to the stairs while Hazel goes to the toilet, but he failed after Hazel
succeeded to chasing him and screaming his name. By his spontaneously and
disorganized, he exploited the time and situation of Hazel’s neglectfulness to
eliminate Lily. He did not show any remorse feeling at all about his mistake.
After his father, Brad, knew about Joshua crimes, he took over Lily from
Joshua and leaved him behind with Hazel who was still frightening and shocking
after that incident, just stood on the upstairs with her confusion while Joshua hold
her left hand unexpectedly. And once again he exploited the situation when people
around did not pay attention to him and Hazel, without any callousness, he pushed
Hazel down to the stairs until die. By looking people screaming when seeing
Hazel down, he pretended to approach her and cried.
12 Ibid
35
d. Bully and Tyrannize
Bully is a person’s characteristic who uses her or his strength or power to
frighten or hurt weaker people13. Joshua’s deviant in bullying and tyrannize were
also depicted by the director, George Ratliff. Tyrannize is a person’s characteristic
who treats somebody in an unfair or cruel way14. Joshua’s tyrannize actions to his
family members and the animals proved him as a tyrant.
Old man : Can you help me out, little man? Just something, anything.
I’m no chooser here.
Joshua : I’ll give you five dollars if I can throw a rock at you.
The dialogue above showed that Joshua was bullied a poor old man. When
Joshua sat on a garden bench, the old man came close to him and asked some
money to him. But Joshua submitted the old man a requisite that if the old man
allowed Joshua to throw a rock at him, Joshua would give him five dollars. It
proves that he liked to hurt or bully the weak people.
e. Serving themselves
Sociopaths only care about fulfilling their own needs and desires.15 Their
intention is just to gratify themselves, and they will commit a crime if to achieve
gratification means breaking the law. Their motives are selfish and if others get in
13 A.S Hornby, Oxford Advanced Dictionary, (Aylesbury: Oxford University Press, 1987) p. 147
14 Ibid. p. 1290
15 Ibid
36
the way of their desires, they will victimize others to get what they want.16 They
will do any lying, cheating, or even murder to fulfill it. Joshua that to be showed
on this film, had a big desire to live with his lovely uncle, Ned. Ned was the one
who very close to him that often played piano together with him. Joshua very
revered his uncle who always supported him. This desire had made Joshua
decided to eliminate his parents and other relatives that he thought would be
chased him to fulfill it. The sentences below were a song lyric that Joshua sang
before the film ended.
You know they didn’t ever have to love me.No, no, no.And no one will ever love them now.But they always wanted that somehow to save me. Why oh why?For pity’s sake they should have saved themselves.But you, you always said I never missed a note.And nobody ever knew me like I do.You always said it was gonna be okay.I only ever really wanted to be with you.
Joshua sang that song when he played piano together with Ned, while the
couriers packaging his and Lily’s stuffs. Ned decided to take care of Joshua and
Lily while their parents could solve the problems. He would bring them into his
apartment. Joshua expressed his feeling about what he felt on his parents and Ned.
Ned, who still did not realize about Joshua’s crimes, heard carefully every word of
the song lyric that Joshua singing. Brad and Joshua were playing piano together,
while waiting the couriers packaging his and Lily’s stuffs to move out into Ned’s
apartment. He thought that his parents, Brad and Abby did not need to do
something to protect him “…they always wanted that somehow to save me” but
16 Ibid. p. 2
37
rather they have to saved themselves “they should have saved themselves”, and
they did not need to love him too “they didn’t ever have to love me”. On that lyric,
he also said that no one would ever love them now. Joshua also expressed his
feeling about Ned that he never missed a note and always supports him; on this
song. He even expressed his desire to be with him” I only ever really wanted to be
with you.” For a sociopath, the end justifies the means.17
2. Joshua’s sociopath
a. Manipulate Other
The sociopaths learn early on to be charming in order to manipulate their
surroundings.18 In the movie, Joshua was showed as a boy that had a manipulate
ability. He used his speech intelligent to manipulate people. Manipulation as one
of sociopath traits is closely tied with their view of the world and their place in the
world.19 Other people are not subjects of sociopaths’ experience but rather objects.
They play people as if other people are toys, and the ones that are at most risk are
the ones in a relationship with a sociopath.
17 Ibid.
18 Lisa Featherston, Sociopath. Accessed on March 5, 2008.http://www.archetypewriting.com/articles/psychology/sociopaths.htm. p. 2
19 Admin, Sociopath traits: Sociopath characteristics and relationships with sociopaths. Accessedon May 13, 2008.http://jubave.com/2008/04/28/sociopath-traits-sociopath-characteristics-and-relationships-with-sociopaths/. p. 2
38
First dialogue:
Joshua :Dad, is Mommy alright?Brad : Yeah, yeah. She’s just tired, pal. Why do you ask?Joshua : Nothing. Lily asleep?Brad : Yeah, I got her to fall asleep. Pretty good, huh?Joshua : You’re better at it than Mommy.Brad : (laughs) I’m not sure about that.Joshua : You are. Really.
Second dialogue:
Joshua : Are we save, Mommy?
Abby : Well, what do you mean?
Joshua : Does Daddy love me?
Abby : Of course he loves you. Yes, he loves you very, very much. Yeah.
Joshua : But not like a Mommy.
The first and second dialogues are helping the writer analyze to proving
Joshua’s manipulate behavior. The first dialogue is a conversation between Joshua
and his father, Brad, in his bedroom. He told Brad that he was better in taking care
of children than his mother, Abby “You’re better at it than Mommy”, whereas, on
the second dialogue between him and Abby that happened a few days after it, he
told her that she was more loving him than his father “But not like a Mommy.”;
after he made a question that doubting his father’s love to him “Does Daddy love
me?” He also asked her about their safety to her “Are we save, Mommy?”, as if
Brad had threatened their safety and brought the uncomfortable feeling to them.
After Brad distrusted Joshua as the mastermind of all the chaos that
happened in his family, he decided to call a child psychologist named Betsy into
his apartment. Brad asked her to find out the causes of Joshua’s deviation. Joshua,
39
who did not know about her coming before, spontaneously started to set a fire
strategy to manipulate Brad and Betsy. As the first step, Betsy asked Joshua to
show her his guinea pig in his room. But he spontaneously diverted the topic and
her attention on guinea pig that he had strayed before in his room; into drawing
“My guinea pig? Okay. Do you like draw?”
Betsy : Yeah. Maybe you could show me your room. I hear you have a guinea
pig. I love guinea pigs.
Joshua : My guinea pig? Okay. Do you like draw?
Betsy : Oh, I love drawing.
Joshua used his high intelligent to manipulate Brad and Betsy by drawing
a picture which to be known as the textbook example of abuse “This picture is a
textbook example of abuse”. He drew it with Betsy that watched him over from
behind. He wanted her to make a simple conclusion that Brad had abused him.
Without they realized that they would be enter into his trap by means of his
drawing. After Brad left Betsy and Joshua both in a guest room, he came close to
them to find out Betsy’s conclusion about her observation of Joshua. Before she
gave her conclusion about Joshua, Brad commented Joshua’s drawing as a sign of
sociopath “This has got to be the sign of some kind of… sociopath.” But, based on
the drawing, she denied his comment and concluded that someone had abused
Joshua “I’m just pointing out the fact that your son has been abused.”
40
Third dialogue:
Brad : Do you see…? This…this is off. Something is wrong here. This has got tobe the sign of some kind of… sociopath.
Betsy : No, no, no, Mr. Cairn. That’s…that’s not it. This picture is a textbookexample of abuse. Okay? That boy is being abused…
Brad : No, no, no, no, no, no. Let me tell you what you’re dealing with here.Betsy : I don’t care…Brad : …he probably researched it. He probably looked it up on the computer.
He probably knew exactly what to draw.Betsy : This is abuse I’m talking about right here. Do you understand what I’m
saying?Brad : What are you…? Nobody’s beating him. I’m not…he probably…Betsy : Why are you being so defensive? I’m just pointing out the fact that your
son has been abused.Brad : I’m not being…
Brad who felt that her sarcastic-gaze and accusation about Joshua’s abuse
were directed on him, trying to insist her that nobody abused him “Nobody’s
beating him. I’m not…” Knowing about how smart Joshua was, Brad even saying
that Joshua was probably researched and looked it up on the computer before; and
exactly knew what he should to draw “…he probably researched it. He probably
looked it up on the computer. He probably knew exactly what to draw.” But he
had failed to convince her, whereas, his denying make her more distrust him who
had abused Joshua. At least Joshua succeeded to provoke Brad and Betsy into a
dispute.
Two examples above are proving that Joshua uses his ability in manipulate
people to eliminate them or just for covering himself from their suspicions on his
crimes. It has been proved when he slanders Brad and Abby to get their attention,
and drawing a picture of abuses to provoke Betsy for accuses Brad that has abused
him.
41
b. Lying all the time
The sociopaths lie very easily and though some lies are deliberate, most of
their lie are unintentional and usually a part of boasting about their lives.20 Joshua,
who was always showing his activities by lying all the time, had filled the movie
that will create a description about him as an extreme liar kid. His manipulate
activities also used the lie ability to it. Because of his figure as a nine-year kid,
had made people easier to trust his lie. The writer puts a dialogue beneath as an
authentication of his analyze about Joshua’s lying behavior.
Joshua had succeeded to eliminate Brad by harassed his emotion to beat
him in the public and brought him into the jail. The conversation beneath was
happened between Brad and his father, Chester; in an investigation room that Brad
asked to come and look a lawyer for handled his case.
First dialogue:
Chester : …Uh over thirty eyewitnesses, your boy tells the cops he’s been beingabused since his sister was born, bruises all over his body, a sheaf ofJoshua’s drawing that have the authorities drooling…
Brad : Chester, goddamn it, it isn’t the whole story, okay? I’m trying to tell Ihave to get out of here now.
Chester : They say you were tampering with Abby’s medication.Brad : What? That’s – that’s insane.
As usual, people more trusted Joshua for what he said as a kid who never
be lie, than Brad’s words as an adult. Chester told Brad that Joshua made some
confessions into the cops that Brad had abused and bruised him since Lily was
born “…your boy tells the cops he’s been being abused since his sister was born,
20 Ibid
42
bruises all over his body…” Betsy, a child psychologist that ever observed
Joshua; had also given a Joshua’s picture of abuses which he ever used to
manipulate Brad and Betsy, into the cops as an evidence thing “…a sheaf of
Joshua’s drawing that have the authorities drooling…” And Joshua also slandered
Brad by giving a confession to them that Brad had tempered with Abby’s
medication “They say you were tampering with Abby’s medication.” All of those
Joshua’s confessions had incriminated Brad as the accused. Brad, who knew that
Joshua’s confessions were just a lying; could not do anything to defend himself
causing by the witnesses and evidences that he did not have.
c. Denying his involvements
The sociopath may be an excellent actor; always appearing charming,
calm, and collected.21 If there was someone had known about Joshua’s
involvements of his criminal actions and asked it, he would always try to deny it.
No matter how far that people forced him with the questions, he would keep
pretended and used his verbal ability to deny it. The dialogue beneath that the
writer puts is happened in the morning between Joshua and his father, Brad that
looking over him. Brad acted more wary and always asked the interrogation
questions about Joshua’s crimes after knowing it.
Joshua : Daddy? Do you like my house? I made it last night.Brad : I know what you’re doing, Josh. I don’t know ‘why’ you’re doing it, but
I’m on to you.Joshua : They’re just blocks, Daddy.Brad : You’re not going to hurt anybody else.
21 KEEBU, DEFINITION OF A SOCIOPATH. Accessed on March 5, 2008.http://www.findlaci2003.us/sociopath.html. p. 1
43
Joshua : Are you made at me? Do you still love me, Daddy?Brad : I think you’re sick, Josh.Joshua : I don’t feel sick. Not at all.Brad : why are you doing this? Huh?Joshua : You know what the best part is, Daddy?
Although Joshua knew that his father, Brad brightly forced him by his
statements that he knew his crimes “know what you’re doing, Josh. I don’t know
‘why’ you’re doing it…”, but he still tried to denying it and pretended by divert
the topic into his blocks house that he made on last night “They’re just blocks,
Daddy”. And when Brad judged him about his illness “I think you’re sick, Josh”,
he diverted it too by saying that he did not feel seek at all “I don’t feel sick. Not at
all.”
d. Brilliant to changing the subject
Joshua was also brilliant in changing the subject when he threatened. He
handed over all of the crimes he did to the subject that knowing about his crimes
doing. He would manipulate people to trust him for any kind of lies he told to
slandering the subjects. There are some dialogues beneath, that will help the
writer to support his analyze about this deviant.
The first dialogue beneath describes Joshua who handed over his fault into
his grandmother, Hazel; that happened in the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
First dialogue:
Hazel : You know what, sweetie; I really need to use this little girl’s room righthere for a sec, all right? You stay right here with the, uh…
(Few minutes ago…)Hazel : Joshua! Joshua! Joshua!!! What were you doing?!Joshua : Where were you?
44
Hazel : Where were you?! Oh, Brad. So sorry. My God. Bradley.
In the middle of their visiting, Hazel left Joshua into the toilet and asked
him to keep stay on his place with Lily “…I really need to use this little girl’s
room right here for a sec, all right? You stay right here…” He spontaneously used
the time to eliminate Lily and brought her into the stairs, then tried to push her
down. But he stopped his plan and failed when Brad and Hazel successfully found
him. They came close to him to take Lily away from his hands. He quickly
pretended as a kid who to looking for his parents. Although he knew that Hazel
went to the rest room, but he kept pretended that he did not know the place where
she gone by asked her “Where were you?” By that question, He handed over it
into her; as if, she had done a wrong by leaving him alone with Lily without told
him before. And when people around did not pay more attention to them both, he
pushed down Hazel from the upstairs until die.
The second dialogue beneath is happened in mourn of Hazel death, and
because of that, Joshua using black coat.
Second dialogue:
Brad : She was up there with Josh. You know, they said she slipped.Ned : No doubt about it. You have had one fucked-up month.Brad : I think he pushed her.Ned : Come on. You’re… You’re talking about a nine-year-old boy.Brad : I think all of this has been his doing. I think Abby…
I think the screaming – Lily’s screaming…There must be something we can do.
In Hazel’s funeral, Brad wanted to tell about his suspiciousness for what
Joshua done; in to his brother-in-law, Ned. Brad, who was also in that Museum
when that accident happened, tried to tell Ned that Joshua had killed Hazel “I
45
think he pushed her”, harassed Abby and Lily “I think all of this has been his
doing. I think Abby… I think the screaming – Lily’s screaming…“ But Ned did not
believe him and thought that it was impossible for Joshua to do and plan all of
those crimes on his age. Joshua distrustful Brad’s movements that talking with
Ned in whispered and watched them out, while he stood with his grandfather,
Chester. Then, Joshua came close to them both to stopping their private
conversation. Joshua tried to whispering something on Ned’s ear to slander Brad,
while stealing a glance at Brad. Once more, he successfully made Ned trust him
and distrusted Brad.
e. Trying to make people seem crazy
A sociopath prefers to play games and prove his cunning over society.22 In
this movie, Joshua was also depicted as a child that liked trying to make people
same crazy. He knew exactly how to make people look crazy or even make them
become real crazy. He played some tricks to provoke the subjects’ emotions. The
writer puts the dialogues beneath as follow to support his analyze.
A dialogue beneath describes a situation when Joshua tried to use her
mother’s nervous breakdown and her injured foot condition to make her seem
crazy by using a hide-and-seek game trick. Alienated and put her mother away
was his purpose.
22 Lisa Featherston, Sociopath. Accessed on March 5, 2008.http://www.archetypewriting.com/articles/psychology/sociopaths.htm. p. 1
46
First dialogue:
Joshua : Can we play together?Abby : (sniffles loudly) Yeah, yeah, let’s play a game, huh? What do you want to
play, backgammon?Joshua : Hide-and-seek.Abby : Hide-and-seek? Oh, well, I… Okay, fine.Joshua : Good. I’ll hide, you seek.Abby : Yeah, I figured as much.Joshua : You close your eyes and count to fifty. And Mommy. No peeking.Abby : Okay. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten…Joshua!
Where are you?! (crying) Oh… (sigh)…Brad : Okay, sweetie. Do you hurt? It’s okay. Shh, shh, shh… Lily’s fine. See,
look. She’s asleep in her crib. She’s fine. See? Okay?Abby : You!! (scream)Joshua : Did you even look for me, Mommy?Abby : (Abby screams) YOU!
Joshua came close to her mother, Abby that newly succeeded to fall Lily
asleep. He used this time to eliminate her before his father come home, and used a
hide-and-seek game trick to bring Abby into his trap. He asked Abby to be the
seeker that has to find him while he was hiding. Her injured-foot that Joshua had
calculated before was slowing down her steps to find him and made him easier to
prepare the traps. Abby tried to look for him, but she did not find him anywhere.
She became shock and panic after she found Lily was not in her crib. Joshua
brought Lily and hid her to harass Abby’s nervous breakdown that would make
her easier to seem crazy or lost control. She started hysterical crying and when she
begging him to come out and gave Lily back to her. “Joshua! Where are you?! “.
She tried to looking for him on the emergency stairs-room and locked in a
storeroom.
Brad found Abby and brought her in, then told Abby that Lily was
sleeping in her crib and nothing bad happened to her. Abby who felt that Joshua
47
had played her, was screaming and being hysterical crying, as she looked Joshua
be in Lily’s bedroom. Brad held her when she tried to lunge Joshua who just
standing in silent and showing no fear on his face when looked her screaming to
him. Moreover, he still used her hysterical to harass her more by judged her that
she did not try to look him for, “Did you even look for me, Mommy?“ that words
had made her became more hysterical and screamed louder. Brad brought her into
a Mental Hurt Review to get a medication for her heavy nervous breakdown.
Second dialogue:
Brad : What’s going on here? When am I getting bail?
Chester : Not till Monday. Don’t you know? Never beat up your kid in public on
the weekend.
A few weeks after Joshua succeeded to eliminate Abby by harassed her to
seem crazy and after he killed Hazel, he continued to eliminate Brad. Brad, who
had known about Joshua’s crimes, was starting look after Lily more tightly to
make her keep stay away from Joshua’s reach. Joshua, who realized it, tried to
getting back Brad’s attention and asked him to take a pleasure trip together in a
center park on the weekend. Joshua harassed Brad’s emotion by repeating the
words that he ordered and asked to him until he lost his control, then hit and
slapped Joshua in public on the weekend “Never beat up your kid in public on the
weekend”.
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Third dialogue:
Joshua : Beware of the Jabberwocky.Brad : What? (Lily cries). Did he just… just take your fuckin’ binky?!
(crying continues) Joshua, Joshua, Joshua! Where’s Lily”s binky?Joshua! …I’m talking to you. You better come down here right now.
Joshua : You better come down here right now.Brad : I’m not fucking around with you right now.
You understand me? Come down right now!Joshua : Come down right now.Brad : Where is it? Where’s Lily’s binky?Joshua : Where’s Lily’s binky?Brad : You answer me. Answer your father.Joshua : Answer your father.Brad : Answer your father! (Slapping Joshua)Joshua : No, no, no, Daddy! Nobody will ever love you. (Slyly smile)Brad : You… fuck! (Stifled moans)
Joshua had taken Lily’s binky and made her crying then left them both.
Brad was not conscious for what Joshua saying before he left him that Brad has to
beware with the jabber that would trap him “Beware of the Jabberwocky”. After
Brad slapped Joshua as a sign that he was trapped on Joshua’s trick, Joshua gave
Brad a slyly smile as a sign of his win and told him that all people would hate him
because of this accident “nobody will ever love you.” Then, Brad realized that he
trapped after heard that words and saw Joshua expression. He had succeeded to
create the public assumptions on Brad as a bad father who liked to abuse his son,
then took him into the jail.
From the dialogues above, are proving how smart Joshua when using his
manipulate behavior to harass his family members and other people. He has
eliminated Abby by harassed her nervous breakdown to become worsen; and
eliminated Brad by harassed his emotion to hit him on the public.
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CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
On his film, George Ratliff tried to convey his view about psychology that
he described it through Joshua characters in his brand-new film Joshua. Joshua
Cairn was particularly reflected his struggle in fulfilling his own needs and desires
to serve himself. George characterized Joshua as a smart and extremely intelligent
kid that always wearing the formal clothes; on his modern thriller-drama film in
which he created by using the bright colors on lighting, setting, costuming, and
color effect to show up a reality sight on this film plot.
Joshua that was described as a normal kid before, had experienced the
psychological changed as a weird son after Lily’s born. His intelligent that
exceeding over his grade had brought him to become a smarter student on his
school that made his teacher proposed him for skipping two grades. His verbal
intelligent that skillfully his practicing on his daily activities to provoke his family
reactions of his words that previously could only be said by the high intelligent
adults.
He started to play some tricks to eliminate people surround him included
his family members. His actions that typically showing sociopath deviations were
40
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become more skilled in manipulate people. He twisted their words, harassed their
emotions and played some game tricks to provoke them.
He harassed his mother’s weaknesses to eliminate her by using hide and
seek game trick. Then, he killed his grandmother by pushed her down from the
stairs after he failed to push his sister down. He also liked to kill the pets. And
after he succeeded to manipulate his father with a child psychologist, he harassed
his father emotion to hit him on the public, then brought him into the jail and gave
counterfeit testimonies to the police.
From the description above, the writer concludes that the character’s
characterizations are closely related to the sociopath movement that serves him
and fulfills the needs and desires in family and public spheres. It can be seen when
the writer analyzes the characterization by using psychological theory.
B. Suggestions
Joshua was directed by George Ratliff, which described about an
extremely intelligent in knowledge and verbal ability boy in his characters that
reflecting a sociopath movement in attaining the desires of serving himself.
The film can be analyzed from many points of view, but in this
opportunity, the writer uses general psychology theory in analyzing and proving
the sociopath movement that contained on it.
The writer does suggest anyone who is interested in the film to conduct
deeper study related to psychology in literary works, to read and access some
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sources from various books and sites. Reading the literary analysis written by
many authors will also be helpful in understanding the psychology in a literary
work.
52
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barlow David H & V. Mark Durand, Abnormal Psychology: An integrativeApproach Third Edition. Canada: Wadsworth, 2002.
Berent Stanley. Introductory Psychology: A basic self instructional Guide. NewYork: McGraw-hill, 1997
Boggs, Joseph M., et. al., The Art Of Watching Film Fifth Edition. California:Mayfield Publishing Company, 2000.
Farkhan, Muhammad, Penulisan Karya Ilmiah. Jakarta: Cella, 2007.
Farkhan, Muhammad, Proposal Penelitian Bahasa Dan Sastra. Jakarta: Cella,2007.
Hornby, A.S, Oxford Advanced Dictionary. Aylesbury: Oxford University Press.1987
Rosen, Ephraim, et. al., Abnormal Psychology Second Edition. W.B SaundersCompany: 1972
Sarlito, Wirawan Sarwono. Pengantar Umum Psikologi. Jakarta: Bulan Bintang.1982.
Admin, Sociopath traits: Sociopath characteristics and relationships withsociopaths. Accessed on May 13, 2008http://jubave.com/2008/04/28/sociopath-traits-sociopath-characteristics-and-realtionships-with-sociopaths/
AHarleyGryl, The Sociopathic Personality, What You Should Know. Accessed onMarch 24, 2008. http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=985141
Anonymous, Profile of the sociopath. Accessed on April 19, 2008.http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html
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KEEBU, DEFINITION OF A SOCIOPATH. Accessed on March 5, 2008.http://www.findlaci2003.us/sociopath.html
Mamet, David Film Directing. Accessed on December 20, 2008.http://afronord.tripod.com/film/director/html
O’Connor, T. Antisocial Personality, Sociopathy, And Psychopathy. Accessed onSeptember 24, 2007.http://www.apsu.edu/oconnort/crim/crimtheory08.htm
Robert, Dr. Hare, The Sociopathic Style: Classic Sociopathic Traits. Accessed onOctober 5, 2008. http://www.sociopathicstyle.com/traits/classic.htm
Wiehardt, Ginny flat character. Accessed on January 21, 2009.http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/glossary/9/flatcharacters.htm
Wikipedia Abnormal Psychology. Accessed on October 2, 2007.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abnormal_psychology
Wikipedia Characterisation. Accessed on July 25. 2007.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characterisation
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