AN ANALYSIS OF PSEUDOBULBAR BEHAVIOUR ON THE MAIN

CHARACTER IN JOKER
A THESIS
BY DELIA ZUHERA
REG. NO. 170705011
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
FACULTY OF CULTURAL SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA
MEDAN 2012
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Study

Film is one of media which can persuade and entertain people. By film
people usually can enjoy their life which crowed. People usually enjoy the film
just only to entertain themselves. There are many kinds of film which really
interested to watch. On film, also have many kinds of moral value and also some
of imitated from real human life. Allen (2004: 123) stated, “Film theorists, critics,
and commentators have been drawn to psychoanalytic ideas to explain cinema,
because cinema seems to display a fundamental kinship with the irrational that
psychoanalysis seeks to explain.” Based on that statement, some of people also
learn and believe with the film which they watch. They usually also imitate the
character on the film which they like.

On the other hand, the character on the film is not always same by the real
life. Film is a fiction’s creation of someone thinking, but film sometimes is
adopted from real life. For the example is Joker’s movie which tell that joker have
a bad behaviour on his character. Whereas, Joker have another reason why he does
that. As we know, from that movie Joker has Pseudobulbar affect. Pseudobulbar
affect (PBA) is a syndrome in which emotional or affective motor control becomes
dysregulated as a result of brain damage from a neurologic disease or as a result of
brain injury. Miller (2011) stated “PBA is a distressing condition marked by
sudden, involuntary episodes of crying and/or laughing. It occurs when certain
neurologic conditions or injuries damage the areas of the brain that control normal
expression of emotion. This damage can disrupt brain signaling, causing a ‘short
circuit’ and triggering episodes of involuntary crying or laughing.” Because of his
syndrome, he always makes some mistaken behaviour with others. But, his
behaviour honestly can be prohibited by good respect people.
 So, based on this wrong seen, the researcher will make an analysis about
Joker’s film. Give clearly example about Pseudobulbar and the effect on someone
daily life by the thesis entitled ‘An Analysis of Pseudobulbar Behaviour on the
Main Character in Joker’.

1.2. Problems of the Study

In this study, researcher will analyse the pseudobulbar behaviour on the

main character in joker’ film. The research will focus on characteristic and the
effect of pseudobulbar. Based on the explanation above, the researcher has two
questions as follows:

1. What are the characteristic human which have pseudobulbar?

2. What are the effect of pseudobulbar?
3. What are the effect between psychoanalytic on Joker’s film and real life?

1.3. Objective of the Study

The emergence of this research objective comes from the formulation of

research. In this study the researcher found two research objectives, including:

1. To describe the characteristic human which have pseudobulbar

2. To explain the effect of pseudobulbar
3. To show the effect between psychoanalytic on Joker’s film and real life

1.4. Scope of the Study

In this research will limit the study only to identify and to analyse the
behaviour of pseudobulbar, also the psychoanalytic on Joker’ film. It will use
Richard Allen and Rebecca R King Jeffrey P Reiss theories to evaluate the case.
1.5. Significance of the Study

This part is about research significant that contains about benefits to the
reader. There are several benefits expected by conducting this research. The
benefits of this study are theoretically and practically. To find out more details
about these benefits can be seen below.

1. Theoretically
This research is expected to be able to make new contributions,
especially in the study of psychoanalytic. In addition, researchers want the
results of this study to be useful as well as reference information and
alternatives for other people, especially English literature students who carry
out similar research.

2. Practically
This research will help researchers to enrich their knowledge related to
psychoanalytic. This research will also provide a deeper understanding in the
field of literature as a reference for other researchers in analyzing of
pseudobulbar behaviour on the main character in Joker.
List your references

Hancock, Beverley. (2002). Trent Focus for Research and Development in Primary
Health Care: An Introduction to Qualitative Research. Trent Focus.
Kothari, C.R. (2004). Research Methodology: Method And Technique (Second Revised
Edition). New Delhi: New Age International Publisher.
Aiesha Ahmed Zachary Simmons. Pseudobulbar affect: prevalence and management
Miller A, Pratt H, Schiffer RB. Psuedobulbar affect: the spectrum of clinical
presentations, etiologies, and treatments
Rebecca R King Jeffrey P Reiss. The epidemiology and pathophysiology of
pseudobulbar affect and its association with neurodegeneration
Richard Allen. 2004. Psychoanalytic Film Theory. Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Pedro Sangro Colón. 2008. Films from the Couch: Film Theory and Psychoanalysis.
Facultad de Comunicación. Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca (Spain).