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Grahita Ananta Ratri 121911333045 Jurnal
Grahita Ananta Ratri 121911333045 Jurnal
Universitas Airlangga
grahita.ananta.ratri-2019@fib.unair.ac.id
ABSTRACT
This study aims to investigate the portrayal of domestic violence and forms of
radical resistance by women characters against the violence in the movie A
Vigilante (2018). The prevalence of domestic violence has become a
commonplace. As in the movie A Vigilante (2018), the women characters are
portrayed as radical characters. To pursue the aim of this study, a qualitative
methodology incorporating both narrative and non-narrative approaches and the
theory of radical feminism by Rosemarie Putnam Tong was employed. This study
also uses coping strategies theory by Lazarus and Folkman to analyze the
strategies used by women characters in resisting violence. The findings of this
study demonstrate that the women characters receive acts of physical violence.
Besides, the discussion also indicates that women characters represent radical
resistance by using strategic planful problem solving, confrontative coping, and
seeking social support. In conclusion, this movie represents a radical resistance.
INTRODUCTION
1
involves a spouse, a child, or other family members as abusers and victims
(medlineplus.gov, 2017). As in the statistical report of domestic violence
cases reported by The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence's
Vision that 1 in 4 women have experienced a form of violence by their
partner (2021). Therefore, the issue of domestic violence has received a lot
of attention, such as in the media. Currently, the media present issues in
various forms, one of which is movies. A movie as a mass media product
generally has the function of broadcasting information and entertaining
(Hasim, 2002:141). However, the movie industries usually also imply
issues that are relevant to the conditions of the time, and convey messages
through a movie for public consumption.
As in the movie A Vigilante (2018), where the issue of domestic
violence clearly depicted in the movie. However, the main woman
character in the movie, Sadie, is shown as a victim of domestic violence.
Thus, it changed Sadie’s character to become a person full of ambition to
take revenge on the man who had abused her. Not only Sadie's character, it
is also shown briefly that there are several victims of domestic violence,
which are Andrea Schaund and Charlene Jackson.
From this explanation, the writer aims to analyze the movie A
Vigilante (2018). It is a drama genre movie produced in the United States
which premiered on March 10, 2018 at South by Southwest, and was
released by Saban Films on March 29, 2019. The writer focuses on
identifying the portrayal of domestic violence experienced by women
characters in the movie. Apart from that, the writer also focuses on the
portrayal of women's fight against the violence, by using coping strategies
framework by Lazarus & Folkman (1984).
The vigilante behavior represented by the women characters is a
reaction to the helplessness of the acts of violence they have received. This
is in line with the theory that when someone does not believe in social
punishment by institutions, they tend to turn to vigilante violence because
they prefer to punish the perpetrators themselves and exercise social
2
control (Black, 1983). The punishment shown ranges from humiliating,
torturing, or executing the offender (Buckser, 1992; Patterson, 1999;
Young, 2005).
LITERATURE REVIEW
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The third study is an undergraduate thesis by Faridatul Candra Wahyu
Alriani entitled "Confronting Racial Discrimination: Coping Strategies Of
Non-Wasp People in Green Book Movie (2018)". The thesis was published by
Universitas Airlangga in 2020. Applying the theory of coping strategies by
Lazarus and Folkman, the study aims to reveal the coping strategies used by
the two non-WASP main characters in the film Green Book (2018). As a
result, the study reveals that the two characters show different types of coping
strategies in dealing with the issues depicted in the film. This study provides a
perspective regarding the analysis of coping techniques for characters in
movies.
The last study is a journal entitled "Coping Strategies in Free Guy Films
for Self-Character Development" by Nur Rohaeni Fuadi and Rufus Goang
Swaradesy. This journal aims to reveal how characters in movies Free Guy 1
and Free Guy 2 faces the challenges of technological developments that affect
human activities. The study contributes to the implementation of coping
strategy theory in the study as the findings disclosed in the journal.
The four related studies relevant with this study. The first and second
studies raised the issue of violence as this study, and also apply the same
theory, radical feminism by Rosemarie P. Tong. The third and fourth studies
raised different issue from this study, but the theory applied is related to this
study which is coping strategies theory.
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This study also applied the theory of coping strategies by Lazarus &
Folkman. The purpose is to find out the strategies used by the women
characters in overcoming situations of oppression that occur to them. Coping
strategies is divided into two branches which include problem focused coping
and emotional focused coping. In problem focused coping, the strategies used
by individuals in dealing with stressful situations are divided into planful
problem solving, confrontative coping, and seeking for social support.
Meanwhile, emotional focused coping consists of positive reappraisal,
accepting responsibility, self controlling, and distancing (Lazarus & Folkman,
1984).
METHODOLOGY
Sources of data in this study are divided into two; primary data and
secondary data. The primary data uses the movie A Vigilante which can be
accessed via an Amazon legal platform and prime video by subscribing to the
platform. Furthermore, secondary data is also used to support research,
including written documents such as books, journals, articles and other data
related to research.
5
FINDING AND DISCUSSIONS
6
The dialogue ”He would... set my bones. After he broke them. ”
indicates that Sadie has received physical forms of violence in the past. As
based on the Oxford Dictionary, bone is the hard part of the skeleton that
is located in the human body. Furthermore, it seems that the violence she
received was not something she experienced only once, but several times
as shown by the word "always" she uttered in "He never hurt me in front
of him (Cody), and I always used makeup to cover anything".
7
Another woman character who is told to experience domestic
violence is someone named Andrea Schaund. She was a victim of violence
by her husband, Schaund. Even though there are no scenes directly
showing the violence experienced by Andrea Schaund, several scenes
show the impact of the violence she experienced, namely in the form of
physical violence.
8
Figure 3. Scars on Charlene's mouth
9
refer to terms called coping strategies, which are ways that individuals do
to recover themselves from negative emotions and the effects of stressful
experiences experienced (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
10
The planful problem solving strategy based on Lazarus and
Folkman (1984) refers to the method used by individuals in dealing with
situations by focusing on strategic planning to act in dealing with a
problem. In other words, instead of acting rashly, a planful problem
solving strategy tends to prepare more structured efforts with careful
planning.
11
considered a male-dominated activity, even because women's participation
in martial arts in Western history has been limited [Opliger 2013; Jennings
2014; Quinney 2015].
Confrontative Coping
You killed our boy... because he saw the truth of you. You killed
our boy. And now, I'm gonna kill you.”
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Furthermore, figure 6 is shown with a medium shot type, from this
position it can be seen that Sadie's husband is lying on the ground, while
Sadie is standing on top of him while stabbing a piece of glass to kill her
husband. Therefore, the scene is categorized as confrontative coping
because the actions taken by Sadie are included in her self-defense efforts,
but this coping has a very high level of risk because it involves
premeditated assassination attempts.
Sadie : “.... Today you will do the following three things. You will
sign this house over to your wife. You will transfer 75% of your
funds to a bank account in her name. And you will leave, for
good.”
13
Aiming to help Andrea Schaund get rid of her abusive husband,
Sadie asks Schaund to do some of the things in the dialogue. The threat
that Sadie gave was an act of confrontative coping because the transfer of
hands over some of the assets and authority contained an element of
coercion, especially because Sadie physically fight Schaund before making
these demands. Based on confrontative coping, a person tends to do things
that are contrary to regulations (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). This type of
close up shot on both hands of Schaund who has typed something on the
keyboard shows that the hands which are full of wounds become the focus
of the scene. Indirectly, the scene emphasized that Sadie had physically
attacked Schaund.
Andrea : “I'm looking out the window, and the trucks won't stop
coming. My name is Andrea Schaund. I live at 176 Hillside
Terrace, Kingston.
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message that Andrea sent to Sadie. "I'm looking out the window, and the
trucks won't stop coming" became the beginning of the sentence said by
Andrea. That too was a sentence spoken by Charlene Jackson, another
woman victim of violence who also asked for help from Sadie. Those two
sentences are a code used by survivors of violence if they want Sadie to
avenge them. Therefore, it can be said that the strategy used by Andrea in
overcoming the problems faced is seeking help or seeking for social
support based on the theory of Lazarus and Folkman (1984).
Charlene : “I'm looking out the window and the trucks won't stop
coming. My name is Charlene Jackson. I live at 98 Scomen Road,
Gloversville.
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He let me come to the store with him, this is a stranger's phone. I
gotta go.”
CONCLUSION
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Most of the storylines in A Vigilante (2018) then show the
resistance of the women characters against their partners. The resistance of
the women characters including Sadie, Andrea Schaund, and Charlene
Jackson is depicted radically towards their oppressive situation then refers
to efforts to fight against this oppression using certain coping strategies.
The strategies coordinated by each of the women characters indicate that
the three women are using problem focused coping according to the
Coping Strategy theory by Lazarus and Folkman.
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