Defense Mechanism Seen Through Behaviors in the Character of Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Transcription

1 Defense Mechanism Seen Through Behaviors in the Character of Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters By VIVIEN CHRISTY Student Number: ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2018

2 Defense Mechanism Seen through Behaviors in the Character of Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters By VIVIEN CHRISTY Student Number: ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2018 ii

3 Defense Mechanism Seen Through Behaviors in the Character of Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani- S.S.- M.Hum Co-Advisor ilt

4 A Sarjana Saslra Undergraduate Thesis Defense Mechanism Seen Through Behaviors in the Character ofbarney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother By VIVIEN CHRISTY Student~urnber: Defendedbefore the Board ofexaminers Otl1uly, 19,2018 And Declared Acceptable BOARD OF EXAMINERS Name Signature Chairperson Secretary Member 1 Member 2 Member 3 : E. Arti Wulandari, Ph. D : ~i Luh Putn Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum : Dewi Widyastnti, S. Pd, M.Hum : E. Arti Wulandari, Ph. D : Ni Luh Putn Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum iv

5 LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAII UNTT]K KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS Yang bertandatangan di bawah ini saya, mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma Nama : Vivien Christy NomorMahasiswa : Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul Defense Mechanism Seen Through Behaviors in the Character of Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta izin kepada saya maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta, Padatanggal 12 Juli 2018 enyatakan, qffit Vivien Christy

6 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify that this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has been previously submitted for the award of any other degree at any university, and that, to the best of my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material previously written by any other person except the writer due reference is made in the text of the undergraduate thesis.

7 Psalms 139:11-12 If I say, Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You. I am loved. vii

8 Dedicated to Papa, Mama, Willi, Mariyani, Micha and Helen, For without their hard works, my name will never have a degree behind. viii

9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My biggest gratitude goes to my Abba Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. I am able to finish this thesis by His mercy and abundant blessings. I am blessed and fully loved. My second gratitude goes to my thesis advisor E. Arti Wulandari, Ph.D. I am grateful to receive her willingness to guide me as her student and also her patience and helpful advices which encouraged me. I would also like to address my gratitude to my second thesis advisor Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum for her warm hearts, smiles and suggestions who ease my tension during this thesis writing. I would like to thank my Papa and Mama, who always pray for their kids all the time and have a big dream on me. My gratitude goes to my brother Willi Kurniawan, my sister Helen Diana, brother in law Micha Catur Firmanto and sister in law Mariyani Wijaya, who was willingly to support me to get into college. Lastly, I am grateful to be put in a right community in my beloved church, GMS Jogjakarta, specifically for my family in Christ, God s Chosen and my connect group Miracle One and the Magang CS who paint my days in this city to be on wide spectrum of colors. I would also want to thank Sis Debora Wanti as my support system. Lastly, I would like to thank my mom in Christ, Mam Vanda for I will never forget the time you said I will always have number ten on my head. ix

10 TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE... ii APPROVAL PAGE... iii ACCEPTANCE PAGEiv LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIA... v STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY... vi MOTTO PAGEv... ii DEDICATION PAGE... viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS... x ABSTRACT... xii ABSTRAK... xiii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION... 1 A. Background of the Study... 1 B. Problem Formulation... 5 C. Objectives of the Study... 5 D. Definition of Terms... 5 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE... 8 A. Review of Related Studies... 8 B. Review of Related Theories Theory of Characterization Conflict in Literature and Its Type Core Issues of Psychological Problem The Ego, Id and Superego The Ego Defense Mechanism C. Theoretical Framework CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study x

11 B. Approach of the Study C. Method of the Study CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS (RESULTS AND DISCUSSION) 23 A. The Characteristic of Barney Stinson B. The Conflict within Barney Stinson and Its Core Conflict C. The Defense Mechanisms in the Character of Barney Stinson CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION REFERENCES APPENDICES xi

12 ABSTRACT CHRISTY, VIVIEN. (2018). Defense Mechanism Seen through Behaviors in the Character of Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Sanata Dharma. This undergraduate thesis analyzes the ego defense mechanisms which occur in the character of Barney Stinson from a TV series titled How I Met Your Mother. The ego defense mechanism emerges when one feels a threatening situation caused by the impulsive desire. Ego defense mechanism helps a person s ego to remain sane so that a threatening feeling or situation can be less damaging. The ego defense mechanisms do not occur by itself but is being triggered by certain psychological problems such as internal and external conflicts. The researcher used psychoanalytic approach in order to answer questions which have been formulated into three main objectives of the study. The first objective is to identify the characteristics of Barney Stinson. The second objective is to find his conflicts and his core issues. The third objective is to analyze which kind of defense mechanisms appear in Barney Stinson. In order to answer the problem formulations of the study, the researcher applied library research method. Firstly, the researcher used a primary resource which is the script of the TV series limited only for several episode in specific season and also the secondary resource which is How I Met Your Mother TV series. Secondly, the researcher formulated three objectives and used the psychoanalytic approach as the guideline. Thirdly, the researcher applied several theories to analyze the problem formulations. The theories are the theory of Character and Characterization, theory of Conflict in Literature, the Core Issues of Psychological Problems, and theory of Id, Ego and Superego and last the theory of Ego Defense Mechanism. Fourthly, the researcher drew the conclusion of the analysis. The analysis resulted in several findings. The first one is the characteristic of Barney Stinson is his broken personalities, yet he still has a good side in him. The second one is the internal and external conflicts within Barney Stinson. The external conflicts which are visible in Barney are his issues against his family and his father. Meanwhile, the internal conflicts in him are Barney s struggles against his self and his insecurity. These conflicts are heavily influenced by his self and his family. Third, the defense mechanism which seen through his behaviors are repression, projection and displacement. These defense mechanisms emerge as his ways to cope with Barney s inability to express his feelings. xii

13 ABSTRAK CHRISTY, VIVIEN. (2018). Defense Mechanism Seen through Behaviors in the Character of Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother. Yogyakarta: Progam Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. Skripsi ini menganalisa mekanisme pertahanan ego yang terjadi dalam karakter Barney Stinson dari sebuah serial televisi berjudul How I Met Your Mother. Mekanisme pertahanan ego muncul ketika seseorang merasakan situasi yang merusak yang disebabkan oleh keinginan yang impulsif. Mekanisme pertahanan akan membantu ego seseorang untuk tetap waras agar sebuah perasaan atau situasi yang mengancam menjadi lebih tidak merusak. Mekanisme pertahanan ego tidak terjadi dengan sendirinya tetapi dipicu oleh masalah psikologis tertentu seperti konflik internal dan eksternal. Peneliti menggunakan pendekatan psikoanalitik untuk menjawab pertanyaan yang dirumuskan ke dalam tiga tujuan utama penelitian. Tujuan pertama adalah mengidentifikasi karakteristik Barney Stinson. Tujuan kedua adalah menemukan konfliknya dan penyebab masalah. Tujuan ketiga adalah untuk menganalisis mekanisme pertahanan apa yang muncul di Barney Stinson. Untuk menjawab perumusan masalah dari skripsi ini, peneliti menggunakan metode penelitian kepustakaan. Pertama, peneliti menggunakan sumber utama yang merupakan naskah dari serial televisi tersebut dan juga sumber sekunder yang merupakan serial televisi How I Met Your Mother hanya terbatas pada beberapa episode pada musim tertentu. Kedua, peneliti merumuskan tiga perumusan masalah dan menggunakan pendekatan psikoanalitik sebagai pedoman. Ketiga, peneliti menerapkan beberapa teori untuk menganalisa rumusan masalah. Teori-teorinya adalah teori Karakter dan Karakterisasi, teori Konflik dalam Sastra, Penyebab Masalah dalam Masalah Psikologis, dan teori Id, Ego dan Superego dan terakhir teori Mekanisme Pertahanan Ego. Keempat, peneliti menarik kesimpulan dari ringkasan analisa. Pencapaian dari analisis yang ada menghasilkan beberapa jawaban. Jawaban pertama adalah karakteristik Barney Stinson adalah kepribadiannya yang buruk namun masih terdapat sisi baik dalam dirinya. Kedua adalah konflik internal dan eksternal pada Barney Stinson. Konflik eksternal yang terlihat pada Barney adalah masalah yang ia hadapi terhadap keluarga dan ayahnya. Sementara, konflik internal dalam dirinya adalah pergumulan Barney melawan dirinya sendiri dan rasa tidak aman dalam dirinya. Konflik-konflik ini sangat dipengaruhi oleh dirinya sendiri dan keluarganya. Ketiga, mekanisme pertahanan yang dilihat melalui tingkah lakunya adalah represi, proyeksi dan pemindahan. Mekanisme pertahanan ini muncul sebagai cara untuk mengatasi ketidakmampuan Barney dalam mengekspresikan perasaannya. xiii

14 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Social interaction is a basic human nature since human beings are social creature. It is very common to have interactions with others like families, coworkers, and people on the streets every single day. Social interaction take places at home, work fields, schools and many other. However, social interaction is not exactly an easy thing to do. Basic differentials as well as language, accent, body language and characters can define variance of acceptance which may lead towards either bonding relationship or even misunderstandings. There are many factors which promote human to interact with each other. One of the factors is the internet. The headway of world's technology produces many breakthroughs in cyberspace. The most prominent success is the easy access to the emergence of social media platforms. This situation certainly leads to pro and cons in the society. The benefits of the easy access cause people to know the news of other with just a touch of finger. As the internet revolution and ease in accessing news, it creates an evolution of humanity into a character which is judgmental. Due to the easy access into the private life of others through the photos which posted on social media, cause human easily judge oneself or the other. 1

15 2 I get serious FOMO (fear of missing out) with Instagram, and with all social media. People are publicizing usually something really cool or fun that they re doing, or at least they make it appear that way. I absolutely feel insecure. I m 24, I m a young professional in Toronto, but I have had Instagram since I was in university. I do feel a pressure to look particularly good. I would never post a photo that wasn t flattering of me. I feel anxiety over how many likes I get after I post a picture. If I get two likes, I feel like, what s wrong with me? Some people judge Instagram by deleting photos that don t get enough likes. I wouldn t do that, but I would definitely second-guess my intentions with posting them- Michelle Linker, 24 years old (Gajanan, 2015, para. 4). The quotation above is quoted from one of the participants from a research made by Mahita Gajanan titled Young women on Instagram and self-esteem: I absolutely feel insecure, for an article in In the article it is revealed that many young women felt insecure because of the certain standards which resulted from the social media. These women felt pressure to appear in a certain standard and would think whether something is wrong with their posts on the social media. This particular feeling can lead a person to be mentally ill such as depression or anxiety. When someone is mentally disturbed it can lead to the way a person behaves and shapes one s characters. When the unusual behavior appears from a person, it creates an enigma. People have the tendency to ask questions in general, how a person could behave in a particular way or what the reason behind the behavior is. These frequently asked questions become a challenging issue to be discussed. Before the nature of judgmentally and insecurity becomes a disease in human being, one must learn that a certain behavior of a person is caused by something at the past life. Therefore, people need to learn and understand the triggering factors of unusual behaviors.

16 3 The common situation in the society where people feel insecure or easily judge one and other without learning to understand a person s factors of act in a particular manner, becomes a challenging statement for the researcher to conduct a study about what cause a person behaves in a certain way. The closest way to learn about human behavior as a literature student is through literary analysis. Literature is a complex art on a shape of words. Literature has a power to influence reader s mind through its words and brings them to the imagination of the storyline created by the author. According to M.H Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham (2012) in A Glossary of Literary Terms, literature has been commonly used since the eighteenth century to designate fictional and imaginative writings like poetry, prose, fiction and drama (p. 199). Literary works are indeed worth to be the sources of learning and examining for students to produce literary analyses. When it comes to literary analysis, in the twentieth century, literary analyses are not only limited to poems, fiction or drama, but also movie script. Nowadays, as film industry has become a big source of artworks by producing a filmed drama or play, these industries have successfully reached a lot of types of movies production and one of the popular kinds is TV series. TV series is a semi-annual of television show which mostly being conducted in episodes of several season or series. TV series usually serves a narrated television show which has longer and twisted plots than a movie.

17 4 As TV series can be an object for literary analysis, therefore the suitable resource for the object in this study is a TV series titled How I Met Your Mother which focuses on its popular character, Barney Stinson. However, as the researcher focuses on the literary analysis, the TV series scripts will be the primarily source in this study. How I Met Your Mother is American situational comedy aired from year 2005 until 2014 and it mainly focus on the story of five characters named Ted Mosby, Lily Aldrin, Marshal Ericksen, Robin Scherbatsky and Barney Stinson. The story starts from a voiceover of 2030 s Ted who tells the story of how he met the mother of his children. The story throwback to the life of 2005 s Ted, Lily, Marshal, Robin and Barney s with their adult s life problems and their own encounter to love. This study focuses on the character of Barney Stinson. He is one of the five main characters in How I Met Your Mother. Barney Stinson is known as a womanizer who rejects any form of commitments. He sleeps with a lot of women and using any kind of tricks to seduce them. Barney also has a prominent childish behavior. He is silly yet truly loyal to his best friends. The striving character of Barney Stinson is also a certainty that he might has conflicts and self-defense. As his character is very stand out in the TV series, it will be a useful object of study to find out the reason he acts in certain way and what kind of defense mechanism which he might has.

18 5 B. Problem Formulation The problems that will be discussed by researcher are: 1. What are the characteristics of Barney Stinson showed in the TV series? 2. What are Barney Stinson s conflicts and the causes? 3. What defense mechanisms occur in Barney Stinson s behaviors? C. Objectives of the Study The first objective is to describe the characteristics of Barney Stinson through his behavior in the show. The second objective is to identify what conflicts which happen in Barney s life and the triggering factors which cause the conflict. The last objective is to analyze which kind of defense mechanisms that occurs in Barney s behavior. The explanation of these objectives will use psychoanalysis approach which focuses in the theory of Ego Defense Mechanism with a help by theory of characterization, theory of Ego, Id and Superego, theory of Conflict in Literature and theory of Core Issues. D. Definitions of Terms The significant terms which will be often mentioned in this study are character, behavior, and defense mechanism. These terms are explained in order to avoid any misleading perception.

19 6 According to A Glossary of Literary Term by M.H Abrams, character is the people presented in dramatic or narrative work with particular personalities define through its dialogue or action (2009. p. 20). In Dictionary of Psychology and Allied Science, M.S Bhatia stated that behavior is the movements or actions which a person or animal performs. If something is referred to as behavior it means that it is only concerned with actual behavior, and not, for instance, with any cognitive aspects of a performance (2002, p. 45). According to Theories of Personality by Jess Feist and Gregory J. Feist, defense mechanism is the unconscious forces which help the painful or unwanted memories emerge onto the conscious mind. As quoted from Feist and Feist s book, Freud stated that the ego s purpose in establishing defense mechanism-to avoid dealing directly with sexual and aggressive and to defend itself against the anxiety that accompanies them (2005, p. 35).

20 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE A. Review of Related Studies There are several studies and an article related to this study. Both studies and this article are useful for the researcher as they can be used as additional guidelines to find what kind of psychological reason and which kind of defense mechanisms applicable in researcher s object of study. According to Theresia Ayu Santika (2017), in her thesis entitled Ego Defense Mechanism of The Stranger in Paulo Coelho s The Devil and Miss Prymm, she analyzed a character from a novel titled The Devil and Miss Prymm by Paulo Coelho. The object of her study is the Stranger which has defense mechanisms. The ego defense mechanism of the stranger helps the stranger to protect him from overwhelming anxieties. The anxieties the stranger has are caused by the abduction of his wife and two daughters by a group of terrorist that then lead to the death of his wife and two daughters (Santika, 2017, p. 56). Santika s study shows that the Stranger experiences several anxieties such as realistic, neurotic and moral anxieties. All these anxieties cause him to have several defense mechanisms. The ego defense mechanisms which occur are projection, displacement and rationalization. Santika stated that the anxiety serves as an ego preserving mechanism and therefore could not be separated from ego defense mechanism theory (Santika, 2017, p. 14). 7

21 8 The other related study belongs to Fransiscus Xaveria Kia Wisang Soge (2012) titled Self Defense Mechanism-Reaction toward Pressure of Laura Wingfield Character as seen in Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie. In her study about Laura Wingfield, she finds that the character has several social pressures which later can cause the character to create defense mechanisms. One of the pressures that the character, Laure Wingfield has is the pressure from her mother, Amanda. Amanda suppresses her child to have a gentleman caller, because she was once a popular girl among the gents. As the pressure around Laura revolves, she creates a defense mechanism of fantasy. Vaillant stated that fantasy is the tendency to retreat into fantasy in order to resolve inner and outer conflicts; projection which is the primitive form of paranoia. Because of her physical defect, Laura pulled herself, out of the society. She chooses to stay at the family s apartment, she rarely goes out unless her mother orders or forces her to. Laura exiles in her building, creating comfort zone, a world where she can expressed herself and fantasize a lot without any distraction (Soge, 2012, p.46). Laura chooses to create a fantasy of her own by living in a comfort zone instead of reality since she felt the pressure from her mom. In Soge s thesis she concludes that Laura Wingfield character has four defense mechanism which are fantasy, hypochondriasis, acting out and idealization. The third related study is taken from a paper by Danielle Grider (2013) titled Barnabus BARNEY Stinson: A Legend Wait For It.. Dary but Brief Character Analysis. The researcher uses the same object of study as in Grider s paper which she

22 9 published on her account in Both of the studies use the character of Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother. As she uses Freudian Psychology theory, Grider reveals that Barney Stinson has two types of defense mechanism which are denial and displacement. In her study she also stated that Barney has an extravert personality by looking at the Five Factor Model of Personality but also a personality disorder which are extremely narcissistic. He (Barney Stinson) unconsciously utilizes the defense mechanisms to protect himself from feelings of abandonment from not having a father and the lies his mother told him to protect his feelings. He an extravert person and enjoys being in social situations. He loves the bar life, drinking, hitting does also utilizes the defense mechanisms for his fear of commitment and getting hurt. He is open to experiences and accepts new challenges. Barney is also a narcissistic person, and wants the best of everything. He thinks very highly of himself and believes everyone should live the way he does and is shocked when others don t feel the same way (Grider, 2013, p. 7). Grider s study has two significant differences with this research. Firstly, Grider used of Five Factor Model of Personalities to analyze the characteristic of Barney in Grider s research. Meanwhile, this study will use the theory of character and characterization to examine Barney s characteristics. Secondly, she also used the theory of ego defense mechanism to identify the defense mechanism in Barney Stinson in her study. However, the case of Barney s behavior and also the defense mechanism which are being identified in this study will be different from Grider s. B. Review of Related Theories These are the theories which will be used to this study.

23 10 1. Theory of Characterization In an article journal titled Characterization- An Intrinsic Aspect of Dramatic Text by Vidhya B and Dr. A. Arjunan (2015) stated that characterization is the process of producing a character through typifying its actions, words and thoughts. Therefore, characterization plays an important role on defining a character s quality and personality in literary works. In order to characterize a character, there are 6 devices of characterization according to the book How to Analyze Drama by Cristopher Russel Reaske (1979): a. The Appearance of The Character In the prologue or in the stage direction the playwright often describes the character in the physical sense. We learn from the stage directions what a character looks like and probably how he dressed, when a character walks onto the stage, it is obvious from his appearance whether he is a meticulous or sloppy person, attractive or unattractive, old or young, small or large. In other words, in the mere appearance of character we locate our first understand of him (p. 46). b. Aside and Soliloquies All of the further characterization is of course established through dialogue. We learn about the character as they speak. And, specifically, we are apt to understand the characters best when they speak in short aside or in longer soliloquies. On these occasions the character is, in effect, telling the audience of his specific

24 11 characteristic; if he is a villain, he usually explains his evil intention or at least his malicious hopes; if a lover, he offers us poetic statement of devotion; if a hero torn between love and duty, he tells us about his conflict, and his resulting agony. The use of soliloquies and asides is one of the most expert devices of characterization (p. 46). c. Dialogue between Characters The language of the character speaking alone characterizes him, but his language when speaking to others also sheds a great deal of light on his personality. For example, if a man speaks to his master and to his underling we can draw various conclusions. (p. 47). d. Hidden Narration One of the devices of characterization frequently employed is having one character in play narrate something about another character. There is an interplay between the playwright's characterization of certain people in the play through their own words and actions, and the characterization through the use of hidden narrations made by one character about another (p. 47). e. Language When it comes to language, we must pay close attention to the kind of words which the character use and remember how the character speaks. The way a character speaks and the expression he uses should be our first concern. This aspect of characterization is without doubt the most important and the playwright as well as the critic is well aware of this truth (p. 47).

25 12 f. Character in Action Motivation usually translates into action in the real world and there is no reason to assume that the same does not hold true in the world of characters on the stage (p. 48) 2. Conflict in Literature and Its Type The definition of conflict can be found in C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon in A Handbook to Literature that, conflict is the struggles that grows out of the interplay of two opposing forces. Conflict provides interest, suspense and tension (1995, p.123). Conflict often appears in novels, dramas, plays or movies which usually have more than one dramatic situation. As the definition of conflict which provides suspense and tension, when a conflict emerges, it usually affects the atmosphere to become tense. In literature, conflict has two different major kinds. According to book Introduction to Fiction, there are internal conflict and external conflict. An internal conflict is a conflict which cause more than one desires within a person, while external conflict happens between other person or one surrounding or environment (Stanton, 1965, p. 16). External conflict occurs when it opposes with another object. Hence, there are four minor kinds of conflict according to Holman and Harmon (1995). The first conflict is a struggle against nature. The conflict happens as the character opposing forces which nature such as earthquake, storms and floods. The second one is the struggle against another person. This conflict usually happens between a protagonist and an

26 13 antagonist. The third one is the struggle against society. This type of conflict happens between a person and his/her social life he/she lived in. The fourth one is a struggle for mastery by two elements within the person (p. 123). 3. Core issues of Psychological Problems Conflict obviously does not emerge without a cause. Usually a conflict happens because there is a situation where a person experience unwanted friction within oneself or even another object. In order to understand how a conflict happens, it is important to identify what the triggering factors that emerge a conflict are. The identification of triggering factors can help readers to solve what is the main issue when a conflict rises. Lois Tyson (2011) mentioned several core issues in his book titled Using Critical Theory, that these core issues are considered only if they are responsible for most of the emotional difficulties one has as an adult (p. 84). The types of core issues or core conflicts are: a. Low self esteem Low self-esteem is the unwarranted belief that we are less worthy than other human beings and therefore, do not deserve attention, love or any form of life s rewards (p. 84). b. Insecure or unstable sense of self love Insecure is the inability to recognize oneself identity thus it creates the vulnerability to the influence of others within a person. For an instance, a

27 14 person will be more exposed to the tendency of changing looks or behave as one has involved in a different individuals or groups (p. 84). c. Fear of abandonment Fear of abandonment is the unwarranted nagging belief that social groups and loved ones are going to desert oneself (physical abandonment) or don t really care about us (emotional abandonment) (p. 84). d. Fear of intimacy Fear of intimacy has the barrier to keep a person unable to making friends or fall in love. Fear of intimacy has the overpowering feeling that emotional closeness will seriously damage oneself thus a person has to protect him/herself (p. 85). e. Oedipus fixation An Oedipus fixation is a dysfunctional bond with a parent of the opposite sex that do not outgrow and that does not permit oneself to mature into adult relationship with others (p. 85). 4. The Id, Ego, Superego In Feist and Feist s book The Theory of Personality, as quoted by Feist and Feist, Freud introduced three component of the mind according to their function or purposes (2005, p.27). The first one is the Id. This component has become the most natural one because every human born with the id. The id mostly drove self to be more impetuous. When the id becomes uncontrollably impulsive, it has a tendency to harm the human. Feist and Feist stated that, the id has no contact with reality, yet it strives constantly

28 15 to reduce tensions by satisfying basic desires. As the sole function is to seek pleasure, it is said that the id serves the pleasure principle, (2005, p.27). The id serves as the most basic instinct which needs to be satisfied. The second one is the Ego. The ego is driven by the reality principle. It tries to fulfill the impulsive needs of the id in more acceptable ways in the reality. (Feist & Feist, 2006, p. 29). The ego works as a negotiator between the internal needs of the id and the external reality. The third one is the superego. The superego creates the knowledge and sense of right or wrong within a person. It is act like guidelines to the behavior of a person. According to Feist and Feist (2005), in Freudian psychology, the superego is guided by moralistic and idealistic principles. 5. The Defense Mechanism Defense mechanism occurs when a person feels the pressure or anxiety to defend oneself because of a harmful situation. When one feels threatened, there are many kinds of self-defense that emerged to protect themselves. As stated below, the defense mechanism appears when the ego feels the need to protect itself from the impulse of the id. This theory will help the researcher to identify which kind of defense mechanism that portrays in the character of Barney Stinson. According to Theories of Personality by Jess Feist and Gregory Feist (2005), there are seven types of defense mechanisms which three of them will be the most prominent in this study. The most mentioned defense mechanisms in this study are:

29 16 a. Repression Repression is a defense mechanism in which threatening id is repressed to protect the ego. This defense mechanism acts as a disguise toward the original form of impulses. Repression might cause several impacts for the id. The first one is the id may remain unchanged in the unconscious level. The second one is the id could force their way into unaltered form which cause a person to feel more overwhelmed by the anxiety. The third one is the id may expressed in displaced or distinguished forms in order to stop the anxiety (p. 35) b. Projection Projection serves when an internal impulse provokes too much anxiety, the ego may reduce the anxiety by attributing those negative impulse towards external object (p.35). Another definition of projection is also provide by Tyson in Using Critical Theory, he stated that a person is projecting when he/she believes, without real cause that someone else has the problems that he/she has tried to deny, then he/she can attack someone else to have the problem in order to prove that he/she does not have it (p. 84). c. Displacement Displacement can emerge when one s unwanted impulse being redirect towards another thing which can be a variety of people or any object in order to conceal the real feelings (Feist & Feist, 2005, p.35). When a person is displacing when he/she takes out his/her negative feelings about one person on someone else so

30 17 that he/she can relieve his/her pain or anger without becoming aware of the real cause of his/her repressed feelings (Tyson, 2011, p.84). In their book, Feist and Feist also stated other four common defenses are: d. Regression Regression is known as a defense which happens when stress or anxiety strike a person, the libido which had passed the developmental stage might revert back (2005, p.37). e. Sublimation Sublimation is the repression of the genital aim of Eros by substituting a cultural or social aim (2005, p.39). f. Introjection Introjection is a defense mechanism whereby people incorporate positive qualities of another person into their own ego (2005, p.37). g. Fixation Fixation happens when an individual is going through psychologically growing up but with the stress and anxiety, the ego might preserve a strategy to stay in more comfortable stage (2005, p.37). C. Theoretical Framework This study is entitled The Defense Mechanism Seen through Behaviors in The Character of Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother. The first analysis is the explanation of Barney Stinson characteristic using the theory of characterization.

31 18 The theory of characterization is very useful for the researcher in order to identify the characteristic of object of the study. The second analysis is to identify what types of conflict which happen in Barney Stinson s life using the conflict in literature theory. Meanwhile, the triggering issues are being analyzed by using the theory of core issues of psychological problems. The theory of core issues helps the researcher to determine what caused the conflicts which happen in the character of Barney Stinson The ego, id and superego theory is applied to provide knowledge for the researcher to conclude the cause of a certain behavior from Barney Stinson s mental images. Meanwhile, the theory of defense mechanism is used to determine whether the character shows a certain type of defense mechanism which Barney Stinson as the main character has. For the relevance of this study, the researcher only uses three types of defense mechanisms which are the most prominent in Barney Stinson s character.

32 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study The object of this study is the character of Barney Stinson from a situational comedy or sitcom titled How I Met Your Mother. How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom which broadcasted from 2005 until This series ends well in 9 seasons after almost a decade. How I Met Your Mother is one of the successful TV series about romantic comedy. How I Met Your Mother was narrated by Ted Mosby who story telling about his journey on meeting the mother and also life lessons through his experiences. Ted also tells the story of his best friend including Barney. In the TV shows, Barney Stinson is played by Neil Patrick Harris and this character has been known as a womanizer who uses tons of unique yet crazy tactics to sleep with every woman in New York City. Barney likes to bug into Ted s and Marshall love s life. He often portrays himself as anti-marriage persona because he thinks that sleeping with new girl every night is much more fun. In the series, Barney is known for a very narcissist person and he always feels good about himself in everything. Barney did not know his biological father which makes him boast that his father was Bob Barker, the host of The Price is Right, an American reality show. The reason why the character of Barney Stinson has been an interesting object to be the main focus of this study is his problematic self, such as constantly lying and 19

33 20 boasting, having trouble of managing his rage and his urge to be awesome all the time reflected in his acts in the show. Despite all the poor side of Barney, he has charming personalities such as his loyalty towards his best friends and his sweet gestures to help other. In this study, the researcher used How I Met Your Mother scripts retrieved from specified only in several episodes as the primary resource. The selected episodes are useful as the data for the study because the researcher has benefits by watched all the episodes of How I Met Your Mother and also examined the character of Barney Stinson through scripts. However, by reading the scripts, in other episodes Barney s behavior is not visible enough and only serves as a hint to show who Barney is. Meanwhile, in the selected episodes, the behaviors and personalities of Barney are more noticeable and also the most relatable to the study of defense mechanism through the observation of Barney s behavior and personality from the TV series scripts. Thus, the selected episodes are the representative of Barney Stinson s characteristic and behavior in general. B. Approach of the Study The approach of this study is psychoanalytic criticism. Psychoanalytic criticism is one of the approaches in literature which uses the psychoanalysis method by Sigmund Freud to understand the behavior of a character in literary work. (Barry, 2009, p. 92)

34 21..They fashion this material into something which can be represented in a dream, that is, into images, symbols and metaphor. Material has to be turned into this form of dreams, since dreams don t say things, they show things. In this sense especially, as we have indicated, they are very like literature. Hence, become the interest of literary critics in Freudian methods of interpretation (Barry, 2009, p. 93). Psychoanalytic criticism heavily used the method of interpretation to define the reasons of someone s act. In his book Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory by Peter Barry (2009) sets an example of psychoanalytic criticism using Hamlet by William Shakespeare. In order to understand the reason why Hamlet delayed the killing of his uncle, the psychoanalytic approaches uses the theory of Oedipus complex. Hamlet hesitantly avenges his uncle because his uncle had already killed his father because Hamlet himself has the desire to dismiss his own father because Hamlet has his own repressed sexual desire toward his mother (p. 96). The psychoanalytic theory will be useful to interpret the reason of one character s particular behavior in literary work. This approach is suitable as the researcher mainly focuses on the triggering factors which cause a certain dysfunctional behavior in Barney Stinson character. C. Method of the Study The method of the study is a library research using several resources. The primary resources used in this study are the script of the selected episode on How I Met Your Mother taken from The scripts are useful to identify the characteristic of Barney Stinson. In order to ease the identification, the

35 22 researcher used secondary resources from the TV series of How I Met Your Mother to watch the selected episode and then analyzes the character s behavior towards certain situation. In order to conduct the study, the researcher did some following steps. First, the researcher decided on the approach used on the topic in this study. As the focus of the study is the portrayal of the character s particular behavior, the suitable approach is psychoanalysis approach. Secondly, the researcher formulated some questions to guide the writing. Thirdly, the researcher did some deeper reading on the scripts of How I Met Your Mother specified on several episodes and was taken from the internet to understand the characteristic of the discussed character. The researcher also watched the selected episodes of the TV series as the secondary sources. Fourthly, the researcher used the theory of characterization from Christopher Russel Reaske to define Barney s characteristic. Fifthly, after gaining the characteristic of Barney Stinson, the researcher identified what conflicts which happened in his life using the conflict in fiction by C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon and the core issues of Barney s conflicts using core issues theory by Lois Tyson. Sixthly, the researcher identified the conflict in his life which caused several defense mechanisms and identified the defense mechanism using the defense mechanism theory by Sigmund Freud as quoted in the book of Feist & Feist. Lastly, the researcher drew the conclusion of the study from the analysis.

36 CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS This thesis analyzes Barney s Stinson defense mechanism which can be seen through his behaviors in the show. Barney Stinson is a character from How I Met Your Mother TV series. Barney is best friend with Ted Mosby, Lily Aldrin, Marshall Ericksen and Robin Scherbatsky. Barney came from a tough background. He had a broken childhood which he grew up not knowing who his father is. He lived with his mother and his gay black brother named James. Loretta never told Barney and James about their biological father. His childhood is filled with the memory of him asking about his father to his mom, but his mother refused to answer it. Because of his childhood, Barney grew up and had some dysfunctional emotions within him. He always had to achieve something in order to feel alive. This urge caused him to sleep with new woman every night. Barney would also do unnecessary challenges such as slept with a 20 years old woman while talking like a dolphin or picked up a woman while dressing as an 80 years old man. In an unpredictable way, Barney is a real best friend. He truly values his friendship with Ted, Lily, Marshall and Robin. For the guys, he always wants to be the best bro for Ted and Marshall in any occasions. As for the girls, he also cherishes Lily and Robin and often help them both. There are three parts of discussion in this chapter. Each section is the analysis to answer the problem formulation. The first section is to analyze the character of Barney Stinson. The second section is to identify the conflicts and core issues in 23

37 24 Barney s life. The last section is to examine the defense mechanism which occurs in Barney s behavior. A. The Characteristic of Barney Stinson As a character, Barney has several significant characteristics which are noticeable in the show. Using the theory of characterization by Reaske (1966) in his book How to Analyze Drama, those characters can be distinguished with one and other because Barney has some unusual personalities, which make him a stand out character. Those significant characteristics are: 1. Boastful Barney Stinson is boastful person. This personality can be seen in Barney as he likes to talk about himself and his awesome doings every time he hangs out with his best friends. For an instance, in the episode 15 season 1 titled Game Night, Lily was given a recording tape by a woman named Shannon. Barney was shocked and asked for the tape immediately. The tape was a recording of Barney singing and wishes for Shannon to come back with him. Flashback to the time Barney was still a teen adult, Shannon was Barney s first girlfriend when they were twenties when Barney worked at the coffee shop. During their relationship, they promised to go to the peace corporation together. However, when the due date came for Barney and Shannon leave to Nicaragua, Shannon did not show up. Eventually, Shannon broke up with him and left him for another man.

38 25 After almost a decade, Shannon showed up once again in Barney s life. They finally had a closure and they slept together. Barney was so satisfied to find out that he lived an awesome life fills with money, suits and sex while Shannon is only a single mom. By using soliloquy method, it can be seen in the conversation below that Barney was boasting about his life. BARNEY. My life rocks! Money, suits and sex. These are tears of joy! I could be cooped up in some tiny apartment changing some brat's poopy diapers. But instead, I'm out in the world being awesome 24-7, 365! You let me dodge a bullet, Big Guy. Plus, here's the mini-cherry on top of the regular cherry on top of the sundae of awesomeness that is my life. After Shannon and I talked, I nailed her. LILY. Nope. BARNEY. Yeah. LILY. Sorry. Don't buy it. You're making it up. You're just trying to cover the fact that you actually had a profound moment of doubt about yourself and... Oh, my God. (Barney showed the video he and Shannon having sex) LILY. Ew, gross. Just stop it. BARNEY. Ladies, gentlemen... Ted. This has been a wonderful evening. I got great dirt on all you guys. I got Ted to tell the re-return. I finally nailed Shannon! Told her I'd call her tomorrow. Yeah, right. And I rediscovered just how awesomely awesome my life is. Peace out, hombres! (Game Night, 2006, p. 1) Barney found out that after Shannon left him, she failed her relationship and end up becoming a single parent. He feels that his life is better because of the three things that matters for him in his speech, which are money, suits and sex. He boats about how he enjoys his life now to his friends. Barney also likes to picture himself as an awesome human being. He is very confident about himself and often boasts about it to his friends. Another example of his boastful personality can be seen in episode 13 season 2 titled Columns.

39 26 It starts when Barney and Robin found the naked painting of Marshall. They made fun of Marshall by hanging the painting at the bar. Lily asked him why they made fun of the painting. Later, Barney answered the contrary of what Lily thinks. Barney actually admired the painting. He and Robin only joked about the naked Marshall. Barney then asked Lily to paint him naked because he is so confident about his body. BARNEY. Paint me. LILY. Okay, I don t get this. You ve been making fun of that painting all this time and now you want me to paint you? BARNEY. We knew we could torture Marshall because he has the shame. I do not. In my body, where the shame gland should be, there s a second awesome gland. True story. (Columns, 2007, p. 1) Once again, the boastful personality seen through soliloquy method when Barney told Lily that his body has awesome gland. In this section can be identify that Barney is proud of his body. He boasted about his body to lily and asked her to paint him nude. LILY. Okay, let s get it over with. BARNEY. Hey, hey! I don t want you to phoning this in. this painting could, someday, become a serious work of art. I mean, you have been blessed with an amazing gift. LILY. Aww, thank you. BARNEY. I mean me. (Columns, 2007, p. 1) In the conversation above, Barney talks about himself in a very prideful way when he sees himself as a blessing for Lily because his nude art can be a serious work

40 27 of art. His boastful personality shows through as he keeps convincing Lily that she paints him naked, the nude art will someday be an admirable artwork. 2. Fear of Emotional Closeness Barney always has a difficult time in expressing his feelings. The 1 st episode season 4 titled Do I Know You?, in the series will show one of Barney s personalities. The conversation below stated that Barney actually wants to be Robin s boyfriend. He is afraid to tell her his feelings because he denies the truth that he wants a commitment with Robin. LILY. You love her? Barney, how can you be in love, and still be sleeping with anything that moves? BARNEY. I'm sorry, I don't follow you. That's like saying, "How can an ant carry "20 times its body weight, but root beer floats are still delicious?" Are the two even related? Really? LILY. Barney, you're going to have to stop screwing around if you want to be Robin's boyfriend. BARNEY. Boyfriend? I don't want to be Robin's boyfriend. LILY. Well, what do you want, then? BARNEY. I don't know. I just want to be with her. All the time. I want to hear about her day and tell her about mine. I want to hold her hand and smell her hair. But I don't want to be her stupid boyfriend (snorted). (Do I Know You?, 2009, p. 1) Analyzing through the language he used, it is a proof that his fear of emotional closeness becomes stronger as at the end his mind chose differently from his heart. When he told Lily what he wants, Barney opened up what his heart desire, and then at the end of his speech, he rejected the idea of being Robin s boyfriend, while actually he has no idea that he truly wants that.