THE AMERICAN DREAM IN CLINT EASTWOOD’S FLAGS OF OUR FATHER: A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH

AGUNG. W. DWI SULISTIYONO (2008)
Abstract
The limitation of this study is how the American Dream is reflected in Clint Eastwood Flags of Our Father viewed from sociological perspective. The problem of this study is how American dream is portrayed in Clint Eastwood Flags of our Father. The objective of this study is to analyze the film terms of its structural elements and to analyze the film based on the sociological approach. This study belongs to qualitative method. In this method, there are two types of data source, namely primary and secondary data source. The primary data source is the film it self, meanwhile the secondary data source is any literature related with this study. The researcher collects the data from both, primary and secondary data source in a short of document as evidence. The study uses documentation of descriptive analysis. Based on the analysis the researcher draws some conclusions as follows; first, literary work involves the response of the author toward the social reality where she or he lives in. Clint Eastwood creates a solid relation between himself, as a part of society and the other side Eastwood shows the importance of American dream in the society. Second, Clint Eastwood builds his story in the film by using social reality of American society in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Third, Clint Eastwood criticizes the social condition of American society and shows that illegal possession may result in disaster, great depression, poverty, ethnic, friction, crimes, slum areas, high unemployment, immigrant and population problems are some issues that dominate American life.

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
The American Dream is a subjective term usually implying a
successful and satisfying life. The “American Dream” can be interpreted
in many ways. It is also different according to each individual. The
“American Dream” has been changed from time to time. The standard of
American Dream usually consist of ideas such as equality, freedom,
individuality, independence, and prosperity. In general, the term can be
called as the pursuit of happiness.
The term was first used by James Truslow Adams in his book The
Epic of America which was written in 1931. He states:
“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be
better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each
according to ability or achievement. It is difficult dream for
European upper classes interpret adequately, and too many of us
ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of
social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to
attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be
recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous
circumstances of bird position. “(Truslow, 1931:214 - 215).
The term appears and gets popular in American as the great effect
of war such as Civil War, World War I and World War II. These caused
vast changes in virtually every aspect of American live. Great Depression,
poverty, ethnic, friction, crimes, slum areas, high unemployment,
immigrant and population problems are some issues that dominate
American life in the first half and second half of twentieth century. At the
time American people struggle to survive from the hard condition. The try
to reach a proper life in standard of American life in post war era. The
standard of American life is called the American Dream.
The idea of the American Dream has dominated American
literature since the founding of America. The American Dream is what
American people see as their experience of life and hope to make their
lives better. Many people have their own idea of what the American
Dream is. Also, American writers in the past and present have different
views about the American Dream. There are many books, plays and other
forms of literature which have defined, explored or denounced the
American Dream. Some more well known examples are: Horotio Alger’s
books, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and The Rocking Horse
Winner by D.H. Lawrence.
Clint Eastwood as one famous directors in post war era that gives
respect to condition of United States in post war era by directing his
literary work in central theme of American Dream. He was born in San
Francisco, California on May 31, 1930. Flags of Our Father is one his
greatest movie that adopted the theme of American Dream.
Flags of Our Father is a film directed by Clint Eastwood and
written by William Broyles Jr. and Paul Haggis, based on the book by
James Bradley with Ron Powers. This film takes about 02.42.00 duration
It’s the life stories of the six men who raised the flag at the battle of Iwo
Jima which was a turning point of World War II
The film opens with interlocking scenes from past and present,
showing the battle underway and being remembered, with voice over’s
from survivors. All the major themes are being introduced, although
researcher will discover that only later. Then, after a tense prelude at sea,
it focuses on the initial American landing, which was just too quiet; no
Japanese fire was encountered and the troops advanced inland easily.
Suddenly the troops were being ambushed by concealed enemy positions.
There were over 2,000 dead on the first day and the majority of them were
Americans.
There were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed
raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23,
1945. "Flags of Our Fathers" is the story of three of the six surviving
servicemen, John "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), Pvt. Rene Gagnon
(Jesse Bradford), and Pvt. Ira Hayes (Adam Beach), who fought in the
battle to take Iwo Jima. It was one of the most bloody battles of the war
and the picture became one of the most famous pictures of the entire war
and it took another month to take this island. Three of the marines were
killed in action and the other three servicemen were taken out of the battle
and flown home. These men were used to help sell war bonds. It also
shows the effect that the memories of war would have on these veterans
for the rest of their lives.
The marines lost one third of their whole World War II combat
deaths during this battle and almost all of the 22,000 Japanese died, some
by their own hands. The film depicts what the true motive was in bringing
the three remaining servicemen home. The Government was in difficult
situation because they had run out of lenders for the war effort and their
funds were drying up rather quickly. The Rosenthal picture that was taken
on Iwo Jima sparked the public opinion of the war effort and the money
that those men raised turned the financial tide.
Other reasons that make the film interesting are that from the
beginning up to ending, Clint Eastwood illustrates clearly the situation and
the changes of America in post war era in every aspect of American
people such as in social, political, economic, cultural, religious and
science technology aspects.
Based on some consideration above, the writer is interested in
observing his work. Then, the present writer derives the title “THE
AMERICAN DREAM IN CLINT EASTWOOD FLAGS OF OUR
FATHERS: A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH
B. Literary Review
Although Eastwood is a famous director in post war era, as long as the writer
knows, there are no researches that have been conducted in Surakarta scope to study
the Film. There are some of research paper that used sociological approach as the
method in analyzing the film as follows:
The Influence Of American Society in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening : A
Sociological approach by Daning Zuliani: Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta
(2006). In this research she made conclusions that a literary work involves the
response of the author toward the social reality where she or he lives in. she creates a
solid relation between herself, author’s idea in creating the story is inspired by her
social reality that becomes her pattern that can be used by author in order to make her
ideal society.
The Influence of English Society on Bram Stoker’s Dracula: A Sociological
approach by Andy Sukmawan: Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta (2005). In
this research he made conclusions that sociological analysis show the upper class of
the social structure in English society has dominated and exploited. The classes
bellow them Bram Stoker’s criticism is his rationality to restructure the society and to
build his ideal society.
C. Limitation of the Study
The limitation of this study is how the American Dream is reflected in
Clint Eastwood Flags of Our Father viewed from sociological perspective.
D. Problem of the Study
The problem of the study: How is American Dream portrayed in
Clint Eastwood Flags of our Father?
E. Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are:
1. To analyze the film in terms of its structural elements.
2. To analyze the film based on the Sociological approach.
F. Benefit of the Study
The study benefits in two ways: theoretical benefit and practical benefit.
1. Theoretical Benefit
The research is expected to contribute the development of knowledge,
particularly the study in Clint Eastwood Flags of our Father especially about
American Dream in literary work.
2. Practical Benefit
In this research, the researcher wants to give some contribution
development of literary study. In addition, it would help researcher that want
to examine in Clint Eastwood Flags of our Father literary work.
G. Research Method
The research method of this research is broken down into four
aspects: (1) Type of the Research, (2) Type of the Data source, (3)
Technique of the Data Collection, and (4) Technique of the Data Analysis.
1. Type of the Research
The type of this study is qualitative of research because it is
subjective research and trussed at values. It is defined as research
procedure producing the descriptive data in written text or oral from
human and behavior that could be observed. In analyzing data, the
writer applies sociological aspect of American society in post war era
1945 – 1968); which is reflected in Flags of Our Father.
2. Type of the Data and the Data Source
a. Type of the Data
Type of data is document based of the film entitled Flags of Our
Father by Clint Eastwood.
b. Data Source
The data source used in the research can be categorized into
two sources of data. They are primary data and secondary data
sources.
1) Primary Data Source
The primary data source is the text Flags of Our Father
by Clint Eastwood.
2) Secondary Data Source
The secondary data source is other source related to the
primary data such as information about the author’s biography,
websites about the film, comments, essay and other sources
that supporting the analysis of the film.
3. Technique of the Data Collection
The technique of collecting data in this study is documentation.
The data from both primary and secondary source are collected and
recorded in a sort of document as evidence. The techniques of
collecting data are:
a. Reading the work several times, until the writer get adequate data.
b. Reading some other resources related to the film.
c. Giving mark to particular part, which are considered important for
the analysis.
d. Taking notes on the important part both primary and secondary
data source.
e. Classifying the data into group or categories.
4. Technique of the Data Analysis
In this research, the technique of data analysis is descriptive
analysis. The researcher tries to describe the structural elements of the
film and sociological analysis. The collected data will be interpreted
and analyzed in detail through sociological approach. In this case is by
showing the American dream in Clint Eastwood Flags of our Father
viewed by sociological approach.
H. Research Paper Organization
In order to make the research paper is easier to follow, the research
paper is organized into six chapters, as followings:
Chapter I is introduction, covering the Background of the study,
the problem of the study, limitation of the study, the benefit of the study,
review of the literary study, research method and thesis organization.
Chapter II covers sociological approach containing notion of
sociology, the aspect of sociological approach, structural analysis, and
theoretical application.
Chapter III includes the social background with the all aspect
reality of the American Society in mid 20th century.
Chapter IV includes the structural analysis of the film describing
characters and characterizations, setting, point of review, plot, theme, and
style of the film and a brief discussion.
Chapter V presents the sociological analysis deal with the
problems of the film.
Chapter VI Closing consists of conclusion and suggestion.