REBELLION AGAINST RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY IN DAVID BENIOFF’S TROY: SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH

AQRIZAL, GILANG (2008)
Abstract
This focuses on the analysis of rebellion against religious authority in David Benioff’s Troy by using sociological approach. This study is aimed to analyze the film based on its structural elements and to analyze the rebellion against religious authority shown in David Benioff’s Troy based on sociological approach. This is a qualitative research. The writer adopts sociological approach which consists of major principles of sociology of literature. The object of the study is Troy film by David Benioff. The method of data collection is library research, release document to be observed. In analyzing the data, the writer applies descriptive approach. The steps taken by the writer in analyzing the data are as follows: the first step is analyzing the data of this research. Analyzing the data of this research is trying to clarify the obtained data by selecting the necessary ones. Second step is analyzing the data based on sociological approach. After analyzing the data, viewed from structural analysis, David Benioff delivers a message that human tends to rebel against authorities which regulate their life includes religious authority. To deliver that message, Benioff uses the story from Homer’s Iliad, Virgil’s Aeneid and other myths, that is about Trojan War. He gives a stress on the character of Achilles who did not believe in the imagine of Zeus (God). Thus, the writer finds that the narrative and technical elements of Troy film build a unity from which technical elements enhance the narrative elements. Each element is related to the other in building a good story. Meanwhile, viewed from sociological analysis, David Benioff wants to reflect rationality preference of American society as the one who can not accept certain belief as a dogma. Most of the people of USA are fascinated by excellent science and technological aspect, huge economic ability, strong political power, high social class and cultural influential through the world. They are very proud with those facilities above. This condition makes American society ignores the last social aspect. It is about religious aspect. Most of them believe that religious is about individual concern. It does not have place in public space. They tend to be secular society. This is the kind of rebellion against religious authority deals with American society as a place where Troy film is produced. In this film, Benioff criticizes American society who tends to stress on rationality and ignores spiritual devotion.

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Many stories are presented in film. Some of them are fictive but
some of them are based on true stories. Even fictive, films are also based
on the reflection of the society’s live. Film is an instrument of its author to
show his idea to other. The idea of the author doesn’t come by itself. It
comes from social phenomena around the author. Then the author presents
the phenomena into film. In other words, film reflects the condition of
society in which it is made. Laurenson and Swingewood (1972: 13) said
that “The most popular perspective adopts the documentary aspects of
literature, arguing that it provides a mirror to the age”.
As described in wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_
%28film%29), Troy is a film, released on May 14, 2004, about the battle
between Greek and Troy (Trojan War) which happened in the year 1250
B.C. during the late Bronze Age as described in Homer's Iliad, Virgil's
Aeneid, and other myths. The war begins after Prince Paris of Troy takes
Helen, Queen of Sparta. It makes her husband, King Menelaus angry and
together with his brother, King Agamemnon, and all Greek armies sail to
Troy to take Helen back. In the war, it shown that Greek has their best
soldier Achilles, and Troy has Hector. Achilles is a great warrior and he
always wins in his battle. It makes him a little arrogant and neglects the
existence of God. While Hector is also the great warrior and always obey
his father, Priam King of Troy, who always acts based on the decision of
the priest. The war end after Achilles kills Hector and gives Troy 12 day
truce. During the truce, the Greek builds horse statue and entered into it.
Troy finds nothing in war location but horse statue. Then, the horse statue
is brought into the city. At night, the men inside the horse go out and burn
the city.
The film, which was an Oscar-nominated movie, received many
public comments. As described in imdb, (http://www.imdb.com/title/
tt0332452/usercomments), there are up to 1542 comments for Troy from
its users starting from favorable comments up to unfavorable comments.
One favorable comment comes from a Professor from Italy in Classics in
the University which submitted on 22 March 2005. Professor said that
Troy was a fine work especially in its screenplay because elaborated many
sources with some personal touch and adapted the myth to an antimilitarist
and anti-imperialistic point of view. More, professor said that
the actors were convincing in their role, the scenery was magnificent and
the accuracy in reproducing weapons and armour. While one unfavorable
comment comes from New York, USA in 9 January 2005 a graduate
student of literature. He/she said that basically he/she likes an action
movie but he/she didn’t like with some parts in this movie. He/she was
annoyed with such of cutting down the women in this tale (overplaying
Helen who never speaks in the Illiad, and cutting out Hecuba, Priam's
wife, and Queen of Troy completely, cutting out Cassandra) and also the
adaptation of different tale like Illiad by Hormer and Aeneid by Virgil
which both are taken in different time.
Besides getting many comments, based on the report in imdb,
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332452/awards) Troy also got many movie
awards. It is won in ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards 2005 for
Top Box Office Films, nominated in Best Achievement in Costume
Design from Academy Awards USA 2005, nominated in Best Foreign
Film from Awards of Japanese Academy 2005, nominated in Golden
Trailer Awards 2004 for Best Music and Summer 2004 Blockbuster for
“Greatest war”, won in Irish Film and Television Awards 2004 for Best
Supporting Actor in Film/TV (Peter O’Toole), nominated in MTV Movie
Awards 2005 for Best Fight (Brad Pitt and Eric Bana) and Best Male
Performance (Brad Pitt), nominated in Motion Picture Sound Editors USA
2005 for Best Sound Editing in Foreign Features, Teen Choice Awards
2004 won for Choice Movie Actor - Drama/Action Adventure (Brad Pitt)
and nominated for Choice Breakout Movie Star-Male (Garrett Hedlund),
Choice Movie-Drama/Action Adventure, Choice Movie Actor-
Drama/Action Adventure (Orlando Bloom), and Choice Movie
Fight/Action Sequence, nominated in Visual Effects Society Awards 2005
for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture, nominated
in World Soundtrack Awards 2004 for Best Original Song Written for
Film, and nominated in World Stunt Awards 2005 for Best Fight and Best
Stunt Coordinator and/or 2nd Unit Director.
As described in wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_
Benioff), Troy is a film written by David Benioff (screen play) as
described in Homer's Iliad, Virgil's Aeneid, and other myths. He is an
American author who was born in New York in 1970 and he was the
Dartmouth College alumnus. Born David Friedman, he changed his name
to David Benioff, his mother's maiden name. He worked as a club bouncer
and high school English teacher until he won recognition for his book, The
25th Hour. He later adapted the book into a film, starring Edward Norton
and directed by Spike Lee. Thus began his career as a Hollywood
screenwriter. He adapted a screenplay of the mythological epic Troy
(2004).
This film was also played by famous actors and actress; there were
Brad Pitt as Achilles, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Eric Bana as Hector, Brian
Cox as Agamemnon, Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus, Diane Kruger as
Helen, Peter O’Toole as Priam, Sean Bean as Odysseus and the other. And
last but not least, Wolfgang Petersen is the director and producer of this
film. Besides from the famous actors, Troy is also great in
cinematography. Cinematography is “the discipline of making lighting and
camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema”,
wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematography). It is closely
related to the art of photography, though many additional issues arise
when both the camera and elements of the scene may be in motion. For
example is the great scenery (the palaces of Agamemnon and Priam, and
the Greek camp), the accuracy in reproducing weapons and armour (Ajax
fights in the Mycenean way, while Achilles and Hector use more recent
tactics).
Moreover, the main subject which would be analyzed in this film is
the major different character of Greek and Troy as a society viewing from
religious aspect. Viewing from religious aspect, there is such rebellion
against religious authority shown in this film. Rebellion is “act of
rebelling”, while rebel “is fight against or refuse to obey an authority”
(Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary). According to Oxford Learner’s
Pocket Dictionary, religious is “believing in and practicing a religion”.
While authority is refers to “the legitimacy, justification and right to
exercise that power”, wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authority).
So, rebellion against religious authority is fight against or refuses to obey a
religious authority. It is such act without consider religious rule and doing
something freely, for example, it likes underestimate the priest as the
servant of God, does not believe in God authority or rebels/mocks Him.
The Greek especially their main character Achilles is showing the
rebellion against religious authority. He mocks the God by his motion in
beheading Apollo head. While Troy is a kingdom who always acts based
on religious rule, King Priam always acts based on priest suggestions. The
Greek as the world power kingdom at that time claims that they can
concord the world. That is why; Greek colonizes other country (kingdom)
and builds an emporium led by King Agamemnon. Because of the
superiority, they claim that they always won because of their own effort
(their own tactic) and neglected God intervention (religious rule.).
Christopher Lamb in Samovar and Porter, (1995: 115), states that
“it is clear that religion and culture are inextricably entwined.” Social
aspect relate to religion is the condition of the society toward the religion it
self. Religion has ruled to organize the society. That is why, there is a
society which is all their life aspects are organized by religion rule and
there is a society which ignores the religion rule.
Religion in society is also called sociology of religion. The
sociology of religion is “primarily the study of the practices, social
structures, historical backgrounds, development, universal themes, and
roles of religion in society”, wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
/Sociology_of_religion). There is particular emphasis on the recurring role
of religion in nearly all societies on Earth today and throughout recorded
history. Sociologists of religion attempt to explain the effects of society on
religion and the effects of religion on society; in other words, their
dialectical relationship. How far religion influences the society and how
far a certain society neglects it.
Relate to that condition, the role of religion among the society is
portrayed by many authors in their literary work. Laurenson and
Swingewood, (1972: 13) explain that “The most popular perspective
adopts the documentary aspects of literature, arguing that it provides a
mirror to the age”. That is why, when an author makes a literary work, he
expresses the social condition where he lives.
Based on the social phenomena shown in Troy film, the writer was
interested in analyzing the rebellion against religious authority in David
Benioff’ Troy by using sociological approach. That’s why the writer will
take a research entitles “REBELLION AGAINST RELIGIOUS
AUTHORITY IN DAVID BENIOFF’S TROY: SOCIOLOGICAL
APPROACH”.
B. Literature Review
The writer has not found the research about Troy film done by the
other writers after looking for several literary reviews in Muhammadiyah
University of Surakarta. Here, the writer will analyze Troy film focusing
on rebellion against religious authority by using sociological approach.
C. Problem Statement
After knowing the background of the study above, the writer tries
to formulate his research by arranging the problem, as follow: “How is the
rebellion against religious authority reflected in David Benioff’s Troy?”
Due to the problem statement above, the writer formulates the
notion of rebellion against religious authority. Rebellion is “act of
rebelling”, while rebel “is fight against or refuse to obey an authority”
(Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary). While described in wikipedia,
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion), rebellion is, “in the most general
sense, a refusal to accept authority”.
Meanwhile, religion is “a set of beliefs and practices often
organized around supernatural and moral claims and often codified as
prayer, ritual, and religious law”, wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Religion). Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions,
writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic
experience. The term religion refers to both the personal practices related
to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from
shared conviction.
Durkheim in Malcolm B Hamilton, (the sociology of religion,
page: 12), states that religion is “a unified system of beliefs and practices
relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden –
beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a
Church all those who adhere to them”. According to Robertson in
Malcolm B Hamilton, (the sociology of religion, page: 15), religious
culture is “that set of beliefs and symbols (and values deriving directly
therefrom) pertaining to a distinction between an empirical and a superempirical,
transcendent reality; the affairs of the empirical being
subordinated in significance to the non-empirical. Secondly, we define
religious action simply as; action shaped by an acknowledgement of the
empirical/super-empirical distinction”. Christopher Lamb in Samovar and
Porter, (1995: 115), states that “it is clear that religion and culture are
inextricably entwined”. While according to Oxford Learner’s Pocket
Dictionary, religious is “believing in and practicing a religion”.
Authority refers to “the legitimacy, justification and right to
exercise of power”, wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authority).
Weberian sociology defines authority as “power which is recognized as
legitimate and justified by both the powerful and the powerless”,
wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authority). Moreover, according
to Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary, authority is “power to give orders,
and official permission to do something.”
Weber in wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authority)
explains that there are three kinds of authority. The first is an authority
relates with customs, habits and social structures which are long
established in such society are called traditional society. For example is
when power passes from one generation to another. The next is rationallegal
authority. It is an authority which depends for its legitimacy on
formal rules and established laws of the state. It is usually in the form of
written, and is often very complex. Modern societies depend on legalrational
authority, for example is government officials. And last but not
least is charismatic authority. Charismatic authority is such authority
which is derived from the gift of grace, for example when someone (e.g. a
leader) claims that his authority is derived from a higher power (e.g. God
or natural law or rights) or inspiration. This authority is superior to both
the validity of traditional and rational-legal authority, and followers accept
this and are willing to follow this higher or inspired authority in the place
of the authority that they have hitherto been following.
Viewed from the case above, the writer knows that the authority
which is used in the research title refers to charismatic authority. That is
because it deals with the grace and derives from higher power. More, it
also has relation with religion or God law. So, the writer concludes that
rebellion against religious authority is fight against or refuses to obey a
religious authority. Furthermore, the rebels act without considering the
religious rule even fight its authority and don’t believe in God authority or
the existence of God by mocking Him and underestimate the priest as the
servant of God.
D. Limitation of the Study
In this research, the writer limits the study on how rebellion against
religious authority shown in David Benioff’s Troy by using sociological
approach.
E. Objective of the Study
This research that the writer wants to analyze focuses on:
1. To analyze the film based on its structural elements.
2. To analyze the rebellion against religious authority shown in David
Benioff’s Troy based on sociological approach.
F. Benefit of the Study
The result of the study will contribute to:
1. Theoretical Benefit:
This research will give contribution in criticizing a literary
work and producing the objective criticism.
2. Practical Benefit
Practically, this research can add the knowledge to the writer
and other researcher of the sociological theory applied in a literary
work, particularly on David Benioff’s Troy.
G. Research Method
In this research, the writer takes a certain procedure covering five
steps. They are as follows:
1. Type of the Research
The type of the research, which is used by the writer, is
qualitative type. Moleong (1989: 3) said that qualitative
research is “a research which result is in the descriptive data”.
2. Object of the Study
The object of the study is Troy film by David Benioff.
3. Data and Data Sources
a. Type of the Data
The data of this research are text in the form of film
manuscript and also the motion pictures of Troy.
b. The Data Sources
1. Primary Data Sources.
The primary data source is the film itself, Troy
by David Benioff.
2. Secondary Data Source.
The secondary data sources are the other
literatures which are relevant to the film and to
sociological approach.
4. Data Collecting Method and Technique
In this study, the writer applies library research, release
document to be observed. The techniques are:
a. Watching the film repeatedly.
b. Taking notes of the influence information in both primary
and secondary data.
c. Arranging the data into several groups based on its
classifications.
d. Selecting particular parts considered important and relevant
for analysis.
e. Drawing conclusion and formulating suggestion.
5. Data Analyzing Technique
In analyzing the data, the writer applies descriptive
approach. The steps taken by the writer in analyzing the data
are as follows: the first step is analyzing the data of this
research. Analyzing the data of this research is trying to clarify
the obtained data by selecting the necessary ones. Second step
is analyzing the data based on sociological approach.
H. Research Paper Organization
The writer uses several steps of his research to make it easier to
understand. Chapter I is introduction which covers background of the
study, literature review, problem statement, limitation of the study,
objective of the study, benefit of the study, research method, and research
paper organization. Chapter II is underlying theory which covers theory
about the rebellion against religious authority, sociology of literature,
major principles of sociology of literature, and structural elements of film.
Chapter III is social background of America under George Walker Bush’s
leadership which covers social aspect, political aspect, economic aspect,
cultural aspect, science and technology, and religious aspect. Chapter IV is
structural analysis. Chapter V is sociological analysis. And chapter VI is
conclusion and suggestion.