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This thesis focuses on the Akeelah and the Bee movie.
Typology: Thesis
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In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Bachelor Degree Majoring American Cultural Studies in English Department Faculty of Humanities Diponegoro University Submitted by: Desy Auralita 13020116120023 ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES DIPONEGORO UNIVERSITY 2020
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The writer honestly confirms that she compiles this thesis entitled “African American Children Struggle in Achieving Dream as Depicted in Akeelah Anderson’s Character in Akeelah and the Bee Movie” by herself and without taking any results from other researches in S-1, S-2, S-3 and in diploma degree of any university. The writer ascertains also that she does not quote any material from other publication or someone’s paper, except from the references mentioned. Semarang, 5th^ March 2020 Desy Auralita
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vii imagine how my life would be right now. Moreover, my beloved grandfather, Sugeng Widada, and my beloved grandmother, Sri Kristinah, who have given me prayer, support, and endless love in many aspects of my life. Thank you for all the wise and good advices.
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This thesis focuses on the Akeelah and the Bee movie. It is a movie which tells a story about an African American child, Akeelah Anderson, who tries to pursue her American dream in spelling bee competition. The writer uses library research to collect the data of this study which come from books, journals, articles, online documents and websites. The aims of this study are to observe the intrinsic and extrinsic aspect of the movie. The intrinsic aspects cover the narrative and cinematography aspects. Furthermore, extrinsic aspects cover the struggle of children in pursuing American dream and how they overcome the struggle. The Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory is used to analyze the struggle of African children struggle in pursuing American dream and social support theory is applied to analyze how children overcome their struggle in pursuing American dream. Based on the analysis, the struggle in pursuing dream appears due to the unsatisfied of 4 out of 5 levels of needs. They are safety needs, love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization. The writer also found that social support is one of tools for African American children to overcome the struggle of pursuing American dream. Keywords: Akeelah and the Bee , Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, American dream, social support
2 highest percentage among the other racial groups in the United States. The achievement gap in education between African American children and other children such as Asian, White, and Latino is influenced by their present economic and social condition. African American children have lower scores on tests and grades than those children from other racial groups (Bowman et al, 2018). From the data above, African American children will struggle a lot to fulfill their education needs to achieve their goals or dreams. The issues above are shown in various media and movie is one of the best tools to deliver the issues clearly to the society that many African American children struggle in pursuing their American dream, especially in the 2000s. This thesis analyzes Akeelah and the Bee (2006) movie which tells about the character of African American child, Akeelah Anderson in pursuing her American dream in spelling bee competition. This movie won the African-American Film Critics Association in the 4th^ place and it also takes setting in Los Angeles in the 2000s. Therefore, the movie serves a good representation of the African American children struggle in pursuing their American dream. The Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is applied in this thesis as a tool to observe the struggle in pursuing the American dream. This thesis is also supported by Mermelstein’s social support theory in order to observe the role of community in pursuing the American dream. 1.2. Scope of the Study In writing this thesis, the writer will make the limitation of the study. Therefore, the research will not go beyond its area of study. The writer will analyze the intrinsic aspects of the movie and extrinsic aspects that are the struggle of
3 African American child, Akeelah Anderson, in the era of 2000s in pursuing American dream and how she overcomes the obstacle. 1.3. Research Problem There are several research problems in writing this thesis, namely:
5 The first study is about the impact of family support as the essential tool for black children to success in the educational sector that was written by Miftahul Jannah in 2018. Therefore, black children can carry educational value such as value of being and value of giving. The second study was written by Amanda L. Hodges in 2010. From her article, she states that black children from a poor neighborhood can achieve success in education sector with the support of their surroundings. The writer finds a gap between those previous studies and this thesis that the studies from Jannah and Hodges focus on the success of Akeelah in pathetic neighborhood with the support of family and friends. As for this thesis concentrates on pointing out the struggle of Akeelah or black children in achieving the success or goal in the education sector. 1.7. The Organization of The Writing In writing this thesis, the study will be arranged in chapter and sub-chapter as follows: CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter contains background of the study, scope of the study, purpose of the study, method of the study, previous study, and the organization of the writing. CHAPTER II BIOGRAPHY OF THE DIRECTOR AND SYNOPSIS OF THE MOVIE This chapter contains the summary of Akeelah and the Bee movie, and the biography of its director, Doug Atchison.
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This chapter contains theoretical framework, which consists of intrinsic aspects such as narrative elements (character, setting, conflict) and cinematographic elements (camera distance and mise-en-scene ). It also consists extrinsic aspects that cover the struggle of African American child, Akeelah Anderson, in the era of 2000s in pursuing American dream and how she overcomes the obstacle. CHAPTER IV DISCUSSION This chapter contains the analysis of the intrinsic aspect and extrinsic aspect of Akeelah and the Bee movie. CHAPTER V CONCLUSION This chapter contains the summary of the whole discussion and analysis that are written by the writer.
