Available at DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21111/ijelal.v2i1.6517 IJELAL Vol. 02. No. 01, Dec.

2021
e-ISSN 2775-4359

THE STUDY OF CHARACTERIZATION OF THE

MAIN CHARACTER IN BRAVE MOVIE

Kadek Rizka Indah Pratiwi,1* Made Iwan Indrawan,2

I G.B. Wahyu Nugraha Putra3
Mahasaraswati Denpasar University
1 [email protected], 2 [email protected],
3
wahyunugraha1980yahoo.com
*Corresponding author

Abstract
This research is entitled “The Study of Characterization of the
Main Character in Brave movie”. This research is focused on
the characterization approach based on the three dimensions
of the main character and intrinsic components in the movie.
The main purpose of the research is to determine how the
author describes the main character in terms of physiological,
psychological, and sociological dimensions. The data for this
research was collected using the documentation technique,
which was based on library research. The obtained data were
then descriptively analyzed using the descriptive qualitative
method. This research uses theory from Kenney (1966) to
explain category the main character and for theory of three
dimension of characterization proposed by Egri (1985). The
data source of this study is a movie entitled Brave (2012). Based
on Kenney’s theory, the writer found that the main character
in Brave movie as dynamic character. In addition, based on
Egri’s theory, there are three dimensions (physiological,
psychological, and sociological) involved in the shaping
and presentation of the main character. From the result
conducted, this study there was found 8 data of dimension of
characterization including 5 data of Psychological, 2 data of
Physiological, and 1 data of Sociological.

Keywords: Main Character, Movie, Three Dimension of

Characterization

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74 The Study of Characterization of The Main Character In Brave Movie

Introduction

Many people like watching movies, it has become their

daily activity. Some people may be have different goals to watch
a movies such us, to gaining new knowledge, getting a value or
message, doing for refreshing, because of hobby, and know more
about culture and foreign language. The number of individuals
who attend the movies reflects this reality. This is because
watching movies is fun and engaging. The movie is one of the
literary works that describe and reflected in social life. The
movie is also considered as a medium of effective communication
against the target masses, because of its audio-visual nature,
namely: lies in the power of vivid images and sound. We can see
some motions or pictures in movies or films that reach a wide
area or scope such as art, industry, culture and movie can also
reflect specific culture and be able to influence them.
The movie or film is regarded as a very important and
popular form of entertainment, as well as a means of propaganda,
and it is regarded as a powerful method in all subjects, including
education. The movie or film can illustrate that every people
have character. They give the plot a real purpose, and they make
the viewer care about what occurs in the movie. They play an
important role in films, especially for the main characters.
They have a lot of clouts when their comes to represent the
most essential message in movie. Character and personality
are intimately connected. Rosenheim (1960:79) stated that
character was one of necessary in intrinsic element. Character
is a human representation that is useful in constructing the

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storyline of a tale to be shown in a film to be watched.

Character contributed and can bring various morality,
emotional, and physical values to the scene. Characterization
is a way of analyzing the main character’s development and
personality that deals with the method of constructing a fiction
image of a person complete with the person’s characteristics,
features, and motivation (Aquino, 1976:112) Characterization
is divided into categories based on the aspects around which it
revolves. The majority of plays are classified into three categories:
physical, social, and psychological dimensions. Characterization
based on physical capabilities is mostly based on thoughts based
on human and physical capacities.
People out there should have a better understanding of the
character of the story, how to categorize the main character, and
three-dimensional classification of the characterizations. The
advantage provided by this article is to gain knowledge about the
main characters and the three-dimensional characterization of the
Brave movie. Movies contain a lot of messages and it is important
to analyze the characters of the main characters to understand
the purpose of the characters. This studies characterization of
the main character had done previously conducted by several
researchers. The first thesis Asminda (2018) entitled “The
Analysis of Maleficent’s Characterization as the Main Character
Maleficent Movie by Robert Stromberg”. The similarity of the
previous study and recent study is which has the similar topic,
namely characterization of the main character. However, the
differences between previous study and recent study discussed

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about the conflict of the main character in previous study and

for recent study focused three dimension of characterization.
The second thesis Larassati (2019) entitled “Maleficent as the
Dynamic Main Character in the Movie “Maleficent” by Robert
Stromberg”. Comparing with the previous study and recent
study, both of them has similarity using characterization of the
main character as the topic. Whereas, for the difference the
previous study focused on the dynamic of the main character but
the recent study focused on three dimension of characterization.
The last from journal Ifianti, T., & Rahman, A. (2020) entitled
“Analysis of Characterization of the Main Character of “First They
Killed My Father” Movie by Angelina Jolie” the previous study
and recent study has similarity and difference. For the similarity,
both of them used characterization of the main character as the
topic. While, the difference the previous study focused on analyze
characterization theory from Jones (1968) and the recent study
focus on analyze characterization theory from Egri (1985).
The reason why the author choose this topic is because
many people don’t understand the characterization of the main
character especially in three dimension of characterization.
This Brave movie also good for watch, many characters that the
author get in this movie and gain a message or value from the
character.

Method

In this research researcher used the analysis method

to help collect and analyze the movie in several stages. The

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research applied a qualitative descriptive method that is

because the author topic is an analysis that must describe every
meaning behind the movie’s story. The data was taken from the
movie entitled Brave by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman,
the duration is about 93 minutes running times. This movie was
released in North America on June 22nd, 2012. In collection
data, the author used documentation method to find out and
analyze the main character. There are some steps of collecting
data 1) watching the movie repeatedly to understand the main
character 2) reading the script carefully 3) taking notes after get
the data to collected 4) classifying the characterization of the
main character based on theory. The researcher used the main
theory in characterization analyzed from Egri lagos (1985) the
three dimension and author used the theory in category of main
character according to Wellek and Waren (1986) for supporting
this research.

Discussion

After In this part will be discusses the category of the

main character and three-dimension of characterization found
in Brave movie. The author found only one the main character
namely Merida and found the main of character as dynamic
character because that the main character changes her value
or understanding at the middle of the story, she changed her
attitude because she didn’t agree with what her mother had
planned.

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Table 1. Finding of Three-Dimension of Characterization

No. Three Dimension of Characterization Total Percentage
1. Physiological Dimension 1 12,5%
2. Psychological Dimension 5 62,5%
3 Sociological Dimension 2 25,0%
Total 8 100%

Based on the table above, the result presented the three

dimension of characterization aspect found in Brave movie.
According to Egri (in Hamzah, 1985:107) state that as a basic
structure, a character has three dimensions. Those dimensions
are physiology, sociology and psychology. From the table
above, it shows that there are in total 8 data of dimension
of characterization, where the most data are 5 data from
Psychological dimension, 2 data from Sociological Dimension,
and for 1 data from Physiological dimension. The writer uses a
table to summarize the kinds found as well as the amount of data
gathered for each category.

1. Physiological Dimension Aspect

Egri (1985) said that Physiological dimension is the
description of the physical aspects of a character, e.g. appearance
and general health. Physiological factors of a character are
observed by sex, age, or physical appearance, such as the form
of the body, whether or not an individual is ugly or beautiful, or
color of skin and hair.
Data 1
Merida : Mom? Just...
Elinor :...remember to smile.

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Elinor : Oy, they’re coming!

Elinor : Places everyone!
Merida : Places! I look fine, woman. Leave me be!

From this data, it can be seen that Merida and her mother
are preparing to attend a meeting with 3 clans. Where the meeting
discussed Merida’s engagement. After dressing neatly Merida
looks charming wearing a royal dress. She also has a slim body,
blue eyes, a small face, thick lips, and curly long red hair. And she
has sharp eyes because she is good at using archery. As seen in the
sentence “remember to smile” her mother said that Merida should
always be seen smiling to show the side of beauty in herself.

2. Psychological Dimension Aspect

According to Egri (1985) Another character dimension
is the psychological dimension. Psychological aspects deal with
the characteristics, such as behavior, emotion, sex live, ability,
attitude toward life, frustration, and thought of the character.
Data 2
Fergus : Aye, you do, you mutter, lass. When something’s
troubling you.
Elinor : I blame you. The stubborness. It’s entirely from
your side of the family.
Elinor : I take it it all didn’t go too well? I don’t know
what to do.
Fergus : Speak to her, dear!
Elinor : I do speak to her! She just doesn’t listen! Come
on, now.

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Fergus : Pretend I’m Merida. Speak to me. What would

you say?

This is seen in data 2, that Merida has a very hard character

and is difficult to manage by her parents. As seen in the sentence
“I blame you. The stubbornness. It’s entirely from your side of
the family” Elinor was talking to her husband in the room. Elinor
(Merida’s mother) looks very tired of Merida’s behavior who
always denies her mother’s words. Merida is very adventurous,
climbing cliffs while drinking waterfalls, and archery but it is in
contrast to the principle of her mother who strictly forbids her to
do this because she is a royal princess and will soon be engaged.
And in that situation, the father and mother knew that their son
was very stubborn and never obeyed her.
Data 3
Merida : Right, here we go. I don’t want to get married!
Merida : I want to stay single and let my hair flow in the
wind as I ride through the glen firing arrows
into the sunset.
After seeing the data, the author states that this data is
included in the physiological dimension because in that sentence
Merida shows that she does not want the engagement or the
marriage. She has also told her mother many times that she does
not want to talk about marriage, it is also seen that Merida wants
her freedom to be a young girl that is far from the word rules.
Merida also said she wanted her hair to fly in the wind and enjoy
the sunset with her favorite archery and horse.

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Data 4
Elinor : You’ve embarrassed them. You’ve embarrassed
me.
Merida : I followed the rules! You don’t know what you’ve
done! I don’t care...
Elinor : There’ll be fire and swords if it’s not set right.
Merida : Just listen!
Elinor : I am the Queen! You listen to me!

From the data above, it can be seen that the mother was
very angry and felt ashamed of Merida because she had done
things that were out of bounds during the competition. But
here Merida doesn’t care about what she has done in front of
everyone. With her emotions, Merida takes her arrow and starts
shooting at the target in front of her. He was annoyed that none
of the 3 clans could shoot properly and hit the target. After doing
so, Merida was pulled by her mother to go to her room and they
chatted in a slightly annoyed tone because what she had done
earlier had made her mother very embarrassed in front of the
crowd.
Data 5
Merida : Mom, we need to get back to the castle!
Merida : If we don’t hurry, you’ll become like Mor’du! A
bear, a real bear.
Merida : Forever! Mend the bond torn by pride. The witch
gave us the answer. The tapestry!

This data has a personal feeling. That can be seen, Merida

must do everything possible to correct the mistakes she has

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made with her mother. She feels very guilty after what she did
to her mother put her mother in a dangerous situation, Merida
selfishly gave her mother a cake that had been given a mixture of
ingredients that made the mother turn into a big bear. But here
it can be seen in the sentence “The witch gave us the answer. The
tapestry! “ When Merida recalled the message conveyed by the
witch, she cleverly immediately thought of repairing the tapestry
that she had torn off when she fought with her mother. She is sure
that the rug will be able to return his mother to how she used to
be. And the conclusion here is that Merida looks responsible for
what she has done to her mother and is starting to fix it.
Data 6
Merida : It’s a peace offering. I made it. For you. Special.
Elinor : You made this for me? Interesting flavour.
Merida : How do you feel?
Elinor : What is that?
Merida : Different? Tart and gamey... Have you changed
your mind at all about the marriage and all that?

Merida’s behavior towards her mother was very wrong.

She had lied to her mother and gave her a cake that had been
given a potion by a witch she met in the forest. Here it is seen
that Merida wants her mother to change her mind about her
engagement, but before that, Merida did not know that the cake
contained a potion that would make her mother a bear. At that
moment, Merida only thought about herself and she thought the
witch would help her to change her destiny. Her attitude towards
her mother is very ambitious and unkind.

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3. Sociological Dimension Aspect

Egri (1985) states that the sociological factor relates to
the definition of the environmental situation of the character.
Through the social life of the character, e.g. the home, work,
education, religion, nationality and social status, the sociological
aspect can be effectively analyzed.
Data 7
Merida : That’s a nice story!
Elinor : It’s not just a story, Merida. Legends are lessons,
they ring with truths.
Merida : Ah, mom!
Elinor : I would advise you to make your peace with this.
The clans are coming to present their suitors.
Merida : It’s not fair!
Elinor : Oh, Merida, it’s marriage. It’s not the end of the
world.

In the dialogue, Merida and her mother are talking to

each other. In the end, the mother told a story about an ancient
kingdom that was destroyed because of the malice of an older
brother towards his sister. Then the kingdom was destroyed and
the older brother of the ancient kingdom became a big evil bear.
It’s a story of heredity from generation to generation that people
in all kingdoms believe in. And one of them is about marriage. A
princess must marry a prince from another kingdom. But here
Merida doesn’t like that and the tradition.

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Data 8
Merida : Firstborn?
Elinor : And thus compete for the hand of the princess
of DunBroch. To win the fair maiden, they must
prove their worth by feats of strength or arms
in the games.
Elinor : It is customary that the challenge be determined
by the princess herself.
Merida : Archery, archery! I choose...archery.

From the data above, we can see that this is an example of

the sociological dimension because it can be seen in the sentence
above that the mother stated to the suitors that they had to do
something to get the princess from the kingdom. Merida’s mother
wants a contest and challenges the suitor. If she can pass it or
succeed in the challenge, the applicant will be engaged to the
royal princess. Here, Merida shows her social status to everyone
present at the meeting, that she is a royal princess and she has
the right to choose what challenge she will give.

Dynamic Character

And the writer found, in Brave movie the main character

as Dynamic character. According to Kenney (1966) Dynamic
is a character who change that shows many different facets,
often in the course of the work. It is included change in sight,
understanding, commitment, value and that the result in some
changes within the character’s self. The main character obviously
seen as dynamic character.

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Data 1
Merida : You’re never there for me. This whole marriage
is what you want!
Merida : Do you ever bother to ask what I want? No! You
walk around telling me what to do, what not to
do, trying to make me feel like you.
Merida : Well, I’m not going to be like you!
Elinor : Oh, you’re acting like a child.

From the data above, that can be seen the conflict caused
in the scene made Merida change her attitude to become a
selfish child and disobey her parents. In that sentence, Merida
explained to her mother that she did not want to be married
and that was not what she wanted. Even though Merida had
previously told her mother that she did not want it, her mother
still did not pay attention to Merida’s words at that time. Merida
looks very depressed about marriage and she tells her that she
doesn’t want to be like her mother. That’s one of the reasons why
Merida changed her attitude towards her mother and she made
the mistake of being selfish.
Data 2
(Merida monologue) There are those who say fate is
something beyond our command. That destiny is not our
own. But I know better. Our fate lives within us. You only
have to be brave enough to see it.

This is Merida’s monologue scene at the end of the Brave

movie. At the end of the story, Merida admits that she was wrong
about her mother and tries to fix what she had done. She is also

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responsible for returning her mother, who turned into a big

bear because of her own selfishness. It can be concluded that,
after going through this problem, Merida changed her attitude
towards her mother. She seemed more affectionate towards her
mother. She realized that what she was doing was endangering
her mother and all those who were there. And she believes that
her destiny lies within her and must dare to see it. And in the
end, the mother understood what Merida wanted all this time.
The mother gave a statement that Merida would marry if she
was ready for it.

Conclusion

Based on the analysis before, the writer concluded that

Merida as the main character in Brave movie, also the main
character as dynamic character and there are 3 aspect of
dimension of characterization based on Egri (1985) theory. The
indicate result of this study there are eight data of dimension
of characterization in Brave movie, which is dominated by
Psychological dimension (62,5%), Sociological dimension
(25,0%), and Physiological dimension (12,5%). In this research,
the author hopes that this research can be useful for the next
researcher who want use this research with similar topic and
hopes assist to get benefit for the further readers. The author
also hopes this research many people or the reader easily to
understand and give more information about the character in
the movie, further more message or meaning behind the movie
about.

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Egri, Lajos.Three Dimensional Aspects of the Major Character.
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Ifianti, T., & Rahman, A. (2020). Analysis of Characterization of
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