THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS AND THE STRUGGLES OF THE MAIN CHARACTER AS REFLECTED IN Dr. SEUSS’ THE LORAX DIRECTED BY CHRIS RENAUD (AN ECOCRITICAL STUDY)

The objectives of this research are to identify the environmental problems and the struggles to save environment as reflected in a film Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax directed by Chris Renaud. The researcher applies Ecocriticism theory which concerns on Arne Naess’ basic principle of deep ecology. Then, to analyze the way the problems and struggles portrayed in this film, the researcher applies Gianneti’s film theory. This research was a qualitative research in nature. The content analysis is used to analyze the data. The main data of this research were words, phrases, sentences, dialogues, scenes, and soundtracks related to environmental problems and the struggles taken from the film. The key instrument of this research was the researcher herself. The researcher made some indicators of the environmental problems, the struggles and film elements as explained in the analytical construct. The indicators were made based on the theory to gain the data of this research. In addition, the researcher used peer debriefing method in order to obtain the trustworthiness. This research reveals that there are four indicators of environmental problems found in Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax: having no living trees and animals, consuming the factory made air product, enjoying to live in-inorganic environment and exploiting nature for business purpose. Next, the research also reveals that there are five indicators of the struggles to save the environment: keeping effort to seek the last seed, opposing in-organic industry, saving the last seed, raising the society’s environmental awareness and establishing a new green place. Two of the last indicators are determined as result of the struggles. The environmental problems and the struggles in Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax are portrayed by using the elements of film theory: the shot, the angles, color and music. The extreme long shot, long shot and medium shot are significant because they determine the entire mood of scene. The high angle shot, eye level shot and low angle shot are mostly applied to convey a characterization in the film. The bright color, cool color and warm color are significant because they could build the emotion and atmosphere of the film. The music presented in the film to suggest mood or spirit of the film. This research concludes that Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax offers environmental awareness and the struggle to save nature to viewers in a good cinematography