Anxiety And Defense Mechanisms Depicted In The Characters Of Short Term 12 (2013): Psychoanalytic Approach

Every person has experienced anxiety at some point in their life. It exists because a person feels unable to cope with certain things or situations. No one wants to have anxiety. Instead, they will avoid it or hide it using defense mechanisms. It is a self-strategy that people use unconsciously to reduce their anxiety. Short Term 12 (2013) reflects the anxiety experienced by the characters of the film. Furthermore, the characters use several defense mechanisms to reduce their anxiety and to make them feel better. This study aims to analyze the causes of anxiety experienced by the characters in the film Short Term 12 (2013) and to find out the type of defense mechanisms used by the characters to reduce anxiety. Type of the study is descriptive with a qualitative approach. So descriptive analysis is a technique used to analyze the data. After analyzing based on Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic theory about anxiety and defense mechanisms, the result shows there are three characters who experience anxiety, they are Grace, Jayden, and Marcus. The cause of their anxiety is traumatic experiences they have had and are currently experiencing. First, Grace's anxiety is caused by a traumatic experience as a child being abused by her father until she gets pregnant. Second, Jayden's anxiety was also caused by the abuse her father had against her. Third, Marcus' anxiety caused by the experience of being mistreated by his mother. The three characters use different defense mechanisms to deal with their anxiety. Grace uses repression and displacement, Jayden uses displacement, and Marcus uses denial and sublimation. The anxiety they experience helps them to anticipate the situations that they think are dangerous. Hence, they are able to reduce anxiety and able to survive in the situations by applying defense mechanisms