Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
December, 2024, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 MaslowAos and BeauvoirAos Theories Portrayed on SarahAos Character Viona Edgar Rahmajati* .
Agnes Widyaningrum Universitas Stikubank.
Semarang.
Indonesia Received: 28th May 2024 | Revised: 9th July 2024 | Accepted: 10th July 2024 * Corresponding author.
E-mail: vionaedgarrahmajati@mhs.
Abstract The purpose of this research is to analyze the portrayal of feminine slavery in "Redeeming Love," focusing on understanding the underlying motivations and social pressures that lead Sarah to prostitution.
This study explores the social phenomena of women being enslaved as prostitutes and the motivations behind their choices, using the movie "Redeeming Love.
" The study follows a descriptive qualitative method to examine SarahAos depiction as a feminine slave and her motivations by employing a context-oriented approach.
The research utilizes Simone de BeauvoirAos theory of feminine slavery and MaslowAos Hierarchy of Needs to analyze the experiences of the main character.
Sarah.
The research process involved several steps: first, closely observing the movie.
second, focusing on SarahAos dialogue and actions to discern her depiction and motivations.
third, selecting and interpreting dialogues that reflect the concept of feminine slavery and her reasons for engaging in prostitution.
The findings reveal that SarahAos experiences as a prostitute include both external and internal struggles, which align with BeauvoirAos theory of womenAos objectification and devaluation by a patriarchal society.
The external experience is how Sarah experiences feminine slavery from societal views.
The internal experience reflects how Sarah experiences feminine slavery from her personal views.
Additionally, the study shows that Sarah, as the main female character, experiences some unfulfilled needs that push her into prostitution.
SarahAos unfulfilled needs are physiological, psychological, esteem, and love-belonging needs.
Her unfulfilled needs are caused by her illegitimate status as a child, her fatherAos abandonment, her poverty, and her inability to meet basic needs due to combined unfulfilled needs.
These unfulfilled needs caused her to live as a prostitute.
In conclusion, this study provides new insights into the factors contributing to female enslavement and the needs of women in a patriarchal society, enhancing our understanding of the intersection between womenAos objectification and their basic and psychological needs.
Keywords: Feminism.
MaslowAos Theory.
Character Analysis.
Context-oriented Approach.
Movie.
How to Cite:
Rahmajati.
, & Widyaningrum.
MaslowAos and BeauvoirAos Theories Portrayed on SarahAos Character.
Humanitatis : Journal of Language and Literature, 11.
, 11-22.
Copyright A2024 The Authors.
This article is published by Universitas Bumigora under the CC BY-SA license.
INTRODUCTION
These days, many movies are easy to find online or in other modern places.
Movies are a big part of what people like to watch and talk about.
According to Benavides .
, popular culture includes what most people know about, like what they do, believe, and have.
Benavides .
also says that popular culture gets many ideas from social media.
It can also give people new ideas about life and whatAos important.
Because movies are connected to society and social media, it is important to look at them as part of popular culture.
Online at https://journal.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
December, 2024, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 Movies are seen as storytelling because they come from someoneAos imagination.
TheyAore also called films or motion pictures.
Plus, a movie is the result of a creative process where filmmakers mix together many different things like ideas, values, ways of life, beauty, norms, human actions, and technology.
Movies play a big role in showing how people feel and what they can imagine (Hastuti, 2.
According to Rubi .
, movies, societies, and politics are connected, showing how movies can show political ideas and social problems.
That means both literature and movies are like big mirrors that can show us whatAos going on in society, including politics.
They can make people think about important things and talk about For example, some movies tell stories about how women are treated unfairly because of their gender.
They show us that women are strong and deserve to be treated with respect.
In both movies and literature, different social problems and disagreements are shown.
One of these problems is about how women are treated unfairly in society.
The challenges women face are often talked about not just in books but also in movies.
Movies offer a different way to tell stories, letting people enjoy new art while using better technology.
Because of this, there are many different kinds of women shown in books and moviesAinot just in their names and characters but also in the problems they deal with (Faradilla, 2.
It is argued by Qasim et al.
that literature can function as a reflection of certain social phenomena, such as patriarchal oppression toward women.
This is also supported by Febriati .
research that analyzes The Girl on The Train movie subtitles and was based on Kate MillettAos Sexual Politics theory.
The findings stated that female characters experienced emotional, physical, and verbal abuse from male characters from husbands, who were aggressive and domineering.
Another research comes from Aminah and Yulistiyanti .
that focuses on female oppression from the drama script The Conduct of Life by Maria Irene Fornes.
It is stated in that study that female oppression happens due to the low level of 19th-century law and patriarchal society, experiencing verbal oppression and physical .
WomenAos oppression as both social and literary phenomena can be found broadly, even in poetry.
A study written by Nirwinastu .
states that control and oppression happen subtly through education, family, and media, making women follow societyAos rules and stopping them from fully growing as people.
More oppression is found in the movie Beauty and The Beast based on another study by Sampe .
that shows how men have power and control over women, who lack dignity and independence, altogether with the main female characterAos rejection of social norms, which reflects liberal feminism and individual autonomy.
The struggles of women against patriarchy are also found in the study written by Pillado .
, which states that women play important roles and are crucial for a nationAos progress.
Still, patriarchal societies often make them seem less important, keeping them in domestic roles and subjecting them to violence.
Other recent studies also have looked into womenAos experiences and psychological conditions through books and movies.
Tampubolon and Mandala .
studied the struggles of Pakistani women for education and work freedom in I Am Malala using liberal feminism.
Novelia Hutagaol and Widyaningrum .
explored schizophrenia in Andrew Laeddis from Shutter Island using FreudAos psychoanalysis and MaslowAos needs, showing his complex mind.
Rosemary and Arianto .
analyzed womenAos fight against domestic roles in Little Women, focusing on gender expression, education, and role choice with a feminist perspective.
Based on some previous studies, then, it is notable that most things related to womenAos issues can be looked at through Feminism.
Feminism is a movement that wants to make sure men and women are treated equally.
wants to change the things in society, culture, and politics that make women feel less important than men (Beauvoir.
Feminism looks at womenAos issues in different times, called "waves.
" In this study, the writer uses the idea of "feminine slavery" from Simone De BeauvoirAos book The Second Sex .
This idea looks at how women who work as prostitutes are not treated well and are discriminated and looked down upon by society (Faradilla.
After that, asides of writing and analyzing feminine slavery, the writer also looks at why women in books might choose to become prostitutes through a psychological theory, named Maslow Hierarchy of Need.
Apart from feminine slavery, the writer also writes an analysis about what can be the motivation of female characters in the movies to choose the path of prostitution.
To analyze the motives behind women choosing the Online at https://journal.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
December, 2024, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 path of prostitution, the writer applies the psychological theory of Abraham Maslow, which is named AuMaslowAos Hierarchy of Needs.
Ay Abraham MaslowAos Hierarchy of Needs is a psychological theory that categorizes human needs into five levels, often depicted as a pyramid.
The levels, in ascending order of importance, are as follows:
Physiological Needs, .
Safety Needs, .
Love and Belongingness Needs, .
Esteem Needs, and .
SelfActualization Needs.
Maslow proposed that individuals progress through these levels sequentially, with each higher level becoming a motivator once the lower-level needs are satisfied.
The theory suggests that individuals are motivated by unmet needs, and as lower-level needs are fulfilled, higher-level needs come into focus (McLeod.
Therefore, this research has two research questions and two objectives.
The research questions are: .
What are SarahAos experiences as a sexual worker that reflect the concept of feminine slavery? and .
what are SarahAos needs that motivate her to live as a sexual worker? Based on the research questions, thus the objectives of this research are .
to describe SarahAos experiences as a sexual worker that reflects the concept of feminine slavery in AuRedeeming LoveAy movie and .
to analyze SarahAos needs that motivate her to live as a sexual worker in AuRedeeming LoveAy movie.
Considering the research questions and the objectives, therefore, the significance of this study is .
to give further contribution toward feminism study by applying De BeauvoirAos concept of feminine slavery to analyze the portrayal of women in prostitution and .
to give further insight about how females are motivated to choose prostitution as a way of living.
The researcher provides several previous studies to support this study.
Five additional studies are added.
These studies have similarities and differences.
They are listed and described in the following Table 1.
Table 1.
Research Gap of Feminism Study Study Hanifah et al.
Problem/Purpose Examines Method Results Similarities Differences Descriptive analy- The main char- Focus on femi- Different theoret- Johanna, nism, analysis of ical frameworks in "Pope Joan" female characters focus on liberal liberal feminism, in films feminism and the Naomi WolfAos theoretical norms and becom- historical context ing a pope Rahmayanti.
Adiyati S.
Focuses on gen- Meticulous analy- The protagonist Analysis of gen- Specific focus on der discrimination sis of the main has some experi- der issues in films, in "Zootopia" us- ence of physical feminist perspec- based on physical ing Kate MilletAos and racial discrim- and racial differ- Gender Discrimi- ination, excelling nation theory as a police officer Explores Qualitative modern feminism The main female Feminist analysis Focuses on sin- character shows of films, examina- glehood and post- in "How To Be tion of female in- modern feminism.
Single" choosing single- uses character di- alogue and script negative connota- as data Zulhana .
Applies MaslowAos Identification of Safety needs are Application Focuses theory to "Char- needs levels most dominant in MaslowAos Hierar- fulfilling the main chy of Needs than a film, with lotteAos Web" characterAos needs, specific emphasis emphasizing so- on safety needs cial connections Online at https://journal.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
December, 2024, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 Study Problem/Purpose Method Results Similarities Afdlol .
Analyzes person- Analysis of per- Recognizes some Use of MaslowAos Examines person- ality traits using sonality traits traits related to Hierarchy ality traits in gen- MaslowAos hierar- Needs, eral, not limited to levels, reflecting a single character broader societal Differences or narrative individual states While these previous studies provide important ideas about feminism and why characters act in movies and books, thereAos still something missing.
There isnAot much research on how women in movies end up as prostitutes and why they make that choice.
Thus, there is a knowledge gap that needs to be filled.
To fill this gap, the researcher wrote this research.
This study tries to fill these gaps by using Simone De BeauvoirAos idea of "feminine slavery" to study how women are shown in prostitution in the movie Redeeming Love and using MaslowAos theory to catch and interpret the motivations of female characters in the movie that takes path in prostitution, the embodiment of the feminine slavery itself.
Moreover, by looking into these specific things, this research will help us understand better how feminist ideas, psychology, and movies connect.
In so, this study has its significance and novelty as:
A Contribution to Feminism: By using De BeauvoirAos idea of "feminine slavery," this study gives a careful look at how women are shown in prostitution, which helps us learn more about feminism.
A Understanding WomenAos Motivations: Using MaslowAos ideas shows us why women in stories might choose to be prostitutes, which helps us understand what drives women and how society influences them.
RESEARCH METHOD
This study is a descriptive qualitative study that applies a context-oriented approach.
It is one of approaches used in literary analysis.
Literature has several ways to understand and interpret literary works from different perspectives such as text, reader, author, and context-oriented.
Chinade .
highlights the advocacy for a context-oriented approach to literary criticism.
This approach is supported by various groups of experts and their theories, emphasizing that literature encompasses not only the text but also its context, such as historical and cultural context, which can be related to how womenAos oppression in the form of feminine slavery of prostitution, has its own cultural, historical journey from time to time.
The data analysis method of this study is the descriptive qualitative method.
The main data is obtained from the movie Redeeming Love.
Secondary data .
heories, explanations, and various news about feminine slavery proposed by Beauvoir and MaslowAos Theor.
are also used by the researcher.
The examination of the female characters in the Redeeming Love movie was carried out in the following stages: initially, watching the movie attentively and next, paying attention, particularly to the main female character, to identify the feminine slavery she experiences and her motivations to live as a prostitute in the scenes.
These can be seen through her dialogues and behavior as the movie progresses.
Lastly, data concerning the female characters could be gathered and scrutinized from the observations.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This research has two research questions and two objectives.
The research questions are: .
What are SarahAos experiences as a sexual worker that reflect the concept of feminine slavery? and .
what are SarahAos needs that motivate her to live as a sexual worker? Based on the research questions, thus the objections of this research are .
to describe SarahAos experiences as a sexual worker that reflect the concept of feminine slavery and .
to analyze SarahAos needs that motivate her to live as a sexual worker.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
December, 2024, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 SarahAos Experiences that Reflect the Concept of Feminine Slavery To elaborate on the analysis, the researcher divided these subheadings into more headings: the external experience that involved societal factors and the internal experience that involved personal factors.
The external experience consists of two subheadings, elaborating on how Sarah experiences feminine slavery from societal The internal experience consists of three subheadings that reflect how Sarah experiences feminine slavery from her personal views.
Her experience is shown in Table 2, followed by further analysis on the next subheadings.
Table 2.
SarahAos Experience that Reflects Feminine Slavery SarahAos experience External Experience Result of Analysis Reflects societal views, including societyAos mistreatment of prostitutes and womenAos voices.
Society Looks Down on Prostitute Highlights societal disdain for prostitutes, showing exploitation and objectification in the form of feminine slavery Devoiced Women in Society Shows gender inequality and disregard toward women existence by men in the relationship Internal Experience Focuses on personal perspectives, including SarahAos struggles with finding a husband and having a child.
SarahAos Difficulty of Finding Husband Shows SarahAos struggles to traditional gender roles and societal expectations in marriage SarahAos Difficulty of Having Child Shows SarahAos infertility and past experiences as victim of sexual abuse and enslavement by man SarahAos Oppression from Her Pimp Shows how Sarah is controlled by patriarchal economic dependency resulted in various female abuse, women enslavement and objectification of women.
Based on the analysis in Table 2.
Sarah has internal and external experience regarding her condition as a female who suffered from feminine slavery.
From the external experience, society looked down on her because she is a prostitute.
furthermore, she is voiceless to be outspoken.
The internal experiences show that as a prostitute, she has difficulty finding a husband, having a child, and is oppressed by her pimp.
External Experience Society Looks Down on Prostitute The first dialogue reflects how society looked down on prostitutes.
It can be found in the dialogue when SarahAos friend, another prostitute, tells her about how she became a prostitute in the first place.
It can be seen in the following citation.
Prostitute: you know.
just being a mattress hole for whoremongers.
Just collecting gold dust that isnAot mine.
My father sold me for three ounces of gold.
And he told me that I was going to stay in a I thought he meant a royal palace.
Like a princess.
ItAos bad.
:10:12,622 Ae> 00:10:40,.
The previous dialogue highlights a profound sense of exploitation and objectification experienced by the prostitute, as a woman.
The previous dialogue is spoken by a prostitute that states they arenAot paid as she said Aucollecting the gold dust which arenAot mineAy.
This underscores the feminine slavery concept experience by all prostitute women, including Sarah.
This dialogue also reflects dehumanizing nature of the feminine slavery as SarahAos experience.
Her prostitute friend, referring to herself as a "mattress hole".
This statement describes prostitute woman as merely "collecting gold dust that isnAot mine" emphasizes the reduction of women to mere objects, highlighting the objectification of woman that Beauvoir criticized.
The exploitation as stated by Beauvoir is doubled when a woman is a prostitute, as it is reflected in the concept feminine slavery experienced by all prostitutes in this movie, including Sarah.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
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ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 Devoiced Women in Society The second dialogue that reflects the concept of feminine slavery experienced by Sarah is the dialogue of her servant with her in her childhood.
In her childhood.
Sarah had a servant who told her about how SarahAos mother was treated by her father as a concubine.
This can be seen in the following citation and scene figure.
Female Servant: All men want to do is use you.
Your papa only cared about what your mama gave And she gave him everything she had.
And now he kicks her out and cuts her off.
When you give them your heart, they tear it to shreds.
None of them care.
:16:13,150 Ae> 00:16:38,.
This conversation highlights how women are silenced in relationships between men and women, showing the unequal power balance and how womenAos feelings are ignored.
The mention of SarahAos father only caring about what her mother provided him implied an unequal economic relationship.
In BeauvoirAos ideas, women depending on men economically makes it easy to be taken advantage of by men.
The story of giving everything and being thrown away afterward reflects womenAos weakness and menAos dependency because women lose their voice in a society that values menAos existence more than womenAos.
Furthermore, the phrase "When you give them your heart, they tear it to shreds" shows the mistreatment women face in relationships.
The word "they" refers to all men in general.
This agrees with BeauvoirAos argument that women often face societal expectations that define their worth based on men.
Then, the statement "None of them care" in the previous conversation also refers to men and patriarchal societies in general.
This indicates a broader criticism of societal norms and expectations that lead to women being mistreated.
Internal Experience Internally, the study shows SarahAos struggled toward traditional gender roles and societal expectations.
It is about her struggles with finding a husband, her difficulties with infertility which are caused by her experience as feminine sex slave, and her enslaving oppressive experience that she receives from her pimp called as The Duchess.
This internal experience can be seen on the following subheadings.
SarahAos Difficulty of Finding Husband Sarah also in difficulty finding husband.
It is not only because she is a prostitute, but it is because Sarah herself refuses all the marriage proposals that come to her.
The next dialogue shows how Sarah talks about why she refuses all the marriage proposals that came to her.
It can be seen in the following citation.
Another prostitute: And youAore sorry you didnAot go with him? Sarah: No.
No.
No man is gonna own me.
:42:37,200 Ae> 00:42:43,.
In the previous dialogue between Sarah, a prostitute, and another prostitute from the same brothel.
SarahAos statement, "No man is gonna own me," is her inner thought and opinion about being in a marital relationship that she refuses when she works as a prostitute.
SarahAos statement shows Simone de BeauvoirAos idea of feminine slavery.
Her refusal to leave prostitution even though a man wants to marry her shows sheAos fighting against norms that make women objects to be bought and controlled by men.
By staying in prostitution.
Sarah stated firmly she has control over herself and doesnAot want to be owned by a man.
This fits with what Beauvoir said about society making women into things for menAos desires and keeping them down.
SarahAos Difficulty of Having Child Another experience that is involved in SarahAos experience of feminine slavery, is her inability to have a She states that she is infertile because at the past, she was pregnant when she was a child prostitute.
In this pregnancy, she was aborted by the dukeAos doctor.
Her statement can be seen on the following citation.
Sarah: I canAot have children.
I got pregnant once.
And Duke, um, he had a doctor, and he said that he would make sure that it would never happen again.
:39:10,559 Ae> 01:39:29,.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
December, 2024, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 In the previous citation.
SarahAos statement shows the idea of feminine slavery, as explained by Simone de Beauvoir, in a patriarchal society.
SarahAos telling reveals a story of how women are just tools for satisfying men, how women are enslaved as sexual tools and devoiced totally no matter how she was treated.
It is a clear picture of the oppression faced by Sarah, who is a representative of women in the movie.
SarahAos talk about her infertility and the situation around it shows how she was treated as a feminine slave.
Even as a child prostitute.
Sarah was treated like an object, reduced to something for menAos pleasure.
Her body was used to fulfill othersAo wants without any control or freedom.
This use shows the strong norms that put women below men.
continuing a cycle of menAos control resulted in womenAos objectification as feminine slaves.
SarahAos Oppression from Her Pimp (The Duches.
The oppression which Sarah experienced as a prostitute named Sarah came from the owner of the brothel .
icknamed as The Duches.
It occurred when Sarah asked for her gold as the payment of her work, but she received nothing but abuse and violence.
It can be seen in the following citation.
Sarah: Maybe IAoll get.
married or something.
Duchess: You fancy doing laundry and cooking for a man and giving him sex whenever and however he wants for free? You know how to make a man happy for 30 minutes.
ThatAos all youAore good at.
Sarah: I want my gold.
Duchess.
Duchess: You are forgetting what I do for you.
Everything costs money.
You wear silk in a mining I provide protection for you.
I feed you.
You live in a nice building.
Sarah: What did you say? You have coffee with cream and sugar, pastry from that baker down the street and three eggs and a steak on your.
your fine china plates.
Sarah: I had oatmeal for breakfast with two glasses of milk, rationed.
How many men .
did I have to have sex with so you could have this? You stuff yourself like a pig and you dress up like royalty! A duchess? A duchess of what?! Men donAot even pay to have sex with you anymore.
Duchess: You forget where I found you, missy.
In an alley, covered with mud, broke and beaten bloody.
I made you a princess.
I can take it all away.
You can discuss further those thoughts you have banging around that pretty little head of yours.
You will be as obedient as a street dog when IAom done with you! .
:44:14,764 Ae> 00:46:11,.
The previous dialogue shows power changes, using people for money and control by the brothel owner over the women working as prostitutes there.
The Duchess shows her control over Sarah by talking about money.
She says everything has a price, showing how the women in the brothel need money.
This fits with BeauvoirAos talk about women being weak with money and how it leads to use and control.
Aside from that.
The Duchess also makes Sarah feel small by saying sheAos only good for making men happy for a short time.
This shows how women are seen as only good for their bodies, something Beauvoir didnAot like.
Women are seen only for their appearance and given a small role based on societyAos thoughts.
So.
The Duchess says SarahAos worth is only for sex work that can be bought with money, showing how prostitutes become slaves of the patriarchal society.
In short.
SarahAos oppression by The Duchess shows how money and power work in the patriarchal systems, showing how women are used and controlled and how women are treated as commodities and feminine slaves of the sexual desires of men with power and money.
SarahAos Needs According to MaslowAos Theory In this subheading, the researcher analyzed the causes that motivated Sarah to be a prostitute according to MaslowAos theory.
The researcher finds several causes that motivate her.
The causes are elaborated on in Table 3, followed by five subheadings.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
December, 2024, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 Table 3.
SarahAos Needs According to MaslowAos Theory SarahAos needs Sarah cannot meet her ba- MaslowAos Hierarchy Results of Analysis Needs Category Physiological.
Safety.
Psychological sic needs.
- Demand for payment from the Duchess for financial independence.
- Expression of need for independence and control over her life.
- Expression of need for independence and control over her life.
Sarah doesnAot have legal Physiological.
Safety.
Belonging status as a child - FatherAos rejection leads to poverty and homelessness - Struggles to fulfill basic needs without legal - Seeks income and life in prostitution places due to lack of acceptance and orphan status Sarah is abandoned by her Safety.
Love/Belonging.
Esteem - FatherAos abandonment undermines selfesteem and worth - Seeks validation through prostitution and marriageAos refusal Sarah lives in poverty Physiological.
Safety.
Love/Belonging - Poverty deprives her of basic needs and emotional support - Patriarchal society made her sold into prostitution as child Table 3 shows that Abraham Maslow describes a hierarchy of needs that represents SarahAos needs: She cannot meet her basic needs, she has not had legal status since she was a child, and she was abandoned by her noble father, which makes her live in poverty.
Sarah Cannot Meet Her Basic Needs Sarah works as a prostitute because of her being unable to fulfill her basic needs as a woman.
This can be seen in the scene when Sarah asked her payment as a sexual worker to the Duchess.
In this dialogue, she states and asserts her basic needs very clearly and rather forcefully.
Sarah: I want my gold.
Duchess: And why do you want it? Sarah: Because it belongs to me.
I donAot want coffee.
I want my gold.
Duchess: Tell me, why do you want your gold? Sarah: I would like to leave, get my own place.
Be a hundred miles from this place.
You donAot have to worry about me.
I just would like to be left alone.
:43:33,890 Ae> 00:44:05,.
In this dialogue between Sarah and The Duchess from "Redeeming Love," we can analyze the charactersAo motivations and desires using MaslowAos Hierarchy of Needs Theory.
SarahAos basic needs can be elaborated as Sarah asks for her gold because of her physiological needs.
MaslowAos hierarchy places basic needs like food, water, and shelter at the foundational level.
In this dialogue.
SarahAos desire for her payment represents a need for financial resources to secure basic necessities like shelter, food, and security.
It also reflects that she starts to notice that she doesnAot want to be enslaved and objectified as a woman.
On the other hand.
Sarah states her desire to leave and get her own place, emphasizing a need for safety and security.
MaslowAos second level includes safety needs, personal security, employment, resources, health, and property.
SarahAos voicing her need for independence and a place of her own reflects a pursuit of safety and stability, indicating a psychological need for independence and a sense of control over her own life.
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php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
December, 2024, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 Sarah Does Not Have Legal Status as a Child SarahAos illegitimacy as a child causes her later to be a homeless orphan who ends up as a prostitute in a It can be seen in the dialogue between SarahAos father and mother in the following citation.
SarahAos mother: She is your daughter.
SarahAos father: I have enough children by my wife.
Legitimate children.
:07:31,461 Ae> > 00:07:35,.
Looking at the previous dialogue through MaslowAos Needs theory, it can be seen how SarahAos not being legit as a child might have affected her later choices, including her doing prostitution.
SarahAos not being legit might have made it hard for her to get these basic things, maybe making her a homeless kid with a hard time getting to stay Then, there are safety needs.
SarahAos not being legit might have made her feel less safe and stable with her family and in society.
This lack of safety could have made her more open to prostitution as a way to stay safe and have what she needed to live, even if only for a bit.
This caused her later to be poor and homeless.
Lastly.
Maslow talks about needing love and being part of a group.
SarahAos not being legit might have made it hard for her to feel loved and accepted by her family and others.
This lack of love from her parents and feeling like she belonged might have pushed her towards prostitution, where she could find a place to fit in, even if it caused her oppression later.
Sarah Is Abandoned by Her Father Sarah is abandoned by her father.
She is an unwanted child from the start.
It can be seen in the following citation and in the scene where her father talks about her to her mother in private.
SarahAos father: She should never have existed.
Mae.
I sent you to a doctor to get rid of that mess! .
:07:40,370 Ae> 00:07:43,.
SarahAos fatherAos refusal and abandonment, as stated, "She should never have existed," can affect SarahAos need for safety and security.
This lack of safety and security made Sarah has more negative feelings toward marriage and love in general.
This also relates to the next need for love and belonging.
SarahAos fatherAos explicit rejection, expressed by his wish to abort her, shows a basic denial of parental love.
This emotional abandonment would have left Sarah feeling unloved and disconnected, worsening her feelings toward life and people in general.
Without the support of familial love.
Sarah might not have had any choice except to seek income and validation through being a famous prostitute.
Lastly.
MaslowAos states esteem needs.
SarahAos fatherAos rejection may have undermined her self-esteem, leaving her feeling unworthy and invalidated.
thus, through being a prostitute, she tries to regain a sense of control over her life.
Sarah Lives in Poverty It is known from the movie that Sarah is abandoned by her father because she is an unwanted, illegitimate This later caused her to live in poverty after her mother died when she was just a child.
How she lives in poverty can be seen when she is sold by a man to a brothel for the first time, as depicted by the following dialogue between a man and one of the prostitutes that Sarah met the first time she was sold.
A man that sold little Sarah to be a prostitute: Told your mother I would take good care of you.
Come A senior prostitute in luxurious brothel: Upstairs.
Second door on the right.
My name is Sally.
WhatAos yours, honey? A man that sold little Sarah to be a prostitute: Oh, sheAos shy.
DonAot mind her.
Her mamaAos dead.
SheAoll be better off here .
:32:37,100 Ae> 00:33:29,.
Online at https://journal.
id/index.
php/humanitatis/ DOI: 10.
30812/humanitatis.
Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature SK Dirjen DIKTI Nomor 36/E/KPT/2019 Vol.
No.
December, 2024, pp.
ISSN (Prin.
: 2338-9362 ISSN (Onlin.
: 2477-2267 From the previous citation, it is clear that Sarah doesnAot have anything or anyone.
thatAos why she is being sold as a child into a brothel, and thatAos how exactly she ends up as a prostitute.
SarahAos poor situation, due to her motherAos death and her fatherAos leaving, pushed her into prostitution.
Her entrance to prostitution as a child affects her safety and security needs.
SarahAos introduction to the brothel by Sally, another prostitute, shows how she lacks support and is vulnerable because of poverty.
The brothel offers some shelter, but it doesnAot give her the emotional safety she needsAifurthermore.
Maslow talks about the need for love and belonging.
SarahAos entry into prostitution shows how she loses her connections and sense of belonging because of poverty.
Poverty keeps her away from her family and from being accepted in society, the way people treat her in the brothel as just an object to make money.
In the end, this study supports some previous research by showing the social and personal struggles of women in prostitution, such as Sarah in Redeeming Love.
Similar to previous studies, this research confirms the idea of how women struggle through the lens of feminism.
In this study, however, the highlights remain on prostitution as one form of feminine slavery, following Simone de BeauvoirAos theory about how women are seen as objects and depend on men in a patriarchal society.
Also, by using MaslowAos Hierarchy of Needs, this study helps us understand why Sarah chooses to stay a sex worker, matching previous findings about womenAos reasons and social pressures.
However, this study is different because it looks closely at the cause-and-effect relationship between feminine slavery and psychological needs in a movie.
This study, therefore, has its novelty by adding some insights to the discussion about feminist theory, psychology, and how female characters in movies may show these CONCLUSION SarahAos experience concerning feminine slavery consists of the external experience that involved societal factors and the internal expertise that involved personal factors.
The external experience is how Sarah experiences feminine slavery from societal views.
The internal experience reflects how Sarah experiences feminine slavery from her personal views.
Both internal and external experiences are in line with BeauvoirAos theory of feminine slavery, which states how women are objectified and enslaved by patriarchal society as prostitutes.
Furthermore, womenAos needs can be analyzed using MaslowAos Hierarchical Theory.
In this story.
Sarah, as the main female character, experiences some unfulfilled needs that push her into prostitution.
SarahAos unfulfilled needs are physiological, psychological, esteem, and love-belonging needs.
Her unfulfilled needs are caused by her illegitimate status as a child, her fatherAos abandonment, her poverty, and her inability to meet basic needs due to combined unfulfilled These unfulfilled needs caused her to live as a prostitute.
After the writer finally reaches the final part of this study, the writer will give some suggestions to the reader.
The first thing is that BeauvoirAos Feminism in the feminine slavery context is truly handy in movie analysis.
Thus, this concept can also be applied to analyze a movie with some female charactersAo struggles on it.
The second thing is to take a look at another approach to be applied in analyzing The Redeeming Love movie.
for example, this movie can also be considered as a psychoanalysis or psychological approach.
These are the suggestions that can be valuable for future study.
REFERENCES