Monday, June 30, 2008

Article: Momok Bernama Harry Potter

Momok Bernama Harry Potter?

Category Article : Hot Issues»Light

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Perspektif - Januari 2008

Karya sastra kerap dipakai sebagai alat untuk mere?eksikan kehidupan sosial masyarakat. Dalam novel Harry Potter (HP) karya J.K. Rowling, hal itu tergambar dengan jelas.

PERTENTANGAN KELAS

“Harry Potter bercerita soal kelas sosial dan perebutan kekuasaan,” kata Drs. Yoseph Yapi Taum, M.Hum, dosen pada Fakultas Sastra Universitas Sanata Dharma Yogyakarta. Menurut kandidat doktor dalam bidang sastra itu, J.K. Rowling berhasil meramu pertentangan kelas menjadi sebuah bacaan yang memikat dan memanjakan imajinasi anak-anak.

Deskripsi stratifikasi sosial ini, menurut Indah, tidak saja dijumpai pada sifat baik yang selalu ditempelkan pada kelas menengah/bawah, tetapi juga pada deskripsi fisik. Wajah Malfoy yang dingin dan pucat karena jarang berkeringat dan terkena sinar matahari sungguh berbeda dengan keluarga Weasley, orangtua Ron, yang kulitnya berbintik-bintik dan berambut merah akibat sering tersengat matahari. Kesimpulan Indah, Rowling sedang menawarkan kepada pembaca novelnya untuk bersama-sama memerangi dominasi kelas atas. “Rowling menempatkan diri sebagai anggota kelas menengah/bawah. Dia juga menempatkan pembaca pada posisi yang sama, lalu mengajak ´memerangi´ dominasi kelas atas dan mewujudkan a classless society,” bilang Indah.

“Bagi saya karya ini sangat memanjakan imajinasi anak untuk memasuki sebuah dunia alternatif. Mereka diajak untuk keluar dari berbagai keterbatasannya sebagai manusia, yaitu keterbatasan ruang, tempat, dan waktu. Anak-anak diajak melihat dunia dengan cara lain,” tutur Yapi. Hingga buku keenam, garis besar cerita HP masih dilandasi oleh sisi buruk pengkotak-kotakan dalam masyarakat. Pertama kali ditampakkan di sekolah Hogwarts saat murid baru diharuskan mengenakan topi seleksi untuk menentukan di asrama manakah mereka tinggal. Penentuan asrama ini pun berdasarkan sifat dan keunggulan mereka. Gryffindor tempat para pahlawan yang berhati berani, jujur, dan ulet. Hufflepuff tempat tinggal orang yang adil, sabar, dan loyal. Penghuni Ravenclaw adalah orang-orang yang cerdas dan mau belajar. Sedangkan asrama Slytherin dikhususkan bagi mereka yang licik dan rela menggunakan segala cara untuk mendapatkan kepuasan pribadi. Draco Malfoy yang selalu tampil klimis itu tinggal di Slytherin.

Asosiasi yang terbentuk atas sifat masing-masing penghuni asrama sangatlah jelas. PenghuniGryffindor terkesan terhormat sedangkan Slytherin terkorelasi negatif. Sejak awal memasuki sekolah Hogwarts, Harry tidak menyukai penghuni Slytherin. Demikian juga sebaliknya, murid-murid Slytherin selalu berseteru dengan Gryffindor karena merasa mendapat saingan tangguh.Di kalangan masyarakat penyihir sendiri ada sebutan-sebutan khusus di antara mereka. Pure-blood adalah keturunan penyihir murni. Half-blood merupakan keturunan campuran antara penyihir murni dan manusia biasa. Mudblood sebutan bagi manusia biasa yang mempunyai bakat sihir. Squib adalah keturunan penyihir yang tidak memiliki kemampuan sihir.

MENAWARKAN IDEOLOGI

Indah S.Pratidina pernah menulis skripsi tentang Analisis Wacana pada Sastra Anak: Ideologi J.K. Rowling dalam Dunia Sihir Harry Potter (2001). Pertentangan kelas menurut dia memang menjadi bumbu menarik atau bahkan menjadi isu utama bagi penulis-penulis fiksi dalam menyajikan karya fiksinya. Biasanya kisah fiksi menyajikan kaum menengah/bawah sebagai pahlawan yang meraih kemenangan, sementara kelas atas, para aristokrat adalah penjahat yang selalu sial.

Stratifikasi sosial ini sangat terasa dalam penggambaran Harry yang yatim-piatu, miskin, dan menitip hidup pada keluarga Dursley. Lawannya adalah Draco Malfoy dari keluarga terkenal dan kaya-raya, punya puri dan macam-macam materi lain. Harry dalam novel HP adalah representasi kelas bawah yang mesti berpeluh untuk tetap bertahan hidup, sementara Draco Malfoy adalah representasi kaum aristokrat yang punya banyak hak istimewa karena keturunan bangsawan dan kaya. Teman-teman Harry di Gryffindor setali tiga duit. Coba lihat Ron yang selalu mewarisi jubah, buku, dan tongkat abang-abangnya. Kontras sekali dengan Malfoy yang tinggal bilang ke babenya jika ingin berganti sapu terbang model terbaru.

DIJAWAB OLEH WAKTU

Bagi Prof.Dr. Bakdi Sumanto, secara kualitas novel HP tak jauh berbeda dengan novel-novel teenlit karya anak bangsa yang banyak digemari remaja seperti Dealova atau Me VS High Heels. Bedanya, kata Bakdi, HP didukung oleh sistem kapitalis yang luar biasa besar sehingga mampu merambah ke berbagai pelosok dunia. “Sistem kapitalis turut serta membesarkan HP. Kita di Indonesia tidak punya sistem itu. Sementara kalau karya kita mau masuk ke penerbit luar negeri harus melalui agen,” jelas Bakdi. Karya sastra adalah alat seniman untuk menstimulasi orang berpikir. Maka bagi Bakdi karya sastra tidak untuk dikotak-kotakkan. “Setiap karya ada kelebihan dan kekurangannya, tetapi itu tetap sebagai hasil olahan kehidupan manusia,” ujar guru besar Fakultas Sastra UGM itu.



Apakah HP dapat dikategorikan sebagai karya sastra bermutu (high literature)? Menurut Bakdi HP belum sampai ke sana. Sebagai karya komersial (commercial literature) HP memang tak terelakkan. “Waktu yang akan mengujinya. Apakah 10-20 tahun ke depan masyarakat masih suka membaca HP? Kalau masih berarti karya itu menjadi klasik dan termasuk dalam high literature,” jelas pengagum karya-karya Charles Dickens itu. Apa kriteria sebuah karya layak disebut karya sastra? “Setelah membacanya orang menjadi lebih baik. Tetapi kalau sebaliknya, membuat dia ingin membunuh, itu bukan karya sastra,” jelas Prof. Dr. Riris Kusumawati Toha Sarumpaet kepada Rumintar dari Bahana. Karya sastra bermutu menurut Riris dapat membawa pembacanya masuk ke dalam persoalan. Dengan masuk ke dalam persoalan seseorang jadi lebih matang, lebih dewasa dan lebih toleran.

Biasanya karya bermutu, kata Riris, lebih bertahan lama. Orang mau baca lagi. Makin dibaca makin ada yang baru yang bisa dipetik dari sana. Kita menjadi lebih suka pada karya tersebut. “Sehingga saya tidak berani mengatakan ini bermutu bagus dan yang lain tidak. Bermutu atau tidak, itu dirasakan. Itu sebabnya, yang bermutu harus dijawab oleh waktu,” ungkap Riris. Menurut Riris, jangan karena sebuah karya sedang begitu cantiknya, begitu digemari, langsung dinilai bermutu. Kemungkinan besar itu hanya sensasi.

JANGAN DIANGGAP MOMOK

Riris menganjurkan supaya HP dinikmati sebagai bacaan fiksi saja. HP jangan dianggap sebagai momok. Yapi Taum sepakat. Kalau ingin menanamkan budaya membaca bagi anak-anak, menurut dia, biarkan mereka meluangkan lebih banyak waktunya untuk merasakan kenikmatan dan keasyikan membaca. Bagi Yapi, HP adalah bacaan yang bermutu, juga bagi anak-anak kristiani. Memang, ketika pertama kali muncul dan membius pembaca seantero dunia. Gereja ikutan gusar karena dinilai tidak mendidik anak-anak. Sosok dan gaya sihir Harry Potter dinilai tidak sesuai dengan iman Kristen. “Tapi, apakah iman kita goyah hanya karena karya fiksi macam itu?” ujar Yapi. Bagi Yapi iman tidak sekadar percaya. Iman terkait dengan pengalaman akan Tuhan. Iman yang berakar pada pengalaman personal akan Tuhan tidak mudah digoyahkan oleh hal-hal yang sebenarnya tidak perlu dianggap sebagai ancaman. (Alex Japalatu, Rum, dbs)

Source: BAHANA Magazine
http://www.bahana-magazine.com/?p=productsMore&iProduct=351&sName=Momok-Bernama-Harry-Potter-

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Thesis: J.K. Rowling's Ideals in the Magical World of Harry Potter

UNIVERSITY OF INDONESIA
FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
Communication Science Department

“Discourse Analysis on Children’s Literature:
J. K. Rowling’s Ideals in the Magical World of Harry Potter”
A Bachelor Degree Graduation Thesis by Indah S. Pratidina

Vii + 227 pages; 34 books, 31 articles; 2 theses
Language: Bahasa Indonesia
Bibliography: 1975-2001
Completed: December 2001
Graded: A


ABSTRACT
This research was conducted using critical discourse analysis, and therefore consequently the analysis units—Indonesian editions of Harry Potter books number 1 and 2, each with the title Harry Potter dan Batu Bertuah (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) and Harry Potter dan Kamar Rahasia (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret) published by PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama—had been viewed as a discourse with specific characteristics. A discourse at this point was viewed as an action that could not be separated from its social and historical context, also the elements of power and ideals within.
The background for this research was built from the positive attitude towards reading books. Books were always considered to have lots of utilities to their readers, this is why numbers of suggestions were endlessly given to every one every where to make use of this most permanent form of mass media. These recommendations were particularly offered to children. The writer of Parents Who Love Reading, Kids Who Don’t, Mary Leonhardt, stated ten advantages in reading books, a few of which: enable the readers to practice their high sense of language, broaden its reader knowledge, offering various perspectives on life, etc.
The vision of making books as children’s best friend felt so close to realization when the Harry Potter series were published. The book that told a story about 11 years old orphan who happened to be a wizard instantly grabbed the world’s attention short after its publication. TIME.com wrote in an article dated December 17th, 2000, that Harry Potter series had sold as many as 76 million copies and translated into 42 languages. But beyond that we should not forget that a book, a children book nonetheless, was a medium to its writer, a non neutral discourse.
Using Sara Mills’ discourse analysis method, this research would attempt to answer the question “What were the latent notions (ideals, values) that were being implemented by J. K. Rowling, considering her role as a member of British society, in Harry Potter series?” Therefore the objects of this research were to discover and disclose the hidden ideals within the text by correlating the text with its context.
The perspective used in the frame of thinking were the critical paradigm, along with the French Discourse Analysis approach which was very much influenced by Foucault’s theory of discourse and Althusser’s theory of ideology. A discourse in this approach was perceived endorsing ideology’s effect, defining the position of one’s ideology. Integral also to this approach, this research attended Sara Mills’ theories about author-reader position and how one was positioned by the text’s subject.
In the theoretical framework, this research applied the theory of mass media mediation by Dennis McQuail, which stated that one of media’s function is to connect its public with reality because media can be a mirror that reflects society’s image to itself—even with biases. The ideas of mediation role were then narrowed to the media content analysis theory. According to McQuail, media content was often viewed as proof of several matters, such as the society or culture where it had been produced, the media producers and their goals, the targeted audiences, etc.
Other than the reasons already mentioned above, Charles Wright stated that mass media content, more often than not, contained invaluable sociological aspects that were usually taken for granted. Seeing the analysis units were books, some of the literature’s theories had also been noticed, although not thoroughly, to strengthen the arguments. Wright’s notion was parallel to the genetic structuralism perspective of literature, which implied that a work of literature was considered to be born within the society as the result of imagination and reflection of the social symptoms at its surroundings. On account of seeing literature’s presence as a part of society’s life and acknowledging it to be rooted to its cultures/values, literature could easily viewed as a social-culture document. To build context in order to understand the text, the data gathering method used in this research was Reading Culture Material and Record.
Ideology was well known to be often found in the history of children’s literature itself. One of the three books recognized as the foundation of children’s literature, The History of Stanford Merton, already portrayed the issue of class conflict in it. Then, Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland written by Lewis Carroll were legendary for using fantasy fiction’s representation to challenge family authority using animals, cards, chess pawns, to take the role of adults.
The relation between children’s literature and ideology had always been close and this idea had repeatedly mentioned by Peter Hunt (1990), Kimberley Reynolds (1994) and other researchers in their notions. While critical discourse analysis often used to disclose the dominant’s or capitalist’s power within a text (usually a news article), this research used it differently. Analysis would show that power was everywhere and being used by all, even individuals and smaller subjects, linear to Foucault’s concept.
Using Sara Mills’ discourse analysis, analysis focused on text’s subject-object positioning and author-reader position. On the first part of analysis, this research tried to define how the social actors in the story were being positioned, who was positioned as the interpreter in the text—through his eyes would all the events in the story were interpreted, and the effects of this positioning. And the second part of analysis focused on the author’s and the reader’s position in the text.
From the analysis, it was found that Rowling chose her hero Harry Potter’s viewpoint as the story’s point of view. By doing so, Harry Potter had automatically become the interpreter for every matter and every characters in the story. Consequently the reader almost certainly would tend to be sided with the main character and in result, hating the hero’s enemies (the antagonists). It was interesting to find that there were a lot of social class representations in this story. Many of the characteristics of social classes amazingly corresponded with some of the traits owned by the characters in Harry Potter series. Harry Potter and his friends had the similar features with those known as the middle and lower class members, while their opponents strongly resemblance members of a higher class.
The conclusion reached in this research was that media could not be separated from the society from which it was born. Media as a discourse could not be comprehend and analyzed without considering its social historical context. From the analysis, it was found that Rowling: believed in the social class system; acknowledged that the society was divided into three groups (upper class, middle class and lower class); endorsing that conflict does exist between this social classes; and dreaming of a classless society.