Levi-Strauss (1958) Binary Opposites

Claude Strauss Strauss was an anthropologist who originated in France in the early 1900’s. He believed that the way we understood certain words depends not so much on any meaning they themselves directly contain however but by our understanding the different of the word and it’s ‘opposite’. He then produced the theory binary opposites. A protagonist and antagonist or Heroine and villain are both examples of binary opposites.

Examples Binary opposites are very frequently used in films, especially in the horror genre, many of the films include binary oppositions in their plots. The understanding of the work ‘villain’ depends on the difference between that word and the opposing word ‘hero’. Good and evil is the most common binary opposite shown to the public through the media field on different platforms. Sane and insane, rational and irrational and human and supernatural are also common binary opposites known to the public.

Eg. Binary Opposites are usually the basis of our understanding of a story as it is a conventional narrative and enables an equilibrium. Binary opposites are used in films to help plots, they are also used in music videos as part of a narrative to reinforce song lyrics. Levi Strauss’ theory links heavily with our ideological values of how we feel we should ‘perceive’ the world. E.g. what is an ideological view of a mother?

Opposites In the media industry binary opposites was an expected and easy element to spot when watching something such as a film. With deeper meanings and better technology with stronger plots this is now harder to find straight away. The Twilight Saga was a recent example with a slowly revealing werewolves vs vampires plot. This was difficult to spot in the first film but is still continuously apparent throughout the whole series.

Opposites Reality shows have been introduced since the 2000’s that realistically would be seen as a harsh thing to do but it bring those binary opposites together to see a different type of lifestyle. Beauty and the Geek shows female beauties the intelligence needed to perform tasks each week which consists of studying and revising with a partnered geek. This is a male who with the women’s help will undertake social challenges, studying also but on the subject the girls know best.