2. WHERE’S THIS THEORY CAME
FROM?…
Strauss was a French anthropologist born in the earl
1900’s. He believed that the way we understand certain
words depends not so much on any meaning they
themselves directly contain, but much more by our
understanding of the difference between the word and
its 'opposite' or, as he called it 'binary opposites'. For
example, from a philosophical perspective, it could be
argued that the evil in the world helps us to understand
or appreciate the ‘good’ in life. Without evil in the world
then we would not understand the concept of good. This
can be related to media.
3. EXAMPLES…
Our understanding of the word "villain" depends on the
difference between that word and the opposing word
"hero". To really understand who the hero is, we have to
see an evil contrasting character. Many horror films
include sets of binary oppositions in their plots.
Particularly good and evil, sane and insane, rational and
irrational and human and supernatural. It is important to
note that the binary opposites may not be human but
can merely be to opposites within a film. Levi claims all
films have some form of conflict or battle between two
different sides.
4. BINARY OPPOSITES IN THE
PAST…Binary opposites used to be very
simple and easy to spot in films,
such as good VS bad in traditional
fighting films. However in recent
years they have become more
complex and unusual. For example,
Twilight films hide the war between
vampire and werewolves in the first
few films but it is revealed later.
5. ANOTHER EXAMPLE…
Harry is constantly
seen as the ‘good’ guy
in the films Harry
Potter and he has
always been wanted
dead by Voldemort
who is seen as the
‘evil’ guy throughout
the film. The image to
the right is very
effective as it
expresses the binary
opposite clearly to the
audience. Voldemort is
immediately portrayed
as the “bad guy” by
looking scary or
abnormal.
6. TYPES OF BINARY
OPPOSITES
Rich vs Poor
Protagonist vs Antagonist
Man vs Woman
Good Looking vs Ugly
Strong vs Weak
North vs South
Humanity vs Technology
Good vs Evil
Black vs White
Boy vs Girl
Peace vs War
Civilised vs Uncivilised
Democracy vs
Dictatorship
Young vs Old
