1. Claude Levi-Strauss
Binary Oppositions
Levi-Strauss was less
interested in the order
of events in narratives
and more interested on
the themes underneath.
Levi-Strauss argued
that narrative
depended on binary
opposites or conflicts
between two terms...
...for example...
good and bad
Can you think of examples in the Western genre of Binary
oppositions?

2. Claude Levi-Strauss
Binary Oppositions
French structural theorist Claude Levi-Strauss argued
that meaning-making systems (such as narrative) use sets
of 'binary oppositions‘
These are conflicts between two qualities or terms, which
are expressed as opposites.
Binary oppositions help to make narratives easier to
understand.
The absence of clearly defined characters and values may
confuse audiences who are expecting them.

3. Claude Levi-Strauss
Binary Oppositions
Will Wright* applied these ideas to the analysis of the
Western genre in the 1970's and 1980's.
Wright Suggested that the different sheriffs, outlaw and
Native Americans not only existed in Propp’s narrative
terms, but they set up a system of opposites e.g.
• Homesteaders v Native Americans
• Christian v pagans
• Domestic v savage
• Weak v strong
• Garden v wilderness
• Inside society v outside society
*Will
Wright,
Sixguns
&
Society:
A
Structural
Study
of
the
Western
(1975)

4. Claude Levi-Strauss
Binary Oppositions
• Levi-Strauss argues that binary
oppositions within narratives
help reinforce societies' values.
• ‘good’ v ‘evil’
• ‘right’ v ‘wrong’
• ‘law’ v ‘crime’
• ‘Hero v Villain’
• If we have become used to
narratives in which such values
are easily identifiable, then
audiences may be disgruntled if
characters do not appear to
embody such clear values.

5. Claude Levi-Strauss
Binary Oppositions
Bearing in mind that the average Hollywood
film today costs around $100 million to
produce, and that average US cinema
ticket prices in 2007 were $6.88, an
average Hollywood film would need to
appeal to almost 15 million people just to
break even at the box office.
This means that mainstream films have to be
able to appeal to a wide range of
audiences, and be easy to understand in
narrative terms.
Breaking down narrative elements into two
sets of opposites helps achieve this.