binary opposites- levi strauss
TRANSCRIPT
LEVI STRAUSS(195
8)Binary
oppositesZeel Sanatkumar
Who was levi strauss? Levi Strauss was born in France in the early 1900’s.
He was also an anthropologist who believed that the way we understood certain words depends on our understanding the difference of the word and its “opposite”
This led to the production of his “Binary Opposites” theory.
Binary opposite examplesBinary opposites have a frequent use in the action genre whereby many of the films include binary opposition in their plots. The understanding of the word “villain” largely depends upon the difference between that word and the opposing word “hero”.
Common binary opposites in media Dark-Light
Sane-Insane
Good-Evil
Rational-Irrational
Human-Supernatural
Rich-Poor
Gay-Straight
Binary opposites in relation to the plotBinary opposites are based on our understanding of a story and its conventional narrative thus enabling a balance.
They are often used in films to help and re-establish and reinforce the plots giving the story line a chance to be a clear difference between two opposites increasing the awareness of the person watching the film.
Levi Strauss’ theory largely depends and is associated with our ideological perceptions of the world and its characters.
Binary opposites and crimeCrime solvers Vs Criminals
Police Vs Criminals
Innocent Vs Guilty
Truth Vs Lies
Justice Vs Injustice
kingsman : The secret service BInary opposites Kingsman also follows Claude Levi Strauss’s idea of binary opposition, as good and bad battle
out for the fate of earth and mankind, the antagonist and protagonists are opposites, Eggsy is a “good” , trying to save the world, and Valentine is a malevolent villain trying to destroy it. Some can even argue that there’s a binary opposition of race, as Eggsy is white and Valentine is black. In some ways the film also follows the “rags to riches” trope in films, as the protagonist overcomes his poverish life style to become a “gentleman spy”, from working
class to upper-middle class.
kingsman : The secret service BInary opposites Eggsy represents the commoner whilst Firth represents the upper class, another example of binary opposition in costume is the contrast between the Eggsy we see at the start of the trailer and the one we see at 2:19, which is Gary Unwin refined into the model gentleman spy. There are clear connotations of the upper classes being more mature and refined, in comparison to the lower ones as Eggsy's transformation is that akin of a raw diamond being cut into the stereotypical diamond we imagine, this clearly appeals to the target audience whom are mostly middle to upper class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl8F-8tR8to
Criticism of levi strauss Binary Opposite Theory Even though everything has an opposite, there is also a medium to everything for example:
Rich - Middle Class - Poor
Gay - Bisexual - Straight
Bad - Normal - Good
Antagonist - Bystander - Protagonist