Structuralism

There are 10 types of people in the world..... those who understand binary and those who don't.

Just a little joke. If you don't get it then fair enough- but it just reminds me of the term binary opposites. Ah I still remember learning about good ol' Levi Strauss in Media Studies not long ago. I paid particular attention to the idea of binary opposites in that lecture- so much that I unfortunately didn't really grasp anything else. You can't help it when something takes you back, y'know?

The list that Ivan wrote down were very good examples of Binary opposites- particularly the idea of good and evil. Ever watched Constantine? Awesome movie. Anyway, in that movie, there's this chap:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2365/2278012810_b50ff5b1f2.jpg?v=0

That's Papa Midnight, played by Djimon Hounsou, and in the film he plays a particularly intriguing character. The plot in a nutshell: Ongoing battle between heaven and hell, woman gets possessed by the Devil's son, guns, demons, blah blah.... but anyway, Constantines job is to fight for good, purity, heaven. Midnight however, is 'neutral'- he's not on the side of heaven or hell. Why? He believes, which I think is scarily true, that Heaven and Hell are the same thing- groups with different beliefs that oppose and despise each other.

Which begs the question- are there ever 'exact' binary opposites? Things that are completely and totally different? Of course not. Does that make everything anomolous?

We got into a rather interesting debate about things that are anomolous in the seminar- Darth Vader came up as our main example (good for me- I always have an input for star wars) and why is Darth Vader anomolous? Well in the concrete sense, he's neither machine nor man- which makes him seem more sinister I think. When I was younger I thought he was a guy in a cool suit, not a guy who uses the suit to live because he was horrificly burned and had his arms and legs chopped off. It horrified me. Anyway, he's also anomolous in the abstract sense- He started off 'good', then did some evil stuff, and became 'evil'- why do I write 'good' and 'evil' like that? Because he never was entirely good or evil- he was good with evil intentions, and then vice versa.

So in the media sense; why are binary opposites good to include in media texts? They create balance and harmony, and they bounce off each other to create humour, conflict, etc. But would they have the same effect if they were exactly opposite? No. Everything would be predictable. And boring. And there is no 'boring' in animation, let me tell you.

Everything must be slightly anomolous- if it isnt, its obviously on the wrong planet and needs to go home.