Binary Opposition

In theory, a binary opposition is a pair of terms or concepts that are theoretical opposites. It is seen as a fundamental organizer of human philosophy, culture, and language.

1. Which of each pair does your culture favour?

Good Vs Evil

Good versus evil is the typical opposition in fairytales we are read. In most fairytales there is always a good character and a bad character e.g. Cinderella is the poor little stepdaughter that lives with her wicked stepmother, Little Red Riding hood is the innocent little girl visiting her grandma who gets eaten by the Wolf. Our culture very much favours ‘Good’, we all expect a happy ending these stories. Even not just in typical fairytales, but also in books and films we all like to see a happy ending.

Masculinity Vs Femininity

It obviously depends on which side of the fence you sit on. But femininity is on an increase in films, we now see more dominant roles for women. I prefer male characters to be the lead role, the one who protects and cares for the female. They are more romantic and typical love stories. In films power tends to associate with male figures where as emotional and inferior are associated with female characters.

Rural Vs Urban

Aggressive Vs Passive

Wealth Vs Poverty

In films we watch we often see this opposition. And we assume that the wealthier character who seems to have everything, the car, the house, and a life of luxury. But are they happy? They seem happy on the outside, having endless amounts of money to do what they want, flaunting their cash and having their dream job. In films today though I think this opposition is changing. This ideal view of having a great life because we have money is not always what makes us happy. These storylines are showing us this and a typical film now ends in the misfortunate characters being happy with little money and the wealthy rich character seems to be so tied up in their own greed they end up unhappy without realising.

Past V Present