Binary Oppositions
In this sketch we will explore the juxtaposition of binary opposites as an embedded and recurrent theme in Horror film narrative.
Binary opposition is a theory closely examined by French anthropologist and ethnologist, Claude Lévi-Strauss. In critical theory, a binary opposition (also binary system) is a pair of related concepts or terms that are opposite in meaning or, simply stated, the contrasts between two opposite things. Binary opposition is the system by which two mutually exclusive terms, such as light and dark, up and down, good and bad, are set off against one another.
Binary opposition can be applied to Horror narrative as there is always the contrast between good and bad, pure and evil, and sanity and insanity. In this sketch we explored some of the common binary opposites represented in Horror film using visual representations to exemplify the common, distinctive opposites essential to the Horror film genre.
Dundes, A, Binary Opposition in Myth: The Propp/Lévi-Strauss Debate in Retrospect, Western Folklore,Vol. 56, No. 1 (Winter, 1997) , pp. 39-50, Published by: Western States Folklore Society http://www.jstor.org/stable/1500385