Claude Levi-Strauss Theory

Claude Levi-Strauss was born on 28th November 1908 in Brussels in Belgium and died on 30th October 2009 in Paris. Claude Levi-Strauss was famous for the Binary Opposition theory and in his lifetime he studied many myths and legends all around the world. From his studies from around the world he found that humans make sense of the people and the world through the use of binary oppositions. In narratives, Claude Levi-Strauss suggested that the narrative is positioned around the clash of binary opposites. 

Binary Opposite's include:

• Good v.s Evil
• Black v.s White
• Strong v.s Weak
• Protagonist v.s Antagonist
• Brave v.s Scared
• Man v.s Woman
• Young v.s Old
• Masculinity v.s Femininity
• Independent v.s Dependent
• Sane v.s Insane

Binary Opposites is the constant creation of conflict drives the films narrative. The narrative can only end on the resolution of conflict, but you need opposites to create the tension and conflict.

Oppositions can be visual, conceptual or even the soundtrack. Some examples which are used in horror films are light and darkness, love and hate, brave and scared.

Levi Strauss also considers the narrative structure to be a vertical strcuture. This works on the idea of the audience understanding that there is an opposite to the theme in the film. A common opposite in horror genre films is that innocence is the opposite to corruption, so an example is that innocent childrens toys such as clowns and dolls are often shown as corrupt and are usually the antagonist, this is the opposition.

I could apply this to the trailer by using light to convey the two different sides of the narrative both the protagonist and the antagonist. Also props used could show the binary opposites for example the childrens toys like dolls and clowns, however this would probably fit into the paranormal genre for the horror. However there are plenty of ways to show binary opposition.