Levi-Strauss Binary Opposition (Narrative Structure Research)

Claude Levi-Strauss was a French social anthropologist that explored the myths of tribal cultures. He came to the conclusion that every story reflects the values, beliefs and myths of its culture. These are usually expressed as binary opposites. Levi-Strauss adapted this to media by claiming that all narratives are driven by a conflict caused by opposing forces (binary opposites.) Analysing a narrative means identifying these opposing forces and understanding how the conflict between them will drive the narrative on until some sort of balance or resolution is finally achieved.

Examples of binary opposition in a narrative structure include:

•Good versus Bad
•Wealth versus Poverty
•Strong versus Weak
•Sanity versus Insanity
•Peace versus War
•Boy versus Girl
•Young versus Old
•Woman in White versus Stranger in Black (relatable to horror genre, helpful in research for Main Brief.)
• Black versus White
•Protagonist versus Antagonist
•Domestic versus Foreign/Alien
•Natural versus Supernatural
•Nature versus Man-made/artificial
•Empowered versus Victim (also relatable to horror genre.)