Final Post: Binary Opposition Analysis of Alternative Forms of Media

Just wait until you get to the end of this post... it gets good!

There are obviously more types of texts and medias than just songs, novels, and movies. To name a few: architecture, language, war, race, etc. These too can be analyzed through Binary Opposition.

Berlin Wall:

http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-wall/videos/deconstructing-history-berlin-wall (The video is linked! It's a really nice 3-minute recap of the Berlin Wall but won't let me share it through Blogger.

The Berlin Wall literally stood as a physical example of Binary Opposition: The Eastern vs The Western sectors of Berlin, Germany. The poor vs the privileged. By creating a physical barrier between the two, it not only heightened the contrast, but further extended and exemplified the disconnect between those in the wealthy west and those in the dilapidated east, which is exactly what was hoped to come from the wall's presence.

Language:

"Roman Jakobson built on Saussure's work, proposing that linguistic units are bound together by a system of binary oppositions. Such oppositions are essential to the generation of meaning: the meaning of 'dark' is relative to the meaning of 'light"

http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem05.html

Have you ever really thought about how nearly every word we say has an opposite? I'm not really talking to you Dr. McHugh, obviously you think about these things all day long down by the river... its more of a rhetorical question. I mean, most of the time, we can just put un- or non- in front of a word to make it mean the opposite of whatever significance we gave the word in the first place. For example, you are either a believer or a non-believer, or desirable or undesirable... those are just two I thought of off the top of my head:) Roman Jakobson (Ahh, Roman Jakobson) was right. If binary opposition means establishing opposition between two things to derive meaning from their relationship to one another, then language does just that. What is light? Just the opposite of dark. They say that darkness is just the absence of light but the words dark and light were just created to have a way of contrasting the two notions. We could have called it orange and banana. Orange for dark and banana for light; it would still have established the same opposition between the two words, like light and dark, which gives each other meaning. 


Cursing: 

yes, i know that cursing is just another form of language, but how could I not have used this example after the Lawn Chair Lesson. Just know that I did have another example in mind to use as well-racism, but somehow that just wouldn't have been as much fun. 

Please enjoy all 11 minutes of this video even though it has very little significance to what I have to say in terms of cursing. The bleeps may not be as satisfying as the actual words... (as we learned, just saying the words is cathartic, but what can I say, I just didn't feel comfortable with having a ream of curse words in my Final!)

Okay, from my understanding of the Lawn Chair lesson, curse words are inherently sexist, thus establishing a binary opposition between the words said and used to refer to men, as those for women. I found it extremely interesting when we stumbled upon the subject of what is and isn't insulting to each gender. There are obviously words that refer to a specific gender; I'm not going to type them but use your imagination... Now imagine saying those words to refer to the opposite sex. In terms of women, it doesn't make much sense. A lot of the insulting words said to men can't be turned around on women without sounding stupid; however, try saying and insult inherently used for women to insult a man and see what happens. As Dr. McHugh says, you'll wake up on your back with a crowd around you. Why is that? Because there is a set of curse words to be used for when referring to each gender... a binary opposition between the two. If you say "you're a d*ck" you are most likely referring to a man. However, if you say "you're a b*tch" you could be referring to a woman or a man, and when you say this to a man is when it gets nasty because you are essentially demeaning said man's masculinity. B*tch is inherently feminine so when used for a male it is even more insulting. And there you have it... "establishing opposition between two things to derive meaning from their relationship to one another". Binary Opposition. Boom. 

Bet no one has "cussed" this much in their final before and still passed (hopefully 

Sorry if my language got a little too "bloggy", I get on a rant sometimes and forget that this is still an academic assignment... my last one of high school in fact!

Binary Opposition Analysis: The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Novel)

Sorry, I know I went a little crazy with the pictures, but it's weird to see a face for the man and the boy. Plus the shopping cart sign kind of "geeks" me out... Anyways...

We all know what The Road by Cormac McCarthy is about... a man and boy, father and son, struggling to survive in a post apocalyptic world. On a more inferential level, The Road is about hope, morals, and all of that other good stuff.

Binary Opposition Analysis:

-the old world vs the new world : Throughout the text, the man has dreams, essentially flashbacks, to the old world- his childhood, times when he wife was alive, etc. These are then contrasted with the new world when the man is awoken from such dreams, reinforcing the reality of his harsh environment and cruel and unrelenting life for him and his son that he so desperately tries to preserve.

-the man vs the boy : this is a pinnacle opposition within the text. The man and the boy are constantly in moral opposition of each other. The boy doesn't want to eat the food found in the cellar because it is not theirs. The boy wants to offer the old man food. The boy doesn't want to leave the man that tried to rob them naked and alone, etc. This opposition is unique because it seems to keep the boy lave but the man human. If the man did not take some of the actions required to protect his son, then the boy would most likely be dead. However, if the boy did not pressure the man to help the old man, then the man would have lost a part of his humanity. The man also represents a product of the new world, whereas the boy, inversely, represents all that of the old world.

-death vs survival : death and survival are uniquely contrasted because it is assumed that the death of the man would lead to the same for the boy. Thus, death and survival are codependent upon one another. That being said, this opposition comes to a pinnacle at the conclusion of the novel when the man dies and the boy is left to survive on his own. The survival of the boy is called into question, since he no longer has the man for safety and guidance.

-monster vs moral/good vs bad : at points along the road, the man and the boy come across instances of cannibalism and other horrendous acts (baby-bar-b-que anyone?). The man himself kills another with a gun and leaves a man naked and stranded, however, he deems these actions to be moral since they were done to protect his son. That being said, others may have killed people and eaten them for their own survival, but the man still considers this to be over the line. When the boy asks if they are the good guys, the man always replies that they are in fact, and that the men he has had to kill or the men that tried to capture them are the bad guys.

Implications:

There are many implications of The Road, too many to recount them all. Some of the main ones, in my opinion, are that of the need for hope and morality. The man has hope for the boy's survival and opportunity for more in life than he has received thus far, therefore, the man survives himself. Meanwhile, the boy presents opportunities for the man to remain human and show others morality in his actions, allowing for more than their physical bodies to persevere. The man and the boy's interactions, and at times, opposition with each other is what establishes these two key notions within the novel. Interestingly, Psychoanalysis can also be applied. One of the main theories of psychoanalysis focuses on Freud's and his concept of the Superego, the Id vs the Ego, a binary opposition in itself. The Superego consists of the morality of society of which is impressed upon oneself by their parents, similar to the knowledge and morality of the past world that the boy has gained from his father. The Id represents the innate instincts of a being that are often impulsive, similar to many of the actions taken by the man to protect his son. Thus, the Ego–the mediator between the internal Id and external Superego–represents not only the boy’s morality conflicting with that of his father’s, but also the fantasy of the past conflicting with the reality of the present or the old world conflicting with the new.... all binary oppositions. Considering both the boy and the man were essential to each other’s survival (representing father vs son, immoral vs moral, etc) exemplifies the importance and need for conflict that leads to the most balanced approach in life, even if that happens to be surviving along the road. 

McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Vintage International, 2006. Print.