film with good examples of binary oppositions

maggie_cork · 21-10-2009 12:51PM #1

hey all.

im not really sure if anyone will be able to help me but i will ask any way!!

im wondering if anyone could give me examples of films with good examples of binary oppositions. (examples : good/evil, male / female, white / black , pure / corrupted , reality / appearance).. ive an assignment to do and my mind is totally blank in relation to films..

thanks in advance for any suggestions

Anakin.S · 21-10-2009 01:57PM

Hey you could go for the older horror movies like Halloween 2, good young girl against big scary evil man. Friday the 13th might be another one

Original Star Wars with Vader in black and Luke in White for the most of the movie

maggie_cork · 21-10-2009 02:38PM

oh cool thanks for the ideas... i hate scary films doh... (such a wimp!!) i was looking into the dark knight or one of my friends suggested a film called boys dont cry. dont know anything about it though

ToniTuddle · 21-10-2009 02:48PM

Single White Female (woman takes on new flatmate and the flatmate is basically insane and tries to 'become' the woman, stealing her identity dressing like her etc)-every persons worst nightmare a psycho flatmate!! So basically sane/ insane type opposites

Any of those comic books that have been made into films, Spiderman etc all have a good guy/bad guy thing going on
Superman has good verus evil as well

Even that Slumdog Milionaire could be good brother versus bad brother.

A time to kill! another great film Would have the whole white/black thing going on.
That's all I can think of now. Nice assignment! You get to watch loads of films ha!:D

foxyboxer · 21-10-2009 02:48PM

appearance v reality

superheroes

appearance (superhero) reality (geek) - spiderman, superman etc

also recently watched What Women Want
Male (develops female emotions)
He appears pure but uses his ability to read thoughts for his own end etc

humanji · 21-10-2009 03:07PM

Dark Knight is a great example as it has two a good few binary opposites, ie good versus evil, but also a pure type of good with Harvey Dent and a more "do whatever it takes" good with Batman. Add to this the seemingly brash and uncaring Bruce Wayne and the shadowy hero Batman, and you've got a good few to write about.

The Matrix also has a few different opposite in it like Good/Evil and Reality/Fantasy (which is a good one as they flip around in this film).

Old horror movies from the 30's and 40's would also be good material to write on because they generally have only really good characters and really bad characters, plus you should be able to find a few websites that'll let you watch them for free as the copyright is up on them.

mathie · 21-10-2009 03:34PM

The Shining

www.drummerman.net/shining/duality.html

maggie_cork · 21-10-2009 04:53PM

ToniTuddle wrote: »

Even that Slumdog Milionaire could be good brother versus bad brother.

LOVE the idea of slumdog millionaire!!!!!!!!!!! what an amazing movie!!!!!!!!!!

ya i could look at the relationship between both brothers.... can you think if any other oppositions in the film though??
maybe pure/corrupted...
master/slave ideas (where the fella takes kids and makes them beg on streets to get money.. he is like their master.. kids are slaves)??

i have it narrowed down to dark knight and slumdog

Duggy747 · 21-10-2009 05:21PM

maggie_cork wrote: »

master/slave ideas (where the fella takes kids and makes them beg on streets to get money.. he is like their master.. kids are slaves)??

Oliver Twist?

Lethal Weapon is noteable for being a fine example of the whole chalk and cheese thing between Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. (Black / White)

(Though I just wanted to say Lethal Weapon......hmm, wouldn't mind seeing that again actually. :pac: )

I'll agree on The Dark Knight, you're covering a few binary oppositions there with Good / Evil, Pure / Corrupted, Reality / Appearance, etc.

Morlar · 21-10-2009 05:25PM

Platoon - Barnes vs Elias.

Team America World Police vs the Terrorists.

NothingMan · 21-10-2009 05:25PM

I would say spiderman 3 and the whole Spiderman/Venom Peter Parker/Emo eejit duality. Both in the same character so may be interesting.

Lirange · 21-10-2009 06:45PM

Male/Female - Handmaid's Tale
Pure/Corrupted - Pan's Labyrinth
Reality/Appearance - Wizard of Oz

Anakin.S · 21-10-2009 06:57PM

maggie_cork wrote: »

oh cool thanks for the ideas... i hate scary films doh... (such a wimp!!) i was looking into the dark knight or one of my friends suggested a film called boys dont cry. dont know anything about it though

Boy's don't cry is a fantastic movie you should watch it, Hillary Swank is fantastic in it.

Dark Knight is a good choice

liah · 21-10-2009 07:37PM

Antichrist.

..I won't say much more, because I don't want those images stuck in my head again. But it fits the bill.

ToniTuddle · 22-10-2009 08:32AM

Don't forget about poor versus rich is in Slumdog as well.....
He definitely is their master and even the gangster dude at the end he is the master of the bad brother and the dudes love interest....
Even east versus west....with the western tourists coming into India..
One brother is living a good life with a clean proper job (the phone place) and the other is basically a gangster errand boy doing illegal and terrible things(he does slice the girls face with a knife and basically gives her to the gangster man when they were younger)
ammmm that's all I can think of at the moment
!!

uncleoswald · 22-10-2009 08:59AM

I think The Exorcist is probably the best Good v Evil film but since you don't like horror I think Harry Potter would do.

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (the original) is a great Black/White character study, and the recent Lakeview Terrace takes a lot of fun in twisting conventions.

Male/Female could be covered by Fatal Attraction or The War of the Roses.

The Departed could cover the Pure/Corrupt.

And The Truman Show for Reality/Apperance.

Sleazus · 22-10-2009 12:08PM

I agree with The Dark Knight as flowing over with duality:

White Knight (Harvey Dent) / Dark Knight (Batman)
Order (Batman) / Chaos (Joker)
The Face / The Mask (Batman and Bruce, the film debates which is which)
Instability or Change (the presence of Batman & the Joker) / Stability or Consistency (the mob eeking out a living, Gordon trying unsuccessfully to catch them)
The character of Two-Face
The inversion of light imagery (the Joker is clown and the bad guy!) / The inversion of dark imagery (the Batman is giant bat and the good guy!)
The old (the criminal fraternity) / The new (the Scarecrow/the Joker)

And so on...

faceman · 22-10-2009 12:46PM

uncleoswald wrote: »

I think The Exorcist is probably the best Good v Evil film but since you don't like horror I think Harry Potter would do.
.

The Exorcist is a good contendor as you have the contrast of good/evil, innocence/unpure, belief/non belief.

I could write a book about the famous scene with the crucifix! The scene offers excellent contrast on all those factors as it shows the lengths that evil will go to to be evil (taking away the innocence of a child) and shows the contrast of non belief and belief. It is the scene that turns an atheist to the church.

I wouldnt be so keen on using The Dark knight as an example. Batman isnt so black and white a character, there is too much conflict in him to consider him a representative of good/order. You would need to be careful how you address it because remember, not everyone in the film is pro Batman.

Westerns from the 60's and 70's would also be a good choice. E.g. Once Upon a Time in the West.

Sleazus · 22-10-2009 12:51PM

faceman wrote: »

I wouldnt be so keen on using The Dark knight as an example. Batman isnt so black and white a character, there is too much conflict in him to consider him a representative of good/order. You would need to be careful how you address it because remember, not everyone in the film is pro Batman.

I'd say that that internal duality is what makes any superhero worth an examination, but you also have to contrast batman's internal duality with Dent's external duality and the Joker's decided singularity. It's also a case of ambiguously good against unambiguously evil.

But that's my two cents.

You're right, there are better examples, it's just that that comes to mind because other posters mentioned it and it's fairly recent.

Nichololas · 22-10-2009 01:45PM

I'm sure your film studies lecturer would love an essay on The Dark Knight.

edit:
And maybe Dawn of the Dead? You've got binary opposition between the zombies (want to eat flesh) and the survivors (don't want to eat flesh).

maggie_cork · 26-10-2009 11:26PM

thanks for all the suggestions they are all great. thanks so much.

oh its not for film studies. its for english lit (deconstruction, derrida and his ideas of binary oppositions)

Anakin.S · 27-10-2009 10:18AM

maggie_cork wrote: »

thanks for all the suggestions they are all great. thanks so much.

oh its not for film studies. its for english lit (deconstruction, derrida and his ideas of binary oppositions)

If its for English lit you shouldn't really look at Harry Potter

film with good examples of binary oppositions

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