Media Language Theory Four: Structuralism/Levi-Strauss

 

Shaolin Soccer (2001)

In this scene of this extract, we can identify a specific purpose which is that we as an audience can identify, bear witness and come up with sustainable reasons to support the "Sholin" team. This purpose is reestablished and clarified as we analyze certain structuralist interpretations of how this meaning is created. For example:

Narrative events: We can identify the moments in which there is cross-cutting (part of editing) between the two teams, which visually creates a sense of opposition. This is where the Narrative Opposition comes in. This scene creates a collision of events in which the Sholin team is apparently going to lose since they are facing a "Top-ranked team," but to our satisfaction and entertainment, they win by a landslide 42-0 in the end. But in order to fully understand the narrative, we must first analyze the mise en scene, which in this case, the team we support, 'Sholin,' is dressed in orange, a bright and eye-catching color, while our opponent, team 'Puma,' is dressed in white, which shows a little more sobriety. We can relate this to the narrative that they are a top-ranked team and have no blemishes to lose, which leads us directly to our next point, the Character Opposition, which create the expectation that these two teams will face each other, but at the same time, we see the contrast in experience of the Puma team, since being a top team takes time and dedication, versus the natural talent of the Sholin team's powers despite their "dumb" behavior like smoking while beginning a soccer game. All of this being emphasize and clearly presented in just the firsts minutes. Furthermore we can also explain how one of the four potential functions of binary opposition specifically the one that is to create an identifiable character type works in this clip since this binary opposition makes us as an audience quickly gain the direction that the scene is going to take when the antagonists are introduced in this case we know that the Puma team mock the Sholin with laughter and do not even take them with importance since as we can see at minute 2:42 the member of the Puma team who is on the right side of the character begins to pick his nose showing the devaluation they give him, and the Sholin instead of defending themselves before apparently give reason to the Puma but we begin to support them and we begin to sense that the Sholin are going to win because they are the good ones and how do we classify them further? Well because the good ones do not make fun of others only the bad ones in this case the Puma team. This shows us in a very simple yet practical way how creating identifiable character type works.

After we analyze more deeply the theory of structuralism in this extract, we can firmly say that we have comprehended how even in a simple scenario of a game, humans' behaviors are attached to a set of rules and patterns which proves this theory.

They Live (1988)

In this scene of this extract, we can identify a specific purpose which is to unmask everyday purposes through unconventional methods to show reality and its impact.

This purpose is reestablished and clarified as we analyze certain structuralist interpretations of how this meaning is created. For example:

Genre-Driven Binary Opposition In this fantasy and horror scene we create our expectations as an audience of what we expect to see based on what we have seen in extracts of this type of genre which in this case to be more specific happens to be Sci-Fi -Aliens/Humans mixed with the Horror genre- Known/Unknown which gives meaning to the meaning of this scene since just by thinking we can connect the dots and we expect that the aliens have to do with the unknown which we can see in the extract transitions (which is part of these dynamic editing accomplished throughout the scene) that when the main character puts on the glasses he sees aliens and when he sees them he also sees the hidden signs behind everyday media products such as obey and this reaffirms our expectation that the aliens 'want to rule the world', this brings us to the next point. Mise en scene we can see that apparently the world is colored, and everything makes sense but when he puts on the glasses everything is monochromatic black and white showing A deeper reality than previously thought. This supports stylistic opposition since it encodes a juxtaposition of events, which goes hand in hand with sound, since we see that all the recurring sounds presented never come from the main character, but always from others or from their surroundings, which creates the sense of deep reflection that something serious and even disturbing is being revealed. Furthermore, we can also explain how one of the four potential functions of binary opposition, specifically the one that is to clearly explain ideas, works in this clip. With all the structuralist elements, it helps us as an audience effectively understand how the reality behind media products is difficult to differentiate in a world with so many distractions and things that grab our attention, like colors. While when we see everything black and white, we more easily identify good from evil. This scene transforms this complex concept into a coherent and easy-to-understand form. This is how this extract fulfills this function.