Levi Strauss Narrative Theory and Film Trailers

Strauss created the narrative theory of the binary opposites (clear contrasts), and that a narrative is centred around the conflict of these opposites. These opposites can include: 

Good vs Evil

Hero vs Villain

Light VS Darkness

Human VS Inhuman

Innocent VS Corrupt

Town VS Nature

Civilisation VS Barbarity

Beautiful VS Ugly

New VS Old

Warcraft (2016, Directed By Duncan Jones)

This poster for Warcraft is a good example for binary opposites, I believe. We can clearly tell the opposing sides by the use of contrasting colours of red and blue. We can assume that those in the blue section are the protagonists as blue can be seen as a calming, peaceful colour, and that those in the red are the antagonists as red can be an aggressive colour. Those on the red side are also wielding weapons, telling us they are looking for a fight, whereas those on the blue side seem to just be standing, although the male on the right appears to be casting a spell. It can be argued that this film could be based around humans VS non- humans as two characters on the left look monster-like, although the characters on the right are not entirely human, they look more human-like than those on the left. The enigma in this poster is that we do not know why these two sides are opposing each other, as we know it cannot be about race as each side has different creature races. To summarise, the binary opposites we can see in this poster are:

Good VS Evil

Human VS Inhuman (to an extent)

Peace VS Aggression

Rise of the Guardians (2012, Directed By Peter Ramsey)

Rise of the Guardians is a children's film made by Dreamworks. The narrative of the film is about the guardians: North (Santa Clause), Bunnymund (Easter bunny), Tooth (the tooth fairy), Sandy (the sandman) and Jack Frost (who is not shown in this particular trailer) as they fight against Pitch Black (the Boogeyman) as he tries to replace happiness with fear among children. As this is a children's film there is a clear distinction between good and evil as the audience is young and might not take an interest in a film where there are blurred boundaries between innocent and corrupt characters. 

The clear distinction between good and evil can be seen here in the character's design and the colours used in their surroundings:

Sandy

Is made out of gold, sparkling dust. He has a round physique which makes him look harmless and friendly. The background behind him in this shot is of a night sky which is starting to change to sunrise. This blue and orange combination creates a soothing colour palette which is relaxing to look at. This fits the character of the sandman as he delivers peaceful dreams to sleeping children.

Tooth
Like the sandman, she has a fairly round physique to make her look harmless. Both her, her fairies and the mural behind her are all brightly coloured, none of which are harsh clashing colours but complimentary, which can be eye-catching to a young audience. 

Bunnymund
Unlike the other guardians, Bunnymund has more of a sharp and pointy physique which usually would indicate a character to be evil, however because of the environment he is in we can tell that he is a good character. Like Tooth, his surrounds are of bright pinks and greens and has the sun shining down upon him and his Easter egg workers.

North

Again, like Tooth and Sandy, North has a very round physique to give him a friendly look, but he is also made to look large and strong. From what we can see in this shot he is wearing a red shirt since this is traditionally what Santa Clause wears. The setting behind him is mostly made of brown wood and is lit up by candle light, giving an impression of warmth and cosiness.

Pitch
Half of his body is hidden by the darkness, concealing his looks, which quite literally makes him seem like a shady character. Apart from his pale yellow eye he is colourless, clearly lacking a vibrant, friendly personality. His features are quite sharp which can indicate an evil character as it can remind you of sharp objects that can harm you. 




As North narrates over the top of the trailer he mentions that the guardians bring wonder, hope, joy and dreams which we have seen evidence of in a montage during the first minute of the trailer where we see children being made happy by the actions and creations of the guardians. This contrasts greatly with what pitch says later in the trailer 'That dream is over, its time for fear to rule the world'. While the guardians fight to protect children's happiness, Pitch will fight to replace it with fear, the complete opposite. As the film is made for a target audience of children, they will obviously route for the guardians to win as they are presented to be morally good, whereas Pitch wants children to feel at unease.

To summarise the binary opposites shown in this trailer:
Good VS Evil
Light VS Darkness
Happiness VS Fear

And although it isn't heavily touched upon in this trailer, other binary opposites are:
Dreams VS Nightmares
Belief VS Disbelief

How could this theory be applied to my trailer? 
Considering how how both sides of the conflict will be criminals (a group of drug users and a serial killer hacker) who are corrupted in their own way, it would not make sense to apply binary opposites the binary opposites theory to the characters as this entirely defies the conventions, especially since we think it will be best to leave it ambiguous who the audience should be routing for in order to keep the trailer enigmatic so we will not be showing a clear 'good' side and 'bad' side.