Binary Opposition

Binary Opposition, what is it and how do we use it?

It is the structures we build, which in esense, help us to understand the world. how? example; we all know the word coward but to understand it surly we have to know the difference between it and its binary opposite, a Hero.

Lets look at another, Nature - Culture. These sit on a scale opposite each other. now its very difficult to be in a place where there is only one if these, to be totally submerged in Nature for example, its seems theres almost always a little cross over. I myself found almost complete nature, a little Island called Yakushima. I went two days without seeing anyone, all I had to guide me was the odd sign post (never in English) and these paths which seemed to be created by the wild itself but even in this dense forest you'd still come across a random hut, these were still small signs of culture.

So it seems we generally sit somewhere between these opposites. this gap in the middle is what we call the "Zone of Anomaly". its neither one or the other and this is what intrigues us the most.

Lets look at how this is used in film. sticking to Nature and Culture let take the film Frankenstein. In this film Frankenstein the creator is trying to create life. when he does this creature is it neither Nature nor Culture, it sits somewhere in the Zone of Anomaly, its a MONSTER! and we love it.