Levi-Strauss - Binary Opposition

Levi-Strauss was a french anthropologist from the early 1900's, he theorises that the way we understand certain words depends  on our understanding of the difference between the opposite or as he called it 'Binary Opposites'. An example is the word 'villain' depends on the difference between that word 'hero' - we know villain is bad due to the fact a hero is good. For media binary opposition is used quite a lot in films and music videos which usually is good against bad or it can be happy vs sad, crime vs police, young vs old, civilized vs uncivilized etc.

An example where this is shown is in Taylor Swift - You Belong with Me

The binary opposition is shown between the two female characters (both played by taylor)

The main girl is presented as very natural and simplistic and in a good light which is emphasized by her hair and style. She is also shown in a very nerdy and 'undesirable' aspect.

Whereas the other girl is shown as quite made-up and quite snooty and is presented in a bad light, this creates an opposition between the character and presents them as opposites. She is shown as popular and the more 'desirable' type of girl. This is shown through the lyrics of "she wears short skirts i wear t-shirts..." and they are clearly shown wearing different styled clothes.