Binary opposites are used to structure stories. It is two positions that are opposites of each other, and gives any stories conflict. Examples are folk stories, fairytales, film or books and other kinds of stories and narratives used in media, advertising or news. Binary thinking also structures cultural and philosophical thinking. Narratives like this transmits rather powerful ideologies that results in us internalising (making natural) values of beauty, class and gender. Jaques Derrida is a deconstructionist thinker and argued that one side always have more power than the other - they do not have an equal relationship. Examples of cultural binaries are:
- Nature / Culture
- Human / Animal
- Good / Evil
The experience or perceptions of beauty or ugliness can be subjective but may of our ideas of beauty and its opposite ugly are deeply constructed within our society. As small children we are exposed to different imagery and narratives that forms our ideas of what beauty is. There is little diversity when it comes to what beauty is because the images that is generated in a western euro / US society represent a very narrow idea of what beauty is all about. There is a set standard. Beauty is a desirable attribute in females, and for men wealth and power is looked at as desirable. All of this becomes naturalised due to the images are multiple and repeated.
The ideas of beauty has changed over time and it has become more broad and diverse. It is experimental and opens up for imperfections and different perspectives. Contemporary artists have used this as an artistic strategy to subvert ideas about conventional notions of beauty.
Contemporary advertising is more diverse when it comes to beauty. Some brands promote what we see as positive and real beauty where other brands promotes the opposite which is a unhealthy body image. There is a conflict going on between these two binary opposites because our perception of what beauty and ugly is change over time.
OUCA401
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