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Levi-Strauss - Binary oppositions

Evaluate this theory referring to humans in your response. (they are useful)

Refer to representations, men vs women, key scene, feminist theory, construction.

Humans encodes meaning through a system of binary oppositions. For example, there is a Binary opposition between humans and synths (cyborgs) in the beginning of the episode when Laura walks into the house and the close-up of her face emphasises confusion about why the hallway seems clean. The lowkey lighting in this scene also suggests that she is not expecting the family to have a synth. The mid-shot Anita, the synth, greeting Laura is a still shot suggesting that Anita has no emotion towards Laura and she is just programmed to act a certain way whereas the zooming counter-shot into Laura's face represents real emotion. This is a binary opposition between the emotion of both synths and humans because it shows that synths have been created to not feel real emotion.

The shot/counter-shot of Laura meeting Anita also shows that humans have imperfections which is emphasised through the facial expression pulled by Laura when she sees Anita for the first time. Anita has no facial expression and due to her being stereotypically attractive, she directly contrasts with Laura at this point. Anita's stereotypical attractiveness also relates to Lizbet Van-Zoonen's Male Gaze theory as Anita may appeal to a heterosexual male audience further reinforcing the ideology that she has been put in Humans to appeal to this audience. This objectification also opposes to Laura in this initial greeting due to her not having feelings and therefore being an object.

Furthermore, later on in this episode we see Anita 'learning' in a high angle mid-shot taken from Laura's point of view which subverts the original representation of cyborgs in Humans as they are not meant to have feelings. The mise-en-scene of Anita holding a towel like a baby in this shot could be symbolic of Anita taking a role as a stereotypical housewife which means that Laura's role as a housewife isn't as relevant anymore. This binary opposition between Laura and Anita shows that Anita is potentially in control of Laura's feelings.

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