It is very clear now that binary oppositions display how meanings are formulated out of a two-term system.Each word is defined by its opposite and only makes sense if we understand its opposite as well.For example, 〝Yes〞is always understood in relation to〝No 〞, 〝Male〞and〝Female〞,〝Middle Class〞and〝Working Class〞,and so on.
Not only eastern philosopher realized the existence of binary oppositions,but also western scholars researched in this area for years. Plato, the reigning champion of Western ideology, insists that are the only way to go.Let us have a look at the Holy Bible ,the book which influenced the western world deeply.
For everything there is a season,
and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant ,and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn ,and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep,and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate,;a time for war,and a time for peace.
(Holy Bible, 1989, pp. 1050-1051)
Born and die; love and hate ; war and peace ,everything being mentioned in the paragraph above perfectly fits the binary opposition system. Here comes the question:How do binary oppositions contribute to the formation of ideologies?
〝Film and television are media through which we see reinforced ideological constructions such as the value of romantic love, the norm of heterosexuality ,nationalism, or traditional concepts of good and evil. 〞
(Sturken and Cartwright, 2001, p21)
A Chinese martial art film Crounching Tiger,Hidden Dragon which directed by Ang Lee in 2000 is an interesting text for us to figure out the function of binary oppositions in the formation of ideologies.
Crounching Tiger,Hidden Dragon is based on a pre-World War II novel about characters who will be quite familiar to fans of HK’s golden age films. There are two pairs of binary opposition at least.
Firstly, sense and sensibility.Yu Shulien loved Li Mubai, a master of a martial arts, but according to her traditional training, after her fiance died, she had to remain unmarried despite her youth. Since she was unable to ask Li Mubai for a relationship, she had to wait until he brought up any discussion of romance between them. Although Li Mubai also loved her, he was afraid of hurting his honor and integrity by starting a romance with her. He was waiting for a suitable timing to mention the subject. Since the time had yet to come, the two throughout the movie maintained a certain distance, so although they thought a lot about each other, they never did anything about their feelings. They only expressed their feelings in an unexpected brushing of hands for a moment. The sensibility they had were so strong, but their sense did not allow them to set themselves free,so Li Mubai and Yu Shulien lost their chance to experience any true love in their life.
Secondly, older generation and young generation. As a symbol of young generation, Jen is totally different from her seniors.She has a strong mind.She was not afraid to express herself. She wanted to lead her own life on her own terms and she changed everyone ’ s life in the story.She refused to follow her master Jade Fox’ s advice, Li Mubai and Yu Shulien’s either. Jen kept on challenging them,stole the sword, ran away from her wedding, fought with others……Her endless power was in sharp contrast to the older generation. But ironically, as she slowly discovered that her kungfu was better than her master's, she found her life had become frightening to her because she no longer had any boundaries or any direction to follow in pursuing her life. This realization was also frightening. The world and universe were before her, but she had no sense of which direction she should follow or how she should proceed.From this that we can tell the relationship between older generation and young generation is full of extension.
Crounching Tiger,Hidden Dragon helps us to learn more about binary oppositions.Both sides of them influence each other ,and then ,construct the ideologies.They are ways of organizing knowledges into positive and negative values.It is an entire system of knowing is encased within a two termed framework.
References:
Holy Bible. (1989). The Old Testament·Ecclesiastes. Nanjing. National TSPM & CCC. pp. 1050-1051
LAU .D. C. (1963). Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching. England:Penguin Books Ltd. p. 58
Leung, W.(2001). Crouching sensibility, hidden sense. F ilm Criticism, 26(1),
pp.42-55.
Sturken ,M. & Cartwright L., (2001), Practices of Looking:An Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 21
