Explore how binary oppositions in the two British films you have studied generate meaning

In the opening of ‘Moon’ the binary opposition of human and technology is explored to get across the ideology of environmentalism and how some humans ignore the environmental problems that they instead should be facing. The opening is a montage edit of archive footage that is set up to be an infomercial for Lunar Industries, they present long shots of factory’s causing pollution and contrast it with an extreme long shot of greening deserts to present themselves as an environmentalist company. In this montage, there is a shot of many people on a beach with factories behind them and ignoring their problems, creating the binary opposition of humans and technology. It explores the idea that some humans ignore the problems of technology and let it damage the earth while others have to suffer the consequences, creating the binary opposition of those who have and those who have not. As the film was made in 2009, this idea would relate to the audience of the time and their lives and make them question whether they are ignoring environmental problems as well. The montage also shows clips of children sorting through rubbish, which makes the audience feel empathetically towards them, contrasting them and the situation to the humans who are ignoring the technology and its downsides while on the beach, which is the exploration of the binary opposition environment and consumer.

The infomercial includes an animate sequence of space which explains how Lunar Industries is using the moon instead of the earth and claiming that this solves their problems. The audience may think they were corrupt because of this, as they previously represented them selves as having environmentalist views yet swapped one finite resource with another. Another way the come across as a corrupt industry/company is through the binary opposition of the east and the west. During the animated sequence the voice over speaks about how Lunar Industries will help 70 percent of the planet which lights up on the earth as West America creating the binary opposition of the east and the west and shows the company as corrupt as they don’t plan on helping the people who appeared to have needed the most help during the montage. In 2009, the audience might assume that the people who were struggling, like the children sorting through rubbish, weren’t in America as in their own lives this would likely be the case, so they might think about the representation of children and believe that Lunar Industries used children as a way of getting empathy rather than to show who they were going to help, showing them as corrupt through the binary opposition of the east and the west. This causes dramatic irony as we know that Lunar Industries can’t be trusted before Sam knows.

The opening equilibrium also sets up the binary opposition of the earth and the moon. The mise en scene/cinematography of the earth is saturated and colourful with colours like bright green. The moon is the opposite and is desaturated and has lack of bright colours. This also suggests a corruptness with Lunar Industries as everything isn’t as nice as they say it is and it shows they don’t treat their workers well. For example, Sam’s outfit is dirty instead of pure white. He is also first seen running on a treadmill which is a metaphor for him and his work and how he his doing lot of work for Lunar Industries but isn’t getting anywhere himself. This links to the binary opposition of Marxism and capitalism. Lunar Industries is shown as a capitalist company, for example, they exploit their workers without giving them a fair reward. The Marxist critique of this would be that Sam, the labour worker for the company, isn’t being treated fairly and that capitalism doesn’t help everyone which is explored throughout the movie as the Sam’s continue to face struggles.

Gerty, the robot that is with the Sam’s, creates the binary opposition of human and machine. Throughout the film the narrative of whether Gerty feels empathy is questioned. As Gerty looks similar to Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as there being other references to 2001: A Space Odyssey like the chair that the first Sam we met sits in, the audience may feel scared of Gerty and think that he will in some way hurt Sam who we have been aligned with as an audience. However, as the narrative progresses, we learn that Gerty isn’t evil and to some level feels empathy. In the final sequence, the performance of the second Sam we see taking the ‘kick me’ post it off Gerty suggests he felt as though Gerty had some sort of humanity in him. Plus, earlier on in the film Sam one draws faces on one of the walls that look similar to the ones that express Gerty’s emotions, suggesting that what Gerty feels is the same as what Sam feels and so he therefore has humanity. A similar opposition to this is clone and society. When Sam two escapes after having saved Sam three he goes to earth to expose Lunar Industries for what they have done. This links to existentialism as trying to stop the cycle of clones and expose Lunar Industries becomes Sam’s purpose in life, it also shows how the people on earth haven’t changed. When you compare the opening and the ending equilibrium the audience finds that nothing has changed because the people haven’t and are the source of the problems. The voice overs call Sam an ‘illegal immigrant’ and a ‘wacko’ and suggesting that they should lock him up which shows that it’s unlikely Sam has made any difference as humans are not willing to believe him or pursue his points and complaints. The comparison also shows that one of the morals of the story was not only that humans are their own downfall but a critique of capitalism and how it has very negative effects on people such as the workers like Sam who had to suffer or even die because of the company.

In ‘Under the Skin’ one of the main binary oppositions is men and women. At the beginning of the film, the alien Laura who takes a female appearance is like a predator who preys on men (binary opposition of predator and prey). For example, the high angle over the shoulder shot of her in the shopping mall makes her seem above the public and like a predator as the public appear like prey. Plus, throughout the film she tracks down men and lures them in before killing them in a black void that looks like Richard Wilson’s 20:50 oil art work, meaning that Laura is a predator. Also, during the shopping centre sequence, there is a montage of Laura picking out clothes, the fact that it is a montage creates the idea that Laura knew exactly what she wanted, especially as we don’t see her thinking whether to buy something else. Some people may view the clothes she picked as a way that she is purposefully trying to appear sexy to attract men into her van. The representation of women here can be critiqued as Laura can be interpreted as being objectified due to her role being to attract men in with her body and that she hardly speaks. Men are shown as only interested in sex, Laura appears to easily attract men in and fulfil her job’s task. However, if you compare the opening and ending equilibrium there is a narrative flip as Laura becomes the prey. During the ending, she runs away from a man trying to rape her, the long shot of her hiding in the forest makes her seem vulnerable and her performance shows her as afraid through facial expressions; there’s also no music when she’s running away because it’s scary enough already. Plus, the motorcyclist man is trying to hunt her down as she left her job possession, the long shot of him on the mountains shows his hopelessness of finding her but also links to the painting ‘The Wanderer above the sea of fog’ in an ironic way as the audience would doubt that the motorcyclist feels any sense of sublime as they would assume he is like Laura before she felt empathy, emotionless as he has done so many cruel things like shove a man into the boot of a car.

This links to the binary opposition of human and alien.  The narrative follows Laura becoming more human as she begins to feel empathy for others. At the beginning, the binary opposition of black and white emphasised her emotionlessness as he appeared as a black silhouette due to the high contrast and high key lighting making her seem powerful and evil while dropping the woman’s head on the floor with seemingly no worry for her, aesthetically the high contrast between the white and black builds tension in the audience and the opening also includes unnerving close ups of an eye and an ant as well as dramatic changes from low key to high key lighting making the audience separate themselves from Laura just like Laura is separated from humanity. However, the more she spends time with humans the more empathy she feels for them, some audience members may interpret that Laura was lied to by her company about humans and we see her progressively learn that humans aren’t as bad as she was told they were, this links to the ideology of capitalism and how it doesn’t benefit everyone like Laura who was exploited and lost her sense of identity due to her job. After meeting the man with a disfigured face, there is a scene with a slow cut rate where she looks into the mirror. In this scene, the audience would think she in analysing herself as a person, as she steps into the light which lights up her face, suggesting she is walking into a better pathway in life as she has recognises killing humans as not humane because the man taught her that not all men are interested in sex and/or what she thought humans were like (he looks around the room instead of focusing on her). She then tries to act human, she tries eating cake but can’t and even tries having sex with someone but can’t. Despite feeling empathy, she can never be human meaning she no longer fits in anywhere as the binary opposition of human and alien represented her two worlds, neither of which she now fits into as she has lost her identity. At the end when she tries to escape the woods in the van, it is a symbol/metaphor for her old life, but the van won’t start because she has left that life behind now. This suggests that the movie is telling the audience being human is more than feeling empathy, as they even show the dark side of humans like rapists as well as the elderly lady who watches as the motorcyclist puts someone in the trunk of car and does nothing.

The binary opposition of the city and country explores the representation of Scotland in which Scotland stands in for the whole world to Laura as that’s the only place she goes. The representation of Scotland is negative, the mise en scene/cinematography makes the nature appear desaturated, and the mise en scene of the house Laura is in makes it appear run down. Some audience members may interpret that this representation is actually from an alien’s point of view, that she cannot see the beauty of the nature in Scotland as she isn’t really human. Both in the city where Laura is surrounded by people and in the country where she is alone and free (suggested by the overlaying image of her sleeping in the extreme long shot of the trees) she doesn’t fit in. Suggesting that the binary opposition of the city and country was used to show that Laura doesn’t fit in anywhere.