Explore the binary oppositions in the British films you have studied [40]

In ‘Moon’ the binary opposition of human and technology is set up in the opening equilibrium with an extreme long shot/long shot of many people relaxing on the beach while ignoring the factory behind them and the environmental problems that it creates; this links to the ideology of environmentalism which the film frequently explores. As the film was set in 2009, environmental problems such as global warming would be a very real and worrying element of the audiences lives. Seeing this in the movie may have promoted them to consider if they are ignoring the environmental problems, and if they themselves are doing enough to help; this might have been what the director Jones wanted to achieve from this scene. A similar binary opposition is the opposition of human and machine. This is set up with the Sam’s and Gertie and the surprising similarities between them, it involves the narrative theme questioning the morality and mortality of machines/robots which links in to the real worlds quickly developing technology. At one point, Sam 1 when upset draws faces on the wall. On the one hand, the close up of his drawings shows the narrative repetition as the audience can see the faint drawing of the same faces that previous Sam’s had drawn before the Eliza arrival people (which act like a ticking time bomb throughout the movie) rubbed them out, this shows how all the Sam’s acted in the same way, therefore becoming an example of narrative repetition. On the other hand, the mise en scene of these faces links to the binary opposition of human and machine because the faces that Sam draws (although a clone, is represented to feel like a human) look similar to those that Gertie has on his screen that represent his emotions drawing a connection between the Sam’s and the robots emotions. Therefore, the film is suggesting that the machine Gertie has morality inside of him. The performance of Sam 2 also supports this, as he takes the post it note reading ‘kick me’ off of Gertie, suggesting he felt Gertie had some sort of humanity because he felt that Gertie didn’t deserve the sign on him. This again links to the rapidly developing technology at the time the film was released in 2009 (and now), Jones might be trying to portray the opinion that technology will come what might be too far, as although Gertie does no harm, it’s only because he is programmed to help the Sam’s not hurt them, and so Jone’s might be creating a warning  that powerful technology has the potential to be used for bad impact.

Another binary opposition in ‘Moon’ is the binary opposition of the earth and the moon. In the opening, the mise en scene of the earth is saturated, making it seem more beautiful than the moon which is desaturated and mainly just greys, making it seem sadder. This links to the mistreatment of the worker Sam, and therefore capitalism, as Sam isn’t benefiting from his work for Lunar Industries.  In the opening, Sam is seen running on a treadmill which is a metaphor for how Lunar Industries treat him, he puts in lots of work and effort, but they give him nothing in return. However, Sam 2 returning to earth gives the audience no sign of better treatment. The yellow and blue lighting when Sam 2 is leaving suggests the idea that he will be listened to and accepted, as these bright colours contrast the desaturated aesthetic of the moon. However, the response to Sam arriving (heard as a non-diegetic voice over) is negative. They call him an ‘illegal immigrant’ or a ‘wacko’, which links to the ideology of determinism, suggesting that Sam’s attempts of exposing Lunar Industries was always going to fail. It also links to the idea of existentialism, Sam 2’s purpose was to stand up for what was right but unfortunately the world wasn’t ready to listen. The director, Jones, may have been trying to make a point by making the world not even consider listening to Sam 2.

The opening of ‘Moon’ presents the binary oppositions of the east and the west, and the wealthy and the suffering. During the animated sequence of the montage advert for Lunar Industries, nearly 70% of the planet is represented as West America on the globe, the rest is left in the dark. This presents Lunar Industries as corrupt to the audience, as in the documentary footage part of the document, they also showed under-developed countries shown by the mise en scene of children in piles of trash. The audience might now assume that these children will not be helped, as they might assume that West America will be developed further than this and not be the ones needing help despite being the ones receiving it from Lunar Industries. This binary opposition of the east and the west links to the binary opposition of the wealthy and the suffering, and the opposition of developed and underdeveloped. This means that, because Lunar Industries is helping the wealthy rather than the suffering, and the developed rather than the underdeveloped, as well as the fact they try to present themselves as an environmentalist company, but they just trade one finite resource for another, they are a corrupt company. The audience is given this information in the opening equilibrium, but the Sam’s don’t find out that Lunar Industries can’t be trusted until the recognition of disequilibrium causing dramatic irony for the audience as we know that the Sam’s aren’t as safe in Lunar Industries care than they think. The diegetic sound of the Eliza arrival sounds much more ominous to the audience, as though it was a ticking time bomb, that to the Sam’s until they figure out that Lunar Industries is a corrupt company. However, this is the only dramatic irony in the film. Jones may have not included any more because he wanted u to learn along with the characters, maybe to show that it wasn’t their fault that they failed to teach the world of Lunar Industry’s true working methods and to keep suspense and tension when watching the movie.

In ‘Under the Skin’ one of the main binary opposition’s links to the films representation of gender because it is the binary opposition of men and women. In the opening, we are presented the idea that men are emotionless as the motorcyclist man’s performance is emotionless and rigid which contrast to the actions taking place on screen. He is kidnapping who we can assume to be the worker alien before Laura, and he shows no doubt or questioning or difficulty in doing so. Laura, in the opening, is presented the same way. She undresses her, and her performance too is emotionless as she drops the unconscious woman’s head on the floor. The audience are aligned with the woman, who is unable to move and shown through a close up, the audience learn that she is crying. Which is why it’s rather surprising to the audience, when Laura becomes more interested in the ant, show through an extreme close up which is jolting to the audience, than the woman on the floor. The ant is Laura’s first proper interaction with humanity, her exposure to humanity is what makes her feel empathy and stop what she has been asked to do by the aliens. We can assume as an audience that it was her job to come down to earth and lure men in to an abyss. The close up of their body parts with the red lighting (connotations of danger) is given with no explanation, but we can assume that Laura is an exploited worker, which links to the ideology of capitalism, as Laura isn’t benefiting from her job. In fact, it makes her loose her identity after she starts to feel humanity and empathy, so she no longer fits in back home or on earth. It’s this change in personality that leads her to be on the run from her home/job. She starts to feel empathy after refusing to kill Adam Pearson’s character. His character didn’t show interest in just having sex with Laura like the other men, instead he looked around and commented on where he was. This showed Laura that not all men were interested in just having sex, breaking the negative representation of men, causing her to go back and save him after a long duration shot of her looking at herself in the mirror, where she physically and metaphorically moves into the light, analyses herself, and decides to go back and save him, and stop what she has been sent to do. In this mirror moment, she is analysing herself, it’s a common technique in films. The audience might assume that Laura had been given twisted and fake information about humanity and men, that they are only interested in sex, by her job, and he has now learnt that she was lied to. In this moment, the representation of men is better as they are not just shown as interested in sex and the representation of women is that they are able to make their own decisions. But as Laura see’s the good in humanity, humanity show their bad side. Normally, when Laura is luring in men, she has power over them.  But by the end of the film, this narrative is flipped as a man attempts to rape her. During this scene, there is no non-diegetic music as the scene is horrible enough, the audience don’t need to be told what to feel. The performance of the man chewing gum while trying to undress Laura is disturbing and gross and shows how emotionless and horrible, he is. This scene is very difficult for the audience to watch as it is gross and brutal, and it ends with Laura violently being killed by being set on fire in her alien appearance. When Laura holds her own face, the close up of her face blinking still links back to the woman in the opening equilibrium who was still crying, creating a link between them and a circular structure to the narrative. The way that the man kills Laura (a woman alien) contrasts greatly to how Laura killed people, as she slowly led them into an abyss which may have been inspired by Richard Wilson’s 20:50, whereas the man ripped her apart before setting her on fire which is much more brutal. This links back to the binary opposition of men and women and how the power and/or violence dynamics between them varies as the film goes on; which therefore links to the binary opposition of the powerful and the powerless.

An example of the powerful and powerless binary opposition is the motorcyclist man against Adam Pearson’s character. After Laura had set him free, Adam Pearson’s character walks through nature (binary opposition of nature and town) to get back to where there are people. The motorcyclist physically grabs him and forces him into the back of a car. Plus, the non-diegetic drumming sound when motorcyclist is catching the man and the non-diegetic eerie noises that are a motif makes the audience feel tension and stressed. The drumming sound can be interpreted as Adam Pearson’s character’s heartbeat, and how he is in a dangerous and stressful situation. All of these things emphasise the power dynamic between the two of them, and how one is much more powerless than the other.

Another binary opposition in ‘Under the Skin’ is the opposition of human and alien. The motorcyclist is a good example of this binary opposition as during the end sequence, there is a mid to long shot of him standing on a mountain which was a contextual reference to the Wanderer above the Sea of Fog painting which is all about humans and the sublime and seeing and feeling the beauty in nature. The audience knows that the motorcyclist man will not feel the sublime or see the beauty in nature as he has not come on the same journey as Laura who has started to feel empathy and humanity. This adds to the binary opposition of human and alien as a human would have appreciated and felt emotionally connected with the view, but he wasn’t. The audience is even shown a clip of beautiful nature, there is a calming long shot of the ocean and the waves, in which the audience approaches nature which helps them to recognise what the motorcyclist man cannot feel and understand the contrast between the humans and the alien. Laura becomes more human than alien as she starts to feel empathy. But she cannot be fully human. For example, she cannot enjoy food. The mid shot of her trying to eat chocolate cake includes her spitting it back out. Laura even tries to have sex with a man but isn’t able to. This is because empathy isn’t the inly thing that males us human, which is shown by humans with lack of empathy on the movie, such as the man who brutally tries to rape her, or the elder woman who watches the motorcyclist kidnap Adam Pearson’s character and does nothing, her performance is that she just stands her. The proxemics in this scene are ironic, as although she is physically higher than the motorcyclist man, she is not on moral high ground. Meaning that the binary opposition of human and alien is complicated, as even as Laura becomes more human after saving Adam Pearson’s character and her long duration shot of looking in the mirror where she analysed her identity, and began to feel more humanity, she still is an alien. And no longer fits in anywhere. And even though some people are human like the elder lady, she doesn’t show empathy which was the humanness in Laura. Therefore, it is showing that, it takes more than one thing to be human but that empathy and humanity is the best human trait of them all, because as an audience we start to like Laura after she feels those things.