Mini Mini Mock on Humans - Binary Oppositions

Question:
According to Claude Levi Strauss, texts convey their meanings through a system of binary oppositions. Evaluate this structuralist theory. Refer to the set episodes of Humans and The Returned in your response.

Answer:
Binary Oppositions are evident in Episode 1 of Humans and help the audience understand the meanings of the text. One main binary opposition is Freud's theory of the Madonna and Whore complex. Where we can relate this to Anita and Niska. Anita being the madonna who is pure and a virgin so she is attractive and Niska being the whore who is not as attractive due to her easiness etc.
The way in which we can understand this ideology is that Niska is a sex worker in a brothel. We know this due to the setting she is in when Leo wants to see her he has to pay and has to choose her from the list of girls, also the mise-en-scene of Niska's costume shows that she is there to have sex with customers. Also the way that Niska is spoken to is aggressive and not passionate. For example, at the end of ep.1 when a man enters Niska's room she is told to pull her underwear down and she has to obey, showing her lifestyle and how she is dehumanised and objectified by this male and any other male that comes into the brothel. Whereas this is majorly different to Anita being the housewife the mise-en-scene of the colour of her face shows she is pure. The mise-en-scene of her costume is also very basic as she is still in the outfit from the factory so she is in no way sexualised yet she is attractive to males, we know this due to the non verbal communication of the son in the Hawkins family when he see's Anita he licks his lips showing her attractiveness. We can also see that Anita is desirable and wanted due to Leo's urge to find her, he is adement to find her and we know this through the scene of when Leo confronts Sadiq and shows him a photo of Anita he is forceful and confident in trying to find answers. The photo shown of Anita to Sadiq is also a binary opposition in favour to Anita as she is seen in nature so this emphasises her purity compared to the rundown area that Leo and Sadiq are in. By having this binary opposition in Humans we can see the difference in cyborgs and it shows how they do have feelings as they are both taking different paths and have their own character traits it also emphasises what other characters would think of the cyborgs and deepens our understanding of them and their personality traits, which is vital in the first episode so we are able to understand the characters from early on.

Another Binary Opposition shown in the first episode of Humans is the difference between young and old. Anita being young and Laura being old. Anita is a young cyborg and is attractive to the males in the Hawkins family, we know she is attractive as when she entered the room the son of the family licked his lips showing his interest. Also when Anita was bought Sophie wished she was pretty, evidently proving she is attractive. Whereas Laura is older and she is not seen in the same way Anita does we know this due to the mise-en-scene of Laura's costume she does not wear anything very flattering or anything that would make her be seen as attractive. As soon as Laura had walked through the door she noticed the shoes being moved and was not happy and later revealed that she was upset