Mini Mini Mock

Human encodes the Levi strauss theory of binary oppositions intensely throughout series, particularly in the pilot episode. The obvious form of binary opposition shown is between humans and synths yet the difference in stereotypical roles and gender are expressed too with specific characters.

During the first episode, Laura comes home to her family and unexpectedly confronted by the new family synth Anita. The mise-en-scene of this scene is made intense by the dramatic slow zoom on Laura's petrified face. The atmosphere immediately turns from cheerful and social to silent and tense with no dialogue what so ever. The purpose of this scene emphasises binary opposition between a human and synth within their reactions to meeting each other. Anita's body language is calm and extremely robotic. Her face is smiling in simple way and her stare signifies to Laura and the audience of her synth ways. Laura is quivering slightly and is clearly distressed by her presence. This exaggerates the binary opposition on how a human and synth individually react to situations. One with emotion and the other without.

A short scene later in the episode features the almost cyborg synth Niska working in a brothel when she is confronted by a customer. The customer is slightly large, significantly older and has a shaven head. The mise-en-scene of this character is made to look stereotypically fearless and masculine as he aggressively demands Niska to do as he pleases. The low angle mid shot looking up at him shows his dominance over Niska as she is a synth but also female. This could represent the idea of the male gaze theory in which Niska is the "ideal" female towards some male audience members as she does exactly what a male wants in order to sexually please them. This dark scene really shows a negative binary opposition and would be seen as quite disturbing. Yet her synth attributes are what makes this action taking place seem normal within the Humans universe.