Good vs Evil. Binary oppositions in pure form or categories with flowing borders? A deconstructive analysis of the "Harry Potter" movies (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 15 Punkte, Gustav-von-Schlör-Schule Specialized Secondary Schooland Upper Vocational School, language: English, abstract: This seminar paper aims to display the conflict between Good and Evil, shown in the "Harry Potter" film series distributed by Warner Bros., which is based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. The conflict is focused on Harry Potter, as the good guy, and Lord Voldemort, as his evil opponent.

This paper essentially consists of two main parts, the theoretical and analytical section, and a conclusion at the end. The very start, however, gives the reader a raw notion of the typical interpretation of "Good" and "Evil". Then, the paper gives a brief synopsis of the Harry Potter story, to figure out what the plot of Harry Potter is about. The theoretical part contains two significant subdivisions. It deals with structuralism and post-structuralism, as well as with three subsections of post-structuralism, which are deconstruction in literature and film studies and finally with binary oppositions.

The most important goal is to figure out what the deconstruction and binary oppositions are about and make it clear how they are applied in movies. Afterwards, the seminar paper goes firsthand into the analytical part, which is the second section and considers a deconstructive analysis if the representation of Good and Evil are either in their pure form or categories with flowing borders in the film series "Harry Potter". The most significant thing in this part is to split up the movie into essential pieces, like the visual aspects and sound design. Another essential point is to figure out their equalities, differences and in certain circumstances the connections to each other.