“Juxtaposition is a very unsafe criterion of continuity. — Hare.”
Juxtaposition. Such a strange word to be spelled. Well, before knowing more about that, let me find the meaning in dictionary; “Juxta” means “Near” in Latin. And “Position “synonymous to the word “Place”, “Location”, “Situation”
According to [link], Juxtaposition means placing together side by side for comparison or contrast. It is the state of being together.
From Wiktionary, they elaborate more Juxtaposition in few aspects:
- A placing or being placed in nearness or contiguity, or side by side, often done in order to compare/contrast the two, to showsimilaritiesdifferences. An absence of linking elements in a group of words that are listed or together.
Example: mother father instead of mother and father
- (art, literature) Two or more contrasting sounds, registers,styles etc. placed together for stylistic effect.
- (logic) A logical fallacy on the part of the observer, where two items placed next to each other imply a correlation, when none is actually claimed.
- (mathematics) An absence of multiplication symbols.
Example: ab instead of a × b
Cited from: Wiktionary
Generally people consider Juxtaposition is synonymous to Contradiction, Paradox, Incongruent, etc. But more than that, Juxtaposition has a sense of nearness. Therefore, I conclude that Juxtaposition is contrasts that being placed together in close proximity, or side by side. They are being placed so, so we can see the differences and the similarities. Simpler word; Applying Contrast side by side.
Gerald Grow in “Teaching Shakespeare through Exercises on Acting and on the Basic Emotions” made an example of Juxtaposition from the movie “Romeo and Juliet”
- Youth and old age;
- Servants and nobles;
- Love-sick Romeo and fiery Tybalt;
- The noisy public feast and the private whispers of the lovers;
- Romeo’s infatuation and Juliet’s wit;
- The old nurse and young Juliet; and so on. Cited from: [link]
The benefit of having Juxtaposition:
- Make a clear different of 2 objects, and learn from the object.
- Obvious contrast makes us analyze things clearly.
- Can have it as a revision, review, and adjustment point.
- Make a correction from that comparison.
“Sometimes it’s good to contrast what you like with something else. It makes you appreciate it even more. “–Darby Conley, Get Fuzzy, 2001
Lecture Summary:
From the lecture in week 07 by Mdm Nur, I have learned a new topic about Juxtaposition. Juxtaposition can be described as the arrangement of two or more ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases or words side by side. In other words, Juxtaposition is about placing variables side by side to compare and contrast their similarities and differences. This technique is a popular approach in creative processes.
For example in this sentence, "It's raining, but I am not taking umbrella", we can say that in 1st clause: the speaker is aware of weather situation and will prepare for it; we also can say that in 2nd clause: the speaker is taking risk of getting wet. Both clauses refer to related situations yet imply a contradiction.
For conclusion, Juxtaposition is a relationship of comparing something similar, yet different.
Personal Reflection:
In my opinion, this topic is an interesting topic and an important topic to be learned by all FCM students if they want to be a creative person. This technique is allow us to generate new ideas by using synonymous with contrast, two objects or texts that oppose one another.
I think Mdm Nur done a good job in introducing this topic by giving good example in lecture class. Especially the example that using two different pictures with two different situations. \
Exercise:
For this homework, I will refer the "Jumper" movie as my example.
Good/Evil:
David, the main character in this movie is actually a good person even though he rob to live but because of his teleport ability as a "Jumper", an organization "The Paladins" who swore to kill jumpers marked him as an evil person.
Chaos/Calm:
Because of David ability, he live in a calm environment where he can do whatever he want, but after "The Paladins" discover about him, he begin to live in chaos and hunted by them.
Kind/Cruel:
David's mother seem to be a cruel person when she left David when he is still small, but because of her role as "The Paladins"s member, she have to leave him and protect her son's identity as a "Jumper". This proved she is cruel to be kind.
Amusing/Shocking:
Having an ability like David is amusing because it is fun to teleport anywhere you want, but it is also can be shocking when actually he can teleport and drop you in the middle of the ocean or put you in jail.
