Poststructuralism/Deconstruction

Poststructuralism/Deconstruction
• Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lying in an Extra-moral Sense”
(NATC, 870-84)

Deconstruction is a reaction to structuralism, based on the observation that there is nothing outside the text. Therefore, a Deconstructionist critic attempts to understand a text through its relationships to various contexts. This form of theory is centered on the concept that you cannot know the intention of an author; words and media are simply chalk full of contradiction. We must therefore search for the differences within the text rather than the binary associations to avoid any self-contradictory resolutions. As a result, the meaning is not blatant and must be tapped below the surface (hence ‘deconstruction). As Nietzsche puts it, “truths are illusions of which we have forgotten that they are illusions, metaphors which have become worn by frequent use and have lost all sensuous vigour, coins which, having lost their stamp, are now regarded as metal and no longer as coins” (878). A critic must therefore accurately distinguish the essentials from all forms of “truths” being utilized in the text.

To unveil this approach we can look at the classic villain vs. hero dynamic and the appearances which the audience has been trained to receive. For instance, the blatant villain- “the supposed bad guy” is introduced early, and impressed upon the audience as the one todislike. However, his alarmingly sweet intentions for the princess suggest a dynamic that can alter the audience’s reaction. Instead of rooting for the all-buff, cocky handsome hero, they end up rooting for the villain to get the girl. The typical story would go as such: good guy defeats villain, hero gets the girl. But after deconstructing this format, a new story-line is established, one in which the villain is ‘losing the girl,’ rather than the hero ‘winning the girls affection.’ With this simple switch in perspective the value of objectivity, or truth, has taken on a new meaning and imposed itself outside the ‘typical’ context.