In the words of Michael O'Shaughnessy, "narratives, or stories, are a fundamental way of making sense of our experience" (1999: 266). As a society and culture, we use stories to understand and share our experiences, typically constructing them with a beginning, middle, and end. Indeed, the order in which a narrative is structured will have a direct impact on how it is understood, particularly across cultures. This idea originated through Claude Lévi-Strauss's concept of structuralism in anthropology which "is concerned with discovering the common structural principles underlying specific and historically variable cultures and myths" in pre-industrial societies (Strinati 2003: 85). In terms of media studies, the inherent goal of structuralism is to dig beneath the surface of a media text to identify how the structure of a narrative contributes to its meaning. Structuralism encompasses a wide range of analytical tools, however, this essay will examine Joseph Campbell's monomyth and Claude Lévi-Strauss' theory of binary oppositions. Through the analysis of Victor Fleming's film, The Wizard of Oz (1939), it will be demonstrated that, although the monomyth and binary oppositions are useful tools with which to reveal how meaning is generated in this text, structuralism can undermine the ability audience to engage with their own interpretations of the film. In the simplest form, there is a basic structural model for narratives, as expressed through Tzvetan Todorov's explanation of narrative movement between two equilibria. A narrative begins in a stable position until something causes an imbalance, however, at the end of the story, the balance is re-established, although it is different from the beginning (O'Shaughnessy 1999: 268). Joseph Cam...... middle of paper ...... an adequate mechanism for revealing the techniques used to create messages in a text. Works Cited Campbell, Joseph (1968), The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, pp. viii-97.Eco, Umberto (1979), 'Narrative Structures in Fleming', in his, The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, pp. 144 -172.Hartley, John (2002), Communication, cultural and media studies: The Key Concepts, London, Routledge, pp. 19-21.O'Shaughnessy, Michael (1999), Media and Society: An Introduction, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, pp. 266-290. Strinati, Dominic (2003), 'Structuralism, semiology and popular culture' (excerpt), in his An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture: 2nd Ed., London, Routledge, pp. 82- 85.The Wizard of Oz (film), 1939, Director: Victor Fleming.