Juxta (next to). Pose (to place). Juxtapose (to place next to).
‘Juxtaposition‘ describes a situation where two elements that don’t seem to belong together are placed side by side. The contrast heightens emotional impact, creates irony, conveys a clash of realities, and engages the reader, viewer, or listener more dynamically than if each element was presented by itself.
Drama uses juxtaposition to take us through a process of catharsis that messes with our emotional and rational sensitivities. Shakespeare interweaves comedy with the deepest angst of human experience in his tragedies to increase or reduce the tension. In one brief phrase, “Parting is such sweet sorrow,” he points out the complexities of emotions that may co-exist at the same time.
Two movies to illustrate the concept of juxtaposition.
The first is rather dark. In Good Morning Vietnam (1987), Louis Armstrong slowly and softly sings What a Wonderful World while film footage shows the brutal oppression of civilians and chaotic destruction of war.
The second example is far more uplifting.
Up, the Disney Pixar movie (2009) captures our imagination as it juxtaposes old Carl and young Russell.
Carl is an unhappy man in his late 70s whose major goal in daily life is to avoid people and avoid being dispatched to an ‘old folks home.’ Yet, beneath his cantankerous persona to the world around him, Carl has a heart that is brimming with one desire: to fulfil a promise to his beloved (but deceased) wife Ellie.
Russell is a brash young Wilderness Explorer scout who desperately wants to fulfil his final merit badge. It requires him to give some type of assistance to the elderly. And he won’t take ‘No!’ as an answer from Carl.
Thrown together in a dramatic manner and unable to escape from each other, they share a spellbinding series of adventures and complete a remarkable journey. In the process, Carl and Russell fulfil not only their separate life ambitions but also forge an extraordinary friendship, a depth of relationship that warms the heart and uplifts the spirit. Young and old are blended into a beautiful shared space of doing life together.
Life is full of juxtaposition.
The pain and pleasure of giving birth. The fears and uncertainties, yet pride and anticipation, of walking a preschooler into their first kindergarten class. The bittersweet goodbye to a child heading to college across the country. Opposite sensitivities within you crash into each other.
Personal examples.
I recently had a difficult conversation with a long-term friend. Looking forward to meeting for coffee, I also needed to talk about something he had done that still disturbed me. I hate such times. Who do I think I am to confront him as if I’m on some higher plane of moral judgment. It could get complicated, and messy, very quickly.
Messy did happen to me during the months of COVID-19. Another friend could not resist their missionary zeal to spread the word about how vaccines, masks, government interventions, etc. were all wrong. When that unsolicited zeal (and literature) was directed at someone close to me, in essence interfering in how children should be raised, I ‘lost it.’ No question I should have done the old farmer thing of sleeping on it but I didn’t.
An unpleasant email exchange quickly intruded upon the joys of a long-term friendship. Allies were on the verge of becoming adversaries. How did I get there? Well, I did it all by myself. I couldn’t handle the juxtaposition of the positive aspects of the friendship with the invasion of all the COVID agenda that we viewed in such completely different ways.
A mutual desire for reconciliation did eventually occur. Just moving on without resolution was distasteful to both of us. We are still working through it but there is a lingering negative effect on the purity of the relationship.
Back to my coffee friend. We did a version of ‘just moving on’ and finished our coffee with talk about other things. To avoid the yukky stuff that would arise if we pursued the issue. I think we both figured the rough waters would settle into a backwater of minimal intrusion on our relationship. The future will show if any repercussions for having taken the avoidance approach.
So, you may ask, “Where is the juxtaposition in that story? Right now it just looks sad, like dirt being swept under a carpet.”
Yes, I left the coffee shop with a restless dissatisfaction about raising the issue and getting nowhere. My next stop was the local grocery store. Where a spontaneous exchange with an elderly (probably my age) British lady brought the joy back into my spirit. She was too short to reach a package of creamer on the top shelf of a refrigerator unit. It was almost too high for even me (6’2″) as I had to step on the frame sill to get there. But I succeeded and there were smiles all around. And the lady said, “I always meet the nicest people when I go shopping.” That was me she was talking about. The unpleasant taste of my coffee meeting was jolted by a reminder of goodness from an unexpected source.
Our daily lives are full of opportunities to juxtapose hard, difficult, dissatisfying, discouraging experiences with gentle, rewarding, uplifting, fulfilling engagements if we are open to them.
Two more examples from that same grocery store outing. At the checkout, the lady in front of me apologized for not putting the separation bar down at the end of her line of groceries. “I don’t usually do the shopping so I forgot how it is done.” Again, smiles all around as I assured her it wasn’t a problem.
Then, the lady just behind me noticed the ju jubes I was buying. She asked if they were the sour kind (they weren’t) and shared how she likes the black ones. And how she bought ju jubes for last Halloween but ate all the black ones right away and had to go and buy more for the trick-or-treaters. Yes, you guessed it, smiles all around.
Joy and sorrow. Gentle and harsh. Laughter and tears. Should I carry on or do you get the picture? It’s all there side-by-side every day of life. Seeming opposites juxtaposed – placed right beside each other. And our challenge is to figure out what to do with it all.
Back to Carl and Russell.
One of the most challenging juxtapositions in life is bringing the old and the young together. There are now five generations active in the workforce. Every sector of society is trying to figure out how to make it work well. If crotchety Carl and rambunctious Russell did it, maybe we can too.