According to Phillip Rosen in Narrative Apparatus, Ideology: A Film Theory Reader, "The syntagmatic is comprised of the rule-governed relationships among signs present in an actual, concrete signifying "chain" such as a sentence; it is the realm of combination. The paradigmatic is constituted by the relationships among all the possible…alternatives to each element of a signifying chain; it is the realm of substitution." In film, this sort of opposition is somewhat diminished because the director of a film dictates how the signifier is represented in a film with a unique image that is representative of the director believes the signifier is signified. Because of the uniqueness of an image within the context of a film, they cannot be substituted; substitution has the potential of changing the meaning of the film's narrative, which would alter the director's vision. Structuralism is beneficial in helping to deconstruct the different elements that make up a narrative and how the images chosen to represent thoughts and ideas within cinema are selected. However, structuralism...

"Film Theories." SlideShare. 30 December 2011. Web. 4 May 2013.
Phillips, John William. "Structuralism and Semiotics." National University of Singapore. Web. 4

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Rosen, Phillip. Narrative Apparatus, Ideology. A Film Theory Reader. New York: Columbia

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Thompson, John. "Structuralism and its Aftermaths." The Cinema Book. Edited by Pam Cook.

Walkabout. Directed by Nicolas Roeg. Australia: 20th Century Fox, 1971. DVD.