Roland Barthes Theory - 05/07/2011

Barthes is famous in media for suggesting that narratives work with five codes:

• Action or proairetic
• Enigma or Hermeneutic
• Semic
• Symbolic
• Cultural or referential

The enigma code is the most famous as we use this to make guesses as to how the narrative of a film will finish, therefire providing pleasure for the audience.

Hermeneutic Code
This is when parts of the story are not fully explained. They exist as enigmas or questions that the audience wishes to be resolved. Detective stories (e.g. Sherlock Holmes) have narratives that complies with this code - a criminal act is shown and the remainder of the narrative is devoted to answering questions raised by the initial event.

In order to maintain interest, the final truth is not revealled until the end and some devices are used to conceal it:

• The snare - deliberate avoidence of the truth. A tease or implication that sends the audience down the wrong path e.g. Snape from the Harry Potter films - is he really a villain or are we just being mislead?
• Partial answers - revealling some final truths - this is used to increase suspense
• Equivocation - mixture of truth and snare - usually makes the story even more mysterious and confusing
• Jamming - suggests that a problem may be unsolvable - further incerases suspense

Proairetic Code
The proarietic code is a series of actions that imply further action/reaction. For example, a character may have an argument and the audience wonders what the resolution or outcome of this argument will be. This creates suspense and tension as the audience wonders what the outcome will be and begin to make their own guesses.