Roland Barthes

Narrative Codes

Roland Barthes was a media theorist who came up with the concept of Narrative Codes. This consisted of five different forms of code that could be used in a  media product to send the audience different messages. The codes consisted of:

• Action code
• Hermeneutic/Enigma Code
• Semic Code
• Cultural Code
• Binary Oppositions

Action Code

An action code are often used to insinuate the next step taken in a sequence of events for example if a person is running down a street it makes you question why. Is the person running to something? From someone? and many other questions. It is often used to help create suspense.

Hermeneutic/Enigma code

This code is used to create a sense of mystery in a narrative which is done by controlling exactly how much information is passed on to an audience. Its designed to draw the audience in by creating a problem to be solved throughout the course of the production. For example at the beginning of each episode of House M.D a person becomes seriously ill, this illness is then diagnosed and cured (hopefully) by the end of each episode.

Semic Code 

The Semic Code is used to add an extra layer of meaning to inform the viewer about different characters in a film or the narrative. Se7en for example showed a figure of a black cat in its opening scene which could represent Morgan Freemans character, detective William Somerset, to be superstitions.

Referential/Cultural Code

The cultural code refers to a form of knowledge such as cultural, scientific or historical. it relies on your knowledge outside of the film in order to gain a further understanding. A war film could be an example of this as it links to your historical knowledge.

Binary Oppositions

Roland Barthes started looking into the concept of Binary oppositions, the conflict between two terms, however this was explored further by Levi- Strauss (as explain on another blog post).

Our Thriller

In our thriller we'll be using some of these codes for example the government teenagers who have their hoods up. this would be a form of semic code in order to create a sense mistrust towards the character. We'd also use the referential code as our thriller is conspiracy base so it would require some knowledge on the UK government and historical events such as the conspiracy of Princess Diana's death.