Barthes' Narrative Codes

Barthes' Narrative Codes

 Roland Barthes developed 5 different codes that apply to films in general in order to be considered a 'good' film, which include:

• The Enigma Code

This is something that the audience do not know, in order to build up the tension and suspense within a film, especially the thriller and horror genres or even just any genre in general. Below is a teaser picture from the movie 'Shutter Island'

•  The Semantic Code

This code is applied to the props that are used in the film, to represent certain concepts and ideas such as wealth. Examples of props which are used to represent wealthy characters are items such as luxury cars, mansions, jewelry and their status within a society. Below is an still from 'Scarface' to show the character: Tony Montana's excessive wealth.

•  The Action Code

This is referred to an action that the audience can see on screen that isn't explained, e.g in a horror film, a character could be shown running away or maybe even towards something that the audience do not know about. This will build the tension and suspense as the audience are left with unanswered questions that they want to find the answers to i.e Why are they running? Are they innocent or guilty? This is turn makes them stay throughout the film, in order to find out. Below is a scene from 'The Shining'. This scene shows a young boy cycling down a corridor, minding his own business, then he comes across these 2 girls, and the this is the first time the audience have seen them, so they would have questions as to where they came from and how did they get there, as there are only supposed to be 3 people staying in the hotel grounds.

• The Symbolic Code

This refers to a structure that portrays the meanings through the use of binary opposites, or stereotypes which go against the usual traits and concepts that an audience may have of a film, which include the characters, location., etc... The scene below from 'Kick-Ass' shows stereotypes that go against usual film concepts, the main character, Dave, portrayed by Aaron Johnson is seen as a weak, geeky teen, who dresses up as a superhero and tries to fight against crime in his neighbourhood without any superpowers whatsoever.

• The Referential Code

This code delves deeper into the audience's wider cultural knowledge, morality and ideology.