Bathes 5 Codes

Linguist Roland Barthes (1915-1980) was interested in semiotics (the meanings of signs) and the structures that underpin our understanding of the world (Structuralism).

Barthes said that texts may be:

'open' (unravelled in a lot of different ways)

or 'closed' (there is only one obvious thread to pull on).

Barthes described Five Codes which are woven into any text to create meaning:

The Cultural (Referential) Code

The Symbolic Code

The Semantic Code

The Hermeneutic (Enigma) Code

The Proairetic (Action) Code

The Cultural (Referential) Code

This code refers to any external body of knowledge held by the audience. Directors rely on the audience having this knowledge present in order to make sense of the text.

Typically this involves either science or religion, although other banks of knowledge, such as magical truths, may be used in fantasy stories.

Example

This sequence contains referential codes, as the audience extracts meaning by referring to their external knowledge of the stereotype of black urban youths speaking and acting in a certain manner.

The Semantic Code

This code refers to connotations (additional meanings beyond the literal) within the narrative that give additional meaning to the basic denotative meaning of the text.

Example

This image uses semantic codes, as it refers to the connotations beyond the literal, in this case the board shorts signify that the person on the right is on holiday, this is juxtaposed with the fact the hotel seems to be quite “high-class”, as shown by the fact that the other man (who works there) is in a suit.

The Symbolic Code

This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning.

This is typically done in the use of antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas.

Example

The two chefs represent two conflicting cultures and personalities, as one is stereotypically English and the other is stereotypically French (though both are nigh on caricatures). This provides a juxtaposition between the two and within the context of the scene tries to use this as a way of exploring the relationship between the two characters.

The Hermeneutic (Enigma) Code

The Hermeneutic Code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.

The purpose of the director in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

Unanswered enigmas can be frustrating for the audience.

Example

This a good example of an enigma code as it appears out of nowhere and provides a great deal of intrigue on the behalf of the audience and it isn’t fully resolved by the end of the

The Proairetic (Action) Code

The Proairetic Code builds tension. It refers to any sequential action or events that indicate something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the viewer guessing as to what will happen next.

The Hermeneutic and Proairetic Codes work as a pair to develop the story's tensions and keep the viewer interested.

Example

The shot of the blade creates tension of the connotations that are associated with the blade (that being of stabbings and violent crime), in the context of the scene the audience are aware of these connotations and thus assume the worst, but are unsure as to what will happen next, creating tension.