Narrative Codes

Roland Barthes - Narrative codes.

Roland Barthes was a semiologist: basically, he was paid to look at 'texts' and decipher how they were put together. (Imagine a story like a ball of string)

Open text - Unraveled in a lot of different ways.
Closed text - There is only one obvious thread to pull on.

Action code - Something that implies something is going to happen.
E.g. Someone pulls a gun, you know they'll shoot it.

Enigma code - Refers to any element in a story that is not explained and, therefore, exist as an enigma for the audience, raising questions that demand explication.
E.g. A distraction story.


Semantic code - Any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation.
(Connotation - Things that make you think of something)
E.g. ....


Cultural code - Any element in a narrative that refers "to a science or a body of knowledge". In other words, the cultural codes tend to point out shared knowledge about the way the world works. (Different culture, different ways).
E.g. Some movies have the bad people wearing white, whereas others have them wearing black.


The symbolic - Binary opposites.

Binary opposites - Levi Strays believed that the world was split into a series of 'binary opposites'. Essentially one thing can only be defined in relation to something it isn't.
E.g. A hero is only a hero if there is a cowardly option.


Ideology - An Ideology is an organized collection of ideas. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things, a belief which helps to explain the world around us.