Roland Barthes

About Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher and critic. He was well known for exploring a wide range of areas including the study of cultural signs and symbols. He was born on the 12th of November 1915 and died on the 25th of March 1980 at the age of 64. He was considered very influential and was well respected.

Codes theory

Roland Barthes introduced the idea that texts have the potential to have a range of potential meanings and can be interpreted in many different ways. He felt that texts such as narratives had multiple meanings and that texts may be ‘open’ or ‘closed’

Five codesRoland Barthes came up with five codes which are integrated within all narratives.

• The Hermeneutic Code• The Enigma/Proairetic Code • The Symbolic Code• The Cultural Code • The Semantic Code

The Hermeneutic CodeThe Hermeneutic Code involves

withholding important information and the prevention of being entirely truthful with all the facts so that a variety of clues can

be incorporated throughout, in the hope that a mystery is created.

The Enigma/Proairetic CodeThe Enigma/Proairetic Code involves

the accumulation of tension so that the audience are left guessing about

what happens next.

The Semantic CodeThe Semantic Code also

known as the voice of the person, involves pointing to any aspect within the text, suggesting an additional

meaning through the use of connotations.

The Symbolic CodeSimilar to the semantic code the

symbolic code, which is also known as the voice of symbols, organizes semantic meanings into broader

and deeper sets of meanings. This is typically done in the use of

antithesis.

The Cultural Code

The Cultural Code is also known as the voice of science. This looks at the audiences wider cultural knowledge, morality and ideology.

Linking back to our opening sceneOur production could be considered to follow one of Roland Barthes codes. In my opinion our production fits best with

the enigma/proairetic code as throughout our opening scene we are trying to build up tension and suspense so that the

audience remain fully engaged. Also the fact that our genre is a crime drama makes the creation of mystery ideal as it will

be expected by our audience.