Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes is a french litery theorist, philosopher, critic and semiotician. He came up with narrative codes within films that help to tell the story of the film, or add crucial details that are key to the storyline. Here are the codes...
Action code - this applies to any action within a film.
e.g a character reaching for a gun will tell the audience there is an action scene coming up.

Enigma Code - An element in a film that is not explained, and raises a problem within the storyline.
e.g something within a film that makes the audience think.

Semantic Code - This is how the audience interpret something,
e.g the suggested meaning.

The Cultural Code - Elements relating to the audience based on their knowledge.
e.g a film where a character is dressed as santa clause, we know that he is santa clause without anyone having to say.

The Symbolic Code - This is the middle meaning, and it is linked very closely with Binary opposites.

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