Media Studies Work

1. BARTHES ENIGMA THEORY
By James Pinnock

2. ROLAND BARTHES
Roland Barthes was a French philosopher, he tried to identify
structural features within texts that are similar.
Despite differences between individual texts, all of them have
similar organisational structures (specifically 5 of them) that affect
our viewing.
Barthes argues that we should view these theories as an invitation
to take multiple readings from texts.

3. ACTION CODE
The first one Is action code, applies to any action that implies a
further action. For example a man may bring out a gun on
someone and then we wonder what the resolution would be.

4. CULTURAL CODE
This is part of the code where an element in a narrative is
dependant on peoples knowledge on culture for that reason or
because of where they live or have lived.

5. ENIGMA CODE
This refers to any element in a story that is not explained and
therefore exists as an enigma for the audience, raising questions
that demand an explanation.

6. SEMANTIC CODE
Any element in a text that suggests an additional meaning by
connotations. For example a skull has connotations of death.

7. SYMBOLIC CODE
Similar to semantic code, but acts at a wider level where new
meaning arises out of conflicting ideas.

8. APPLIED TO A FILM
The theory can be applied to a film in a variety of ways because of
the 5 different codes within his theory. One way it can be applied
to a film is characters referring back to a previous event throughout
the film yet none of the audience knows what the previous event
was, this makes people want an answer and to know what the
event was.
An example of one of these codes being used in a film is in Home
Alone, a lot of the film is based around Christmas therefore its
based on peoples cultural understanding to understand some
aspects of the film.