This document summarizes Roland Barthes' theory of five codes of meaning in texts: the hermeneutic code involving narrative cues, the proairetic code consisting of actions that advance the story, the cultural code relating to common sense understandings, the semantic code organizing character cues and meanings, and the symbolic code organizing deeper semantic meanings. The author discusses applying these codes to their own short film, such as including a chase scene using the hermeneutic code and revealing character motives through a meeting scene with the proairetic code.

1. Development: Application of
theories
“Roland Barthes and code theory”
By Zachary F.Smythe

2. Introduction
• Roland Barthes was a theorist who proposed that
the meaning of texts are produced through 5
codes of intangibility.
• This theory consists of the;
• Hermeneutic code
• Proairetic code
• Cultural code
• Semantic code
• Symbolic code

3. Hermeneutic code
• The Hermeneutic code- a set of cues that initiate,
develop and resolve the narrative e.g. a chase scene.
We applied this code through our inclusion of a
chase scene in the short film so that it effectively
developed the story.

4. Proairetic code
• The Proairetic code aka Enigma code(code of action)-
this consists of actions that move the narrative
forward, e.g. new discoveries. I included forms of the
Proairetic code such as when the intro as it creates
an enigma and also the meeting scene where the
protagonists true motives and desires are revealed

5. Cultural Code
• The Cultural code(referential code)-this relates to our
common sense, which provides the narrative with
plausibility. It refers to anything that is found on
some canonical work that cannot be challenged and
is the foundation/truth.

6. Semantic code
• The Semantic Code - organises the cues that relate to
character and place them in the narrative. Another
definition of this code would be that it is the code
that points to an element in the text which the
connotation of the story is given different meaning
over the denotative meaning of the word.

7. Symbolic code
• The Symbolic code- this is similar to the Semic
code but acts on a wider level. It organises
semantic meanings into deeper sets of
meaning