Roland Barthes Codes Theory

Roland Barthes (Basic Info) Roland Barthes was born on the 12th November 1915 and died at the age of 64 on the 25th March 1980. He was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician (study of cultural signs and symbols). He explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools.

Codes Theory Roland Barthes describes a text as: "a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can read, they are indeterminable...the systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never closed, based as it is on the infinity of language..." (S/Z - 1974 translation)

What he meant … The text is like a tangled ball of threads The thread needs to unravelled Once unravelled, we encounter an absolute wide range of potential meanings. We can start by looking at a narrative in one way, from one viewpoint, one set of previous experience, and create one meaning for that text. You can continue by unravelling the narrative from a different angle and create an entirely different meaning.

Barthes’ views Barthes says that all narratives share structural features that are brought together in different ways. Although there are differences between individual narratives, they all have a limited number of organisational structures that affect our reading of texts – these are called ‘Narrative/Enigma codes’.

According to Barthes, there is always more than one way to read a text. Within any given text there is a plurality of meaning rather than one correct reading. To uncover a text’s plural meaning, you have to read the text, and then re-read it. This is because every time you read a text, you read it in a slightly different way to the previous time. With each re-reading, another meaning comes to the surface

How to absorb a text: Barthes argues that we should take the existence of these codes as an invitation to read a text in ways to bring out multiple meanings and connotations. He rejects the view that an audience should read a text for its linear plot, or be controlled by it. He believes that an audience should have a "writerly" rather than a "readerly" approach to texts.

‘Readerly’ text Barthes states that most texts are ‘readerly’ texts. These are texts that are presented in the usual linear, traditional manner of style and content – this is pre-determined so that the reader is simply receiving the information. These texts attempt, through the use of representations, to hide anything that would open up the text to multiple meaning – e.g. advertising

‘Writerly’ text ‘Writerly’ texts reveal those elements that the ‘readerly’ texts attempt to hide. The reader is now in a position of control and takes an active role in determining the meaning of the text. The ‘writerly’ text undermine the reader’s expectations.

Enigma code Barthes' Enigma Code is a theory that suggests that any text, such as television, film, a poster, makes the audience question something and intrigue the audience to draw them in. For example, a murder mystery will often not reveal the identity of the murderer until the end of the story. This encourages the audience to ask the question – "Who is the murderer?"

Narrative / Enigma codes Barthes’ theory of the five codes is a way of grouping signifiers according to the role they play in the text. These are categorised as: The Hermeneutic Code – the voice of truth (HER) The Proairetic Code – the voice of empirics (ACT) The Semantic Code – the voice of the person (SEM) The Symbolic Code – the voice of the symbol (SYM) The Cultural Code – the voice of knowledge (REF)

Reading a text with the five codes in mind is like looking at an image through a series of coloured lenses. The image remains the same but your impression of it changes. Texts in which the Semantic, Symbolic, and Cultural Codes dominate are closer to Barthes’s idea of the ‘writerly’ text. They give you a sense of what the narrative is like rather than tell you what happens.

The Hermeneutic Code (HER) (the voice of the truth) Is the way the story avoids telling the truth or revealing all the facts, in order to drop clues in through out to help create mystery.

The Hermeneutic Code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader. The full truth is often avoided, for example in: Snares: deliberately avoiding the truth. Equivocations: partial or incomplete answers. Jamming's: openly acknowledge that there is no answer to a problem. The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

The Enigma/ Proairetic Code (ACT) (empirical voice) The way the tension is built up and the audience is left guessing what happens next

The Proairetic Code also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next. The Hermeneutic and Proairetic Codes work as a pair to develop the story's tensions and keep the reader interested. Barthes described them as: "...dependent on ... two sequential codes: the revelation of truth and the coordination of the actions represented: there is the same constraint in the gradual order of melody and in the equally gradual order of the narrative sequence."

The Semantic Code (SEM) (the voice of the person) The semantic code points to any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation which the story suggests. Connotation= cultural/underlining meaning, what it symbolises.

This code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word. It is by the use of extended meaning that can be applied to words that authors can paint rich pictures with relatively limited text and the way they do this is a common indication of their writing skills. Connotation-the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning Denotation-the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression, as distinguished from the ideas or meanings associated with it or suggested by it

The Symbolic Code (SYM) (the voice of symbols) This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. This is typically done in the use of antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas.

The Cultural Code (REF) (the voice of science) Looks at the audiences wider cultural knowledge, morality and ideology. This code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth. Typically this involves either science or religion, although other canons such as magical truths may be used in fantasy stories. The Gnomic Code is a cultural code that particularly refers to sayings, proverbs, clichés and other common meaning-giving word sets.