Roland BarthesBy Conor Horne

Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes was born on the 12th of November 1915 and died on the 26th of March 1980. He was a French philosopher, literary theorist and critic. He has explored a diverse range of fields and has a large influence.

Roland Barthes cont.

The Codes theory: Roland Barthes described a narrative 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..”

Roland Barthes cont.

By this he means: A narrative plot is like a ball of tangled strings and the

thread needs to be unravelled. Once unravelled this plot hold a massive range of possible meanings. You can look at a narrative from one perspective, with one set of previous experience and get one meaning but follow from a different perspective and past experience and you can get a different meaning entirely.

The Five Codes

Roland Barthes further narrowed down his theory into five codes, these included:

The Hermeneutic Code (HER) The Enigma/ Proairetic Code (ACT) The Symbolic Code (SYM) The Cultural Code (REF) The Semantic Code (SEM)

The Hermeneutic Code (HER)

Known as ‘the voice of truth’This is the way in which a story avoids revealing main plot points or twists in order to create mystery for the audience.

The Enigma/ Proairetic Code (ACT)

Also known as the ‘empirical voice’. This is the mystery/tension that is built up for the audience.

The Semantic Code (SEM)

Known as ‘the voice of the person’The semantic code is an element in a text that points to a particular, often additional meaning through connotation.

The Symbolic Code (SYM)

Known as 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)

Known as ‘the voice of science’This looks upon the audiences wider cultural knowledge, morality and ideology.