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.

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..”

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.

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)

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.

Also known as the ‘empirical voice’.

This is the mystery/tension that is built up for

the audience.

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.

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.

Known as ‘the voice of science’

This looks upon the audiences wider

cultural knowledge, morality and ideology.