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1. Roland Barthes – Theorist (Narrative)
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. 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’’
 Barthes stated that media texts with a narrative were a form of storytelling and that
all narratives share similar structures but are moulded in different ways.
 Barthes theory states text is like a tangled thread which needs to be unravelled and
once unravelled we encounter a wide range of potential meanings. The media
products audience can start by looking at the items narrative from one viewpoint, a
previous set of experience and can then create a meaning for that media product.
 But the audience can continue unravelling the narrative from a different angle and
create an entirely different meaning.
 Barthes said that texts may be ‘open’ or ‘closed’
Roland Barthes narrowed down the action of a text into the ‘Five Codes’ which can be
applied to any narrative.
The Hermeneutic Code (HER) – The voice of the truth
This is the way the narrative avoids telling the truth or revealing all of the facts. This
helps create mystery.
The Enigma/Proairetic Code (ACT) – Empirical Voice
This is the way the tension is built up and the audience are left guessing what will
happen next.
The Semantic Code (SEM) – The voice of the person
This is the way any element in the narrative suggests a particular, additional meaning
of the story.
The Symbolic Code (SYM)
This is where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict.
The Cultural Code (REF) – The voice of science
This looks at the audience’s wider cultural knowledge alongside morality and
ideology.
Sources – Various websites from a google search