Saturday 25 January 2014

Barthes' Enigma theory

Barthes' enigma code is a theory that suggests a media text portrays a mystery to draw an audience in, pose questions & as such, become intrigued in the piece. For instance, a murder mystery will often not reveal the identity of the murderer until the end of the story which poses the question, 'who is the murderer?'

Barthes' theory of the 5 codes is a way of grouping signifiers according to the role they play in the text.
These are categorized as:

  1.  The Hermeneutic Code- The voice of truth, This is an element in a story that is not explained, & therefore exists as an enigmas for the reader, raising questions. 
  2.  The Proairetic Code- The voice of empirics.
  3.  The Semantic Code- The voice of the person.
  4.  The Symbolic Code- The voice of the symbol.
  5.  The Cultural Code- The voice of knowledge. 



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