Barthes's Theory

Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher critic and semiotician. He believed that the text is like a ball of threads which needs to be unraveled. Once unraveled, we can encounter a range of potential meanings.   

He also believed that texts are often ‘open’ or ‘closed’. An ‘open’ text is open to interpretation and can have many different meaning, whereas a ‘closed’ text was produced with a single definition or meaning in mind, making any other possible interpretation wrong or incorrect.  

Barthes’s theory was made up of 5 codes that he believed all media texts displayed at least one if not more. 

Hermeneutic/Enigma Code – The narrative avoids telling the truth or revealing all the facts in an attempt to create a sense of ambiguity which draws in the audience. There is often a mystery to be solved by the audience. Unanswered questions are what are audience is left with which they don’t like and therefore pulls them in.



Proairetic/Action Code – tension and suspense is built up and the audience is left guessing what will happen next. This is to entertain the audience and keep them interested in the text.



At the end of the video, we see a man tied up in a dark room and then the camera fades to black, leaving the audience wondering what will happen to him. 

The Semantic Code – Refers to elements of the text that suggest an additional meaning/connotation that the story suggests. Elements of the semantic code are called Semes. Organising semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning.



An example is the music video for Taylor Swift's 'Look What You Made Me Do' which contains digs at various artists that she is on bad terms with like Kayne West, Kim Kardashian and Katy Perry. 

Symbolic Code – Refers to symbolism within a text, Symbolic code are called signifiers are convey meaning through symbols. 

Referential Code – refers to references within a media text. 




In Madonna's 'Material Girl' there are multiple references to Marilyn Monroe's 'Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend'.