Roland Barthes

Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher and semiologist. He developed schools of theory which included semiotics and social theory.

Barthes suggested that narrative works with five different codes which activates the audience to make sense of it. These five narrative codes are:

• Action Code - the action code builds tension, this means something else within a story is used that indicates to the audience something else is going to happen which caused the audience to guess what happens next, this is what keeps the audience interested.
• Enigma Code - this is any element in a story that is not explained which leaves the audience asking questions. Most stories hold back some information to increase the effect of the ending. He believed audiences were not satisfied with a story unless all the "loose ends" are tied at the end of a story.
• Semic Code - This code involves connotations within the story which gives the story that extra meaning.
• Symbolic Code - This is similar too the Semic Code, this code organises semantic meanings into deeper meanings. This code is where new meaning arises out of conflicting ideas.
• Referential Code - Referential code is where something within a text refers to the culture, religion, or background of an audience. For example, films which involve religion. Such as "Bend it Like Beckham", this may appeal to a certain audience because they can relate to the religion of the main character.