Roland Barthes explored the concept of narrative as part of his work on structuralism. He argued that narrative works through a series of codes that are used to control the way in which information is given to the audience.

 

One code that Roland Barthes proposed was the enigma code. An enigma is a riddle or puzzle, and some types of narrative make extensive use of this code. An obvious example of enigma is ina detective story, in which, we the audience are introduce to the film with a puzzle to figure out who commited the crime? the film will gradually reveal clues for the audience to interpret alongside the fictional detective whose job it is to find the perpetrator of the crime.

This is a very obvious example of the use of enigma, however, there are many, less obvious ways in which enigma is used. For example a trailer for a TV programme uses enigma to tease the audience with information that can only be understood by tuning into the programme itself.

 

 

Another code Barthes writes about is the action code. This is where a resolution is produced through action, for example, a fight scene. This code suggests how narratives can be resolved through action, often part of the protagonist/hero. Usually the narrative is resolved through an act of violence, for example, a gun battle. This code is normally associated as a male genre, because the problems are resolved through physical violence. Films that would use this code tend to be films like, Batman, Spiderman, Terminator; which are predominatly aimed at men. However, there are films that use this code which use female characters as the protagonist/hero for example, Kill Bill, Charlies Angels etc.