Barthes Narrative and Film Trailers

RONALD BARTHES

Who is he?

Barthes was born in 1915 and he was French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic, and semiotician. He is widely known for coming up with the theory 'engima' meaning that he believes that a mystery should be present in films, books and novels (any type of story telling) in order to keep the audience interested. 

Ronald Barthes has his own theory about text that appears in places such as television, posters or regarding any narrative in media. He believes that text have mysterious properties in order to attract audience and ask certain questions. Barthes had five codes which can be applied in any narrative.

The Cultural Code:

This type of code refers to anything that is culturally specific in order to apply it into a text. It usually cannot be challenged and is assumed to be 'the fountain of truth'. Generally, this involves either religion or science. Although, things like the 'magical truth' can be used in fantasy stories. An example of this could be a television series called "Games of Thrones", The show features historical and medieval views, religious beliefs and tactics. The audience need to be familiar with the values of the past to associate with certain meanings in text.

The Hermeneutic Code: 

This particular code refers to a type of story that remains a mystery to the audience, it is never fully explained. The truth is usually avoided by either openly aknowledging that there is no answer to a problem or deliberatley avoiding the truth. It can also be avoided by giving incomplete answers to the audience. The purpose of this code is to question the audience and make them ask questions until the final scene of the film reveals the answer. This type of writing is in particular, is  popular with the mystery genres.

 The Proairetic Code:

This code also adds tension by referring to any other type of action that is going to happen somewhere else. This will question audience and raise questions such as "What is going to happen?" The Proairetic Code typically works as a pair with The Hermeneutic Code in order to build that desired 'tension' and keep the reader engaged in the story. Barthes described these two codes as sequel codes that are dependant on each other.

The Semantic Code:

The code refers to the connotation of the story that gives additional meaning over the simple denotative meaning of the word. In other words, the authors are adding more meaning to the word in order to 'paint a richer picture' using a relatively limited type of text.

The Symbolic Code: 

This type of code is also quite similar to The Semantic Code. However, this code acts on a wider level by organising the semantic meanings into deeper sets of meanings. This code is as important to The Semantic Code as The Proairetic code to Hermeneutic Code. Overall, by using this code, a new meaning arises in the story instead of an opposing or conflicting ideas.

Applying The Codes in The Trailer

Film: Zodiac (2007)

This is an example of where we see 'enigma' today. This type of story heavily follows the Hermeneutic Code as it's mostly about finding the killer who calls himself the 'Zodiac'. Zodiac leaves clues for the police by writing different types of signs and getting in contact by voicemail/telephone. The reason why I believe it's Hermeneutic is because this trailer creates suspence by raising a lot of questions and giving no answers. The killer itself isn't shown in the trailer but he will likely be found in the film. Additionally, the audience are curious to who the murderer is, therefore they would likely watch it due to that curiosity. Not to mention, the film was based off real life events. The story mostly revolves around a young looking man who want's to involve himself into the case of Zodiac, he himself gets into some trouble by the killer (phone calls and suspicious places). This creates another mystery within the story (The Proairetic Code) to keep the audience engaged and more attached to the character within the story rather than a simple plot of police researching the killer until they find him. The Proairetic code also helps films such as this one have a less cliché ending. 

Promotional Poster: Ex Machina (2012)

'Enigma' isn't only used in text, it can also be used in posters in order to draw in the audience. These three posters above are advertisements for a film called "Ex Machina". The first two poster say "to erase the line between man and machine is to erase the line between man and 90DS". The quote raises questions and gives hints about the plot of the film which is whether it is safe to invent artificial intelligence. The third poster says "what happens to me is I fail your test?" which is in front of a photographs of a realistic looking woman with mechanical body parts looking back at the audience while facing forward illuminated by bright light on one side while staying in a harsh shadow. This particular quote seems almost like a threat, the question itself raises even more questions. Is she good or evil? Will artificial intelligence be the last thing mankind invents? "What happens to me if I fail your test" is said directly towards the audience because the word "you" is present. All three posters look dark and almost disturbing. The first one shows mechanical body parts that resemble a torso of a female's body, it doesn't feel alive and the cold tones of the 'body' definitely suggests that it isn't an organic being. The middle poster shows the main character (the cyborg) laying on the ground facing away from the audience showing as sense of loneliness. 

How could I apply this theory in my own film trailer?

Since my trailer revolves around psychology, it creates mystery about the brain. Even in our modern society, we don't know everything about the brain. It is a powerful and puzzling part of our body. By using information I obtained through researching mental illnesses in my spare time, I want to use a protagonist to show what is going on on the 'inside' rather than outside. I want the physical appearance to be a complete opposite of the thoughts and questionable actions taken part in the trailer. Films are often portrayed through the 'good' or 'innocent' characters showing their point of view rather than the 'twisted' characters. The best examples of films with 'villains' as main or secondary characters I know of are "Chained" and "American Psycho". In order to create suspense and keep my audience engages I would most likely follow 'The Hermeneutic Code' by not revealing what exactly she does and how she copes with her 'illnesses'.