Roland Barthes' Five Codes student example:
http://vimeo.com/31742588ENIGMA CODE:
What are the top hats on the ground doing there? What is their relevance to the plot?
- "Are you watching closely?" What does this mean?
- Who is the little girl?
- Who is the magician?
- What is the big machine? What does it do?
- What is the relationship between Angier and Borden?
- Did Borden let Angier drown? Did he murder him?
- Was Borden charged for Angier's murder?
- What will happen to the little girl?
ACTION CODE:
- Flattening the cage (killing the bird?)
- Angier taking off jacket - what is he about to do?
- Stepping into electrical field
- Water tank locking - will he get out?
- Borden putting hand against water tank
- Wave between Borden and little girl
SEMIOTIC CODE:
- Top hats connote magic tricks - pulling something out of the hat
- Clothing signifies Victorian era
- Suit - rich, successful
- Dark, gloomy - mysterious
- Electricity/lightning - danger, electrocution
- Warm colours connote comfort, safety
- Wave between Borden and girl suggests that he is her father
- Shackles - he is the one being charged
- Drumming fingers, fidgeting - impatience
CULTURAL CODE:
- Builds on our basic understanding of magic and illusions
- We can link the clothing to the Victorian era
- Court scene - Borden is the one being charged
- People on stage checking the magic apparatus - standard procedure
SYMBOLIC CODE:
- Top hats symbolise the mystery to come
- The small bird represents the victim in the magic trick - the place taken by Angier in his own illusion, where he drowns/begins to drown.
- Little girl represents the audience
Barthes, Strauss, Propp and Todorov coming soon