5 codes of narrative

The 5 codes of Narrative
• Text can be like a ball of string; it can be unravelled in one or more ways.
• When you watch a text it is closed (there is only one obvious thread to pull on) or open (unravelled in a lot of different ways)

The 5 codes are:
1. Action code – implies something is about to happen, e.g. pulling out s gun means that someone is going to shoot it
2. Enigma Code – refers to any element in a story that is not explained and therefore keeps audience interested.
3. Semantic Code – any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation.
4. The Cultural code – audience and leader/actor know the same things because of their culture. E.g. Father Christmas.
5. The Symbolic code – two things next to each other that don’t fit

Ideology – belief system behind what you/we watch.
Levi Strauss – believed that the world was split into a series of, binary opposites’. Essentially one thing can only be defined in relation to something it isn’t. E.g. hero is only a hero if there was a cowardly option.