Types Of Codes and Roland Barthes

Hermeneutic Code: the story is not fully explained, the full truth is avoided keeping the audience guessing until the final scene where all is revealed.

Podiatric Code: action or event that indicates something else is going to happen and by witnessing this, the audience can say what characters will do/ what will happen next.

Roland Barthes’ Enigma Code: A theory that suggests that a text (whether television, film, poster etc) portrays a mystery to draw an audience in, pose questions and, as such, become intrigued in the piece. For example, a murder mystery will often not reveal the identity of the murderer until the very end.

According Roland Barthes, this sequence is as followed:

Thematisation – what in the narrative is the enigma?

Positioning – additional confirmation of the enigma

Formulation of the enigma

Promise of an answer

Fraud – circumvention of the true answer

Equivocation – mixture of fraud and the truth

Blocking – not allowing the enigma to be solved

Suspended answer – stopping the answer after having begun

Partial answer  - some facts of the truth are revealed

Disclosure of the truth