Theory: Roland Barthes' Narrative Codes

Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes (1915-1980) was a French literary theorist and philosopher who devised 5 narrative codes. These were: Action, Semantic, Enigma, Referential and Symbolic. His work is underpins much of the film industry's understanding of narrative.

Barthes said that narratives could be either open (have lots of possible endings) or closed (have only one possible ending and only one foreseeable way of reaching this ending). Typically, trailers suggest that the narrative of the corresponding film is open because of the enigma, ambiguity, and suspense that they create.

The signature of Roland Barthes

Both images sourced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Barthes