Narrative Codes - Emmanuel Olobio

Narrative is a way in which you tell a story, but is different from a story in that the narrative is in the way that the story is related. When looking at narrative there are codes in which examine in order to find its meaning, these conventions are genre, character, form and time. Time is a convention when looking at narrative as for instance a persons life can be shown in a block of 2 hours.



Roland Barthes was famous for unlocking the fabric of narrative structure. Roland Barthes describes a text as “a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can read, they are indeterminable...the systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never closed, based as it is on the infinity of language...” . In this passage he is describing texts as a quilt with different threads that when analyzing can be pulled apart. Barthes came up with the codes in which suspense can be created in your narrative.


Enigma is a code in a narrative where it creates mystery for instance in the 'Bourne' series jason Bourne wakes up with no re collection of his past this make a mystery surroundng him. this is an enigma as the audience would have questions on a text or a feedback.

Action is a code in a narrative where it is action upon action. This means for example somebody is holding a gun and is aiming at his opponent the audience are in suspense and creates tension to the outcome as to whether or not the shooter will kill his enemy or in fact he will be wounded himself.