Strauss and Barthez

Levi Strauss – Binary oppositions

 

Levi Strauss was less interested in the order of events in narratives and was more interested in the themes underneath. Levi Strauss argued that narratives depended on binary opposites or conflicts between two terms, for example good and evil.

·         Binary oppositions can quickly establish who the good and the bad characters are in the text

·         The idea that we cannot conceive the concept of good without the concept of bad with which to compare it to and therefore compare it against.

·         Binary oppositions are obviously present in narratives because fundamentally a narrative must be based on the conflict of two forces.

 

 

Barthes – Narrative codes

 

Action code: The audience will recognise in an action code in a media text as it’s used to indicate what next logical step is. It advances the narrative e.g. the buckling of a gun belt in a western film signifies the start of a gun fight.

Mystery code or enigma code: This code is used to explain the narrative by controlling what and how much information is given to the audience. It grabs the audience’s attention by setting up an enigma or problem that is resolved during the course of the narrative e.g. someone’s murderous hand in the opening sequence – who does it belong to?

The semic code: Basically, this code is all about signs and meanings in a text that tells us about the narrative and its characters e.g. in a horror film, the supernatural would be signified by the fear of light/ garlic, an increase in body hair etc.

The cultural code: This code is used in order for the narrative to make sense to a culturally and socially aware audience. It makes references to elements form the real world that the audience will recognise e.g. Aston Martins and Martinis in James Bond films

Code of oppositions: This code refers to a narrative that relies on binary opposites e.g. Black vs White, Hot vs Cold, Nature vs Civilisation, War vs Peace etc.

 

“The good, the bad and the ugly” – Codes.

The placing of the rock on the ground is an action code as it shows him emptying his hands for what is about to come. We can presume what is about to happen by the cultural code of the cow boy hats wore by both men, stereotypically cowboys settled there in differences via a dual and we presume this is about to take place by the presence of these two codes. The cultural of the environment is stereotypical of western films as it is set in a dry deserted waste land, the pre dug graves is also a code as it represents death and the death of at least one of the guys in the scene. The code of oppositions is shown through the facial expression of the good guy the scene in comparison to the bad guy. The hero’s facial expression rarely changes throughout the scene, he looks confident and assured through the clip. Whereas, the villains look nervous which is shown through the sweat on their brows and the constant unnerving looks towards each other through the clips duration.