ROLAND BARTHES’S SEMIOTIC

CODES

Revision and application

Identifying the 5 codes

Draw up a table of 5 columns.

Label each column with the title of each of the 5 codes.

In each column give a

short simple definition

of each code

CODE 1 CODE 2 CODE 3 CODE 4 CODE 5

NAME NAME NAME NAME NAME

Defining the codes

CODE 1 CODE 2 CODE 3 CODE 4 CODE 5

ENIGMA ACTION SEMANTIC SYMBOLIC CULTURAL

DESCRIPTI

ON

DESCRIPTI

ON

DESCRIPTI

ON

DESCRIPTI

ON

DESCRIPTI

ON

Under each code name try and give a key word definition [one or two

words only]

Defining the codes

CODE 1 CODE 2 CODE 3 CODE 4 CODE 5

ENIGMA ACTION SEMANTIC SYMBOLIC CULTURAL

Questions/

mystery

Response Connotations Signified

meanings

often binary

oppositions

The cultural

context/

society

Wateraid [2016]

Rain for Good

Applying Barthes’s Codes

Top tip. Have your examples all ready and prepared before you sit the exam or write up a practice essay.

To complete your analysis of ‘Rain for Good’, you need to apply a semiotic analysis to the media language features that you have previously identified.

Start with the enigma code and systematically work your through each code, identifying examples of each code.

You don’t need to have more than a couple of examples for each, but you must have at least two for each code.