Barthes' 5 narrative codes

Austin Powers

Ellie Wallace

1) Identify the key actions within the opening The opening shows the main character ‘Austin

Powers’ on a journey from his hotel room to the pool. However humour is brought into the clip through him being nude and his rudely shaped chest hair. It starts out with him entering a lift and ends with him jumping in a pool, through the journey from one place to the other we see him chat to lots of different people however these aren't significant characters. This shows us that the film will be silly and full of humour.

2) Identify the enigma codes within the opening Questions on which the audience is left with is

such as ‘why is he naked?’ we don’t know anything about Austin at the moment so all we see is a man being silly naked, this can lead the audience to wonder why. Also why is he showing no shame being naked? Is he just confident? The audience will understand more through watching the film but as of now we can only guess that it’s the humour of the film.

3) Identify key characters

The key character in the opening is only Austin Powers, there are other people in the clip but they aren't significant as such. Austin shows us the film will be humorous and rude, the way he is acting is the way the film is being represented and has set us up for a fun and silly film to view.

4) Interpret the cultural codes in the opening We know that the film is set in the 60’s from the bold font chosen to tell

the audience who is in the film, who produced it etc. That would be the main key point of the culture in the clip as we can’t get much from the rest of it due to it being set in a hotel there are many different types of cultures all in one place. Another reference that helps the audience understanding is the interior décor of the hotel Austin Powers is staying in. The hotel is filled with marble, its more than one story high, it has a casino and a pool. From this we can understand that the hotel Austin Powers is in is upper class, suggesting that Austin has a lot of money. Which then makes it even weirder that he is naked in this upper class 5 star hotel.

5) Identify key themes

The key theme is humour, its being silly and not taking anything too seriously. We can understand this through the fact that Austin Powers is doing something very wrong yet it doesn’t phase him, he doesn’t mind that everyone can see him naked, the looks from the ladies are clearly making him feel great about himself. This is represented through all kinds of people seeing him on his journey from the hotel room to the pool. Religious people, mothers with babies, older ladies and men/women his own age.