Roland Barthes: Semiotics

Roland Barthes was one of the earliest theorists of culture. His work was the first ideas of structure and signification that supports the cultural studies and critical theory today. Semiotics is the study of signs; these signs often refer to something which conveys a meaning. 

Barthes mainly followed Saussure’s approach, which was the study of signs and sign using behaviour. Barthes’ most important theme was avoiding the confusion of culture with nature, as well as being careful with how he used words and other signs. A common trait of Bathes' style, is the systematisation of his work, in which he draws up schemes to categorise the different signs and codes. With this approach, the distinction between the signifier and the signified is crucial. The signifier is the signs physical form, while the signified is the meaning that the sign expresses. However, Barthes does not mechanically apply Saussure’s theory, and largely replaces Saussure’s term ‘arbitrary’ with the term ‘motivated’. Most signs have strong enough connotations to be partly ‘motivated’, and when they are used, they refer back to previous conventional uses. 

The Hermeneutic code refers to an element of a text that is not fully explained, and becomes a mystery to the reader, while the Proairetic code builds up tension through referring to an action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, working as a pair to develop the story’s tension and to keep the reader interested. The Semantic code refers to connotations within the story that give an additional meaning over the basic detonative meaning of the word. The Symbolic code acts as a wider level of the Sematic code, by organising semantic meanings into a broader and deeper set of meanings. The Cultural code refers to an external body of knowledge, such as scientific, historical, and cultural knowledge.