Ronald Barthes, born 1915 was a French theorist, philosopher, critic and semiotician which is the study of cultural signs and symbols. He argued (in 1970) that a narrative text was not one thing, but infact, a weaving together of several different strands and processes. These include 'internal' things to the story, some making connotations to it's 'external' or the rest of the real world.
What this basically means is narrative is tangled up like your iPod's/phone's earphones (very annoying, I know) and so the 'strands' and 'processes' need to be unraveled. Once everything has been detangled and revealed it leaves us with many potential readings of that narrative - unravelling it from one view point and then continue to do so by reading it from another angle.
Barthes's had a formula known as his 5 Codes which 'activate' the reader, these are as follows:
1. The Enigma (or Hermeneutic) code: This is also known as the 'Voice of the Truth'. It's the way the story avoids telling the truth or revealing anything. Creating mystery and sets up a major puzzle in order to be solved.
2. The Action (or Proairectic) Code: This is also known as the 'Empirical Voice'. A series of complex actions made 'readable' through small details so the audience don't need to have everything spelt out.
3. The Semantic Code: This can also be known as the 'Voice of the Person'. This is where all connotations built up around the characters and their actions are met and we understand what's going on.
4. The Symbolic Code: Otherwise known as 'The Voice of Symbols'. These embody the substitution of a small or concrete thing for a bigger, abstract one. Acting similar to the semantic code but on a larger scale; typically done in the use of antitheses where new meanings arise out of opposing and conflicting ideas.
5. The Cultural or Referential Code: Also known as 'The Voice of Science'. This anchors the text in its historical context. Looking into the audiences wider cultural knowledge, morality and ideologies.
Radiohead - 'Just'
The song 'Just' by Radiohead would be a good example of what Barthes mentions as a 'open' narrative music video. This means a video that is open to interpretation by the audience - it doesn't have just one meaning it can mean as many things as the audience sees fit. It's able to be analysed from different angles.
We're introduced to this man - he has no name and we don't know his occupation or if he even has one. All we know is he looks depressed or like there is something wrong. He wears a suit and walks down the street. There's no telling where the video is going.
It then goes on to introduce the band, Radiohead, in what looks like an apartment block overlooking the man down on the street.
We then see the man we met in the beginning laying on the floor in a certain position. A man passing by then trips over his body and continues to get up and talk to the man on the floor. Again, we don't know why he is on the floor, how he got there or who this man is that has now entered the shot.
While this is going on Radiohead are observing while playing the song in the apartment block lyrics such as "you do it to yourself, you do" are occurring lyrics. This makes me as an audience member wonder what exactly that means in relation to the video (if there is any)
Here starts a conversation between the man on the floor and the man who got tripped. He's asking him questions we would ask if we was tripped by a man lying on the pavement. "What happened? Did you fall?"
The man on the floor then replies with "No I'm fine. Please leave me alone."
He then gets accused of drinking in which he turns down and says he hasn't and the man continues to question him. Throughout this dialogue as an audience we're intrigued as to his answers but still unaware of what's happening.
More people from the street begin to appear, also questioning him and not getting anywhere. He just replies with "Just leave me alone"
The man finally gives in after several attempts from the crowd but first tries to push them off by saying "Look, I can't tell you...it wouldn't be right." This is another sentence which hooks the audience in, we want to know, we want to know the reason he is on the floor and why it's made him this way. Maybe it shows us why he was looking depressed in the beginning of the video. What's the answer? As an audience, as humans we are always looking for answers to things; it's in our nature and this video toys with that urge.
The man lying down then begins to speak, telling them what it is but there are no subtitles so as an audience we're left to wonder what it is. The camera than changes to an aerial shot of the man on the floor then begins to pan to the right and we see that the crowd have to fell to the floor in similar positions as the 1st man. The music video then ends going to a black screen.
We're left with so many questions and not enough answers and this is why it is relative and supports Barthes's theory of an 'open' music video. Personally the lyrics "You do it to yourself, you do" make me think they are singing about the crowd - about the people trying to pry information out of him. It's as if we always need to know everything resulting in something negative, something unexpected and sometimes something we don't want to know. Such as the saying goes, "Curiosity killed the cat."
Coldplay - 'The Scientist'
Now looking at another video but in this case reflecting Barthes theory of a 'closed' narrative. Coldplay's 'The Scientist' could also relate to another theorist named Todorov who goes by the 'Once upon a time...' theory.
A closed narrative suggests that a music video/film/media text can only be read a certain way and not multiple ways. There's only one thread in which we can pull on to understand the meaning behind it.
The video starts with Coldplay's lead singer laying on a blue mattress in the middle of some pavement. We soon begin to realise that the video is in reverse as he starts moving and people around him are also moving backwards. This choice of filming an editing style mirrors the songs lyrics "I'm going back to the start" and suggest the meaning for him being in reverse is for him to back track to the beginning.
Throughout the song those lyrics are present and it's clear he is heading somewhere. There's no other reading other than he is trying to get somewhere and hopefully we'll see where/what is it he's leading us to.
There's then some cutaways of people doing random sports related things and this makes me wonder if what he wants to go back to is something to do with any of these activities or perhaps something to do with these people/sports/places.
The next shots are of him crossing the train tracks but he's not following them, he's breaking the structure by crossing them against the way they are going. Train tracks can symbolise many things; crossing them against the way they aren't suppose to be going suggests progress has been made - crossing from the wrong side into the good. Perhaps he's going back to a place that isn't good as this is shot in reverse and signifies a time of change negatively.
The following scenes get more interesting as the story starts to develop further and as an audience we're reading it the way it's only meant to be read. He's going back through the forest and finds his jacket. Why has he lost it?
In the first shot there's a mid hot of him walking towards a body on the floor immediately after is another shot of a young women and him getting into a car that has no wind screen. The body on the floor then begins to shake and the glass is lifted as well as the body and it returns through the screen on the car. It is now clear that this is a 'closed' narrative. It's only got one ending and one story. A crash.He wanted to go back to the start, to before the accident, to before losing someone close to him.
This initial hypothesis is confirmed when we see the accident playing in reverse. The car swerved off the road, thus causing the accident and the woman had taken her seatbelt off while removing her jacket so she crashed through the window. It's a very powerful, emotional video that follows a closed narrative. The meaning of something in reverse suggests whatever you're looking for in life is moving away from you - he's just lost someone and it's gone. He's looking for them but they're not there any more He wants "to go back to the start" another symbol of reverse is that you need to retreat from a situation in life; in this case his walking away from the accident to lay on the mattress in the beginning shows us that he's walking away from it.
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