Exploring Structural Theory

Exploring Structural Theory

Roland Barthes

Barthes (1915 – 1980) was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, social theory, anthropology and post-structuralism. His theory on Media-Codes was important to the media in structural terms.

The Hermeneutic Code (HER)

The Hermeneutic Code (or Enigma code) refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader. The full truth is often avoided. The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

The Proairetic Code (ACT)

The Proairetic Code (Action code) also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.

The Hermeneutic and Proairetic Codes work as a pair to develop the story's tensions and keep the reader interested. Barthes described them as:

"...dependent on ... two sequential codes: the revelation of truth and the coordination of the actions represented: there is the same constraint in the gradual order of melody and in the equally gradual order of the narrative sequence."

Barthes’ theory suggests that by not fully explaining something and creating a mystery, it keeps the audience guessing about what will happen. By not explaining certain scenarios, shots and plot lines it leaves the audience to try and work out what the film is about and thus would be encouraged to go and see the film.

TodorovTzvetan Todorov (born 1939) is a Franco-Bulgarian philosopher. He has lived in France since 1963 with his wife Nancy Huston and their two children, writing books and essays about literary theory, thought history and culture theory.

Bulgarian theorist, Tzvetan Todorov, suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure. They begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when equilibrium is restored.

His theory suggests that all tales need equilibrium at the beginning, something normal within the context of the story. Then it is distributed and must be amended before a new equilibrium is restored. In trailers, the restored equilibrium is never shown as this would give away the ending and there would be no point in someone going to see it. Instead they often show only the first two stages which peaks curiosity as to how it will be resolved and encourages viewers to watch the film. Sometimes a trailer will start with a disruption, especially in action/crime films, to captivate the attention of the audience from the beginning. This could be a crime or action shot e.g. and explosion, which initially sets the genre.

For example, in the trailer for the movie Fight Club, equilibrium of mundane, everyday life is established, and reiterated through dialogue and shots showing this. This is the beginning equilibrium and is soon to be disrupted by the introduction of a new character (Tyler at 00:32). The music changes to indicate the importance of this characters introduction. The disruption that the character causes is shown to be conflicting pain and disturbance and so we can expect the main character who throughout the clips is shown to become more and more uncomfortable with this disruption to set about trying to fix it with a resolution. However, because it is a trailer we are not shown the resolution or restored/new equilibrium as this would lead to the ending being given away and the suspense and curiosity is what gets people to go to the movie.

Trailer Conventions

Although trailers follow similar conventions, there are structural differences depending on genre’s that can also be identified. For example, horror trailers often pace there clips from slow to fast, using fade transitions and sound effects whilst quickening to add suspense. They also have common features, such as the sound of silence or a line of dialogue before an attack.



Trailers are designed to be interesting and persuade you to go to the movie. Often the best parts of the film are shown which don’t give away too much of the story line e.g. in comedies jokes are shown, in action trailers explosions may be shown. They are designed to be fast and snappy, with highlighted parts to put across the basics of the storyline as so you feel somewhat involved and want to know more.

There are of course some negatives that come along with trailers. Sometimes they hype up a film to be a lot funnier/scarier/better than it really is, however this is the trailers job to get people to go and see it. Often within the small amount of time the storyline can be lost or jumbled which might put people off from seeing it. Also with trailers having to show the best parts of the film to advertise it well, some of the greatest parts may have been seen a dozen times by the movie goer already on adverts.

Trailers could include the name of actors if they are well known or making their debut so that people can associate them with the film. This will also catch the attention of fans who would be more likely to invest into a film with a star in it that they want to see so advertising the fact would make it more effective. Also, using dialogue to form the storyline seems more effective than a voice over as it involves the audience with the film more.  Using well known or catchy songs get help the trailer be remembered, particularly in comedy. The title could be mentioned to subliminally reiterate the watchers knowledge of the film. The best parts of the film or most potent lines of dialogue are often used.