Media theory

Enigma codes (mystery)- Roland Barthes:
Roland Barthes said that there always has to be a mystery in a film. according to Roland Barthes there is always more then one way to read a piece of text and he said that there was a plurality of meaning rather then one correct reading. he said you have to read the text and then re-read it.Roland Barthes also said that there will always be a problem introduced and this usually occurs in the disruption stage. He also believed in such things as open text, this is where the problem has not be resolved at the end and closed text, this is where the problem has been solved at the end.


Binary opposites (Hero's and villains) Levi's Strauss:
Levi's Strauss believe that there had to be an good guy and a bad guy hero again villain and women against man, in ever film he believed that they all shared the same structure whatever the story, and that characters and actions can be grouped in to 8 character roles and 31 functions. Levi's Strauss believed that narratives van be organised through binary opposition which means two things are opposite.




Traditional Hollywood narrative structure: 
The traditional Hollywood narrative structure was that it was a three act structure this is where there was 25% of the time spent on setting it up, 50% time for the confrontation and 25% on the climax. They also had linear (chronological), few, if any, sub plots, tendency towards closure at the end of the film, 

Todorov's narrative theory:
Todorov's believe in produced theory and he also believed that he could apply this to any film.He also believed that every film followed five stages and these stages where:

1. A state of equilibrium (everything was normal)
2. A disrupt of that order by an event (where something happens such as someone getting kidnapped)
3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred (has released what has happened)
4. Attempt to repair the damage (trying to sort out the problem)
5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium (life goes back to normal but in a different way, for example they might get with a girl at the end)



Vladimir Propp:
Vladimir Propp believed that each character has a type, he released this when he started to analyse traditional folk stories. he discovered that there was eight different key character roles these are:
- Hero's 
- Villains
- Helpers
- Donor (provider)
- Father
- Princess 
- False hero (character may perform more then one role for example you may think he is the good guy by helping by the ends up being the bad guy).

Laura Mulvey's:
Laura Mulvey's believe that the camera is a man, the reason for this is because men look at women as a sexual object and so dose the camera, making the camera a male. Laura quoted that 'Women are the object of a male erotic desire'. She believes that the audience (men and women) are forced to see women as a sexual object.
She also believes that in films women do not have agency, the reason for this is because they do not move the plot forward. It is always the men that do. 
Cinema's reflect patriarchal (male dominated) society. 

Patriarchy and phallocentrusim linked (phallus - penis) a symbol of power, for example, guns - phallus - power.