Barthes suggests that directors include enigma codes in texts as "narrative hooks" to engage the audience. These are parts of the story that are unexplained or unanswered at first, that require the audience to consume the whole text to find out the answers. These are often referred to as "narrative enigmas". An example of narrative enigmas in a horror film could be "who is the man in the mask?" or "what happened to the girl who was kidnapped at the start?" The film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989, Steven Spielberg) uses narrative enigmas throughout the film. For example:
- "What relevance does the gold cross have?"
- "Why has Donovan brought Indiana to him?"
- "What happened to Indiana's dad?"
- "Why are the Nazis involved?"
Claude Levi-Strauss' Theory
Levi-Strauss suggests that narratives revolve around conflict. Without conflict, the audience would not be engaged. He calls the two things that conflict "binary opposites". These are things that are completely different, such as good versus evil, order versus disorder, or youth versus age. He believes that without this conflict, the audience would not be engaged. Indiana Jones also uses binary opposites. For instance:
- Indiana Jones vs. Nazis = Good vs. Evil
- Venice vs. Strasbourg = Safety vs. Danger
- Indiana Jones vs. Henry Jones = Youth vs. Age
- Indiana Jones vs. Henry Jones = Action vs. Thought
- Henry Jones vs. Nazis = Knowledge vs. Strength
I have also made a post about binary opposites in The Dark Knight here.
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