Luther essay

Barthes theory suggests that a piece of narrative is like a ball of string, it can be unravelled in one way or many ways. Texts may be open; unravelled in a lot of different ways, or closed; there is only one obvious thread to pull on. Barthe also categorised the narrative codes in the following 5 ways:

Enigma code- Any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes part of the mystery to the reader. The purpose of this is typically to keep the audience guessing until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved. 

Action code- This builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing. 

Semantic code- This code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word. 

Symbolic code- This is very similar to the semantic code, but acts as a wider level, organising semantic meaning into broader and deeper sets of meaning. 

Cultural code- This code refers to anything that us founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth.

In Luther, the narrative is open as their are many different ways that the story could unravel and the story is not clear cut. The enigma code in this case would be that at the end , the girl who has been missing throughout the episode (Alice Morgan) has still not been found. Within the story we assume she is dead but then luther receives a message from her through someone else. 

The action code would be the part when theo is walking towards the fridge, the dramatic music in the back builds tension and as he goes to open the fridge it blows up. During this build up the audience are left guessing as to what is going to happen when he reaches the fridge. This gives the woman police officer the motivation to get fired up and get involved in the investigation. 

The semantic code within luther would be that the murderer was going around eating the organs of his victims. This gave the connotation that he was urning for love that had been taken from him previously in his life. Also, within the scene in the hospital the family have blood over them, this gives the connotation that they have been tortured by the murderer. 

Todorovs theory suggests that within a narrative there must be; a state of equilibrium (where all is as it should be), a disruption to the event, a recognition that the disorder has occurred, an attempt to repair the damage of disruption and a return of a new equilibrium.

Luther began with a man on a cliff staring out into the sea, this would be the state of equilibrium as it is calm and peaceful. The disruption would be when the first murder takes place, the recognition of the disorder happening would be when the police turn up at the murder scene and realise their is a mass murderer on the loose. The chase that then happens to find the killer would be the attempt to repair the damage of disruption. The restoration of a new equilibrium would be in the final scene when the murderer is shot and killed. 

Props theory suggests that their are eight different characters within a narrative; the villain, the donor, the helper, the princess, her father, the dispatcher, the hero and the false hero. The villain within luther would be the mass murderer as he is breaking equilibrium within the story. The hero would be luther as he defeats the murderer and enables everything to return back to equilibrium.