Homework 2 DYM - Barthes Five Codes

The Devil Wears Prada Opening Scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNfEHIcWQYM 

Enigma Code

• Who are all these girls? Which is the main character?
• Why is the way they dress so relevant?
• Where is she going?
• The slow reveal of everything with CUs on certain body parts builds up the enigma
• Why does she sit flicking through some newspaper articles? What are they?

Action Code

• The girls are all in parallel with each other and are getting ready to go out, most probably to work?
• The main girl goes to kiss her boyfriend in her bed goodbye. If they're already together at the beginning, what is going to happen to them in the middle? What drama will occur?
• Why have they made such an effort of contrasting the protagonist with the other well-maintained women in the opening scene?

Semiotic Code

• Lingerie, make-up - Sexiness, care about appearance, appeal to men
• Jewelry - Expensive, wealthy, glamorous, feminine
• Chapstick - Practical, unfeminine, bland
• Bagel - carbohydrates, not on diet
• Subway - Common, normal, not very well-of

Cultural Code

• New York skyline is easily recognisable
• Old Phone - not a modern girl, not technological

Symbolic Code

• The well-dressed sexy women in contrast with the protagonist could highlight how different she is from them, not a normal feminine woman. It could be because she is friends with all of them, or has the same characteristics and just dresses differently? This one scene shows that how you look really does make a difference to people's opinions of you which reflects all the themes of the movie.