Assignment

Now that you understand Barthes’s theories of the Text, try applying the theories on your own. Below is a selection of different media. Choose one and answer the following questions:

• Is it an example of the Text or the work? Why?
• Is it a readerly or writerly text? Why?
• How do the Five Codes function in the text?

Prepare a one page analysis of your findings and come to class ready to discuss it.

Media Samples

• Sample One: Excerpt from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
• Sample Two: Bob Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man”
• Sample Three: Andy Warhol’s Che Guevera, Montage

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  • Learning Objectives
  • Credits & Site Info
  • Instructions
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  • Introduction
  • Theoretical Context
  • Roland Barthes
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  • Text & Work
  • Image & Music
  • Readerly & Writerly Texts
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  • Understanding the Codes
  • The Codes in Action
  • Codes Test
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  • Summing Up
  • Further Reading
  • Assignment