Barthes' codes film opening analysis.

For this homework we were told to use Barthes' 5 codes to analyse a film opening, after a lot of searching for a film opening clip which included credits, I decided to analyse George Romero's Night of The Living Dead.

Here are the different codes which I found in this film:
Enigma Codes

• Why should the day the time changes be the first day of summer if weather acts irregardless of season?And why is this significant enough to be the opening words of the film?
• Why does the radio start working again?
• Why is this person attacking the siblings?
• Why do these siblings argue so much and why does the Johnny start to wind Barbara up?
• Why is Johnny such a rush?

Action Codes

• John decides to wind up his sister
• The man in the grave yard attacks and kills Johnny
• Barbara falls
• The man breaks the window
• Barbara crashes the car

Semiotic Codes

• Winding empty road represents an isolation, and the sense of being in the middle of nowhere
• A graveyard represents death and solemnity (which contrasts with Johnny's behavior in the graveyard.)
• Lightning in the distance represents the incoming storm.
• Barbara discarding her shoes in favor of speed represents her urgency and desperation to get away
• Barbara locks the doors on the car, showing her fear and sense of entrapment.

Cultural Codes

• By showing the American flag the audience understand that this is probably set in america
• The narrative assumes that the audience understand that the characters have come to commemorate the death of a loved one
• The knowledge of how radios don't turn on by themselves and how static on the radio indicates something not working properly is shared knowledge
• It is understood by the audience that Johnny is dead
• It is understood by the audience that Barbara assumes safety when the care is locked

Symbolic Codes

• Barbara and Johnny's arguments could symbolise a broken family, or just show their relationship as brother and sister
• Johnny's urgency to leave could symbolise fear or it could show that he is just in a rush and thinks this is a waste of his time
• The lightning and oncoming storm could foreshadow the things to come, or just be a reason for Johnny's eagerness to leave
• Johnny's debating over the wreath could connote his reluctance to spend time and money or it could just symbolise his dislike for this activity
• The shots of long roads at the start could  be used to show a long journey, or represent isolation