Semiotic Codes (page 3)

The audience almost immediately notices the musical code in the scene. The music takes precedence over the entire scene, muting everything else, and directing the audiences' attention to the music. Even though he is in a coffee shop, the music is soundboard quality, which further captivates the audience into really listening to the music for its musical value.

Although Ethan Hawke's rendition of I'm Nuthin is musically appealing, it is also bathed in cultural significance. The pop song immediately strikes a cord, and transports the audience back to the coffee shop grunge rock of the early 1990's. The music is a cultural code that symbolizes generation X as well as the whole grunge era. Whether you grew up in Seattle or not, any generation X'er can associate this scenes under-produced pop song with the grunge movement of the early 90's.

This scene has filmic codes as well. The song that Ethan Hawke pours his heart and soul into explains his emotions better than any dialogue could ever hope to. It helps the audience understand exactly where he is coming from. The lyrics as well as the music behind them explain that Ethan is in love. He looks her directly in the eyes, and explains his thoughts and feelings through his song. This filmic code helps the audience understand that regardless of his background and history, he is in love, and that's all that matters.
Cultural, filmic, and musical codes can work together in a scene. The three types fit together extremely well in Reality Bites, and helped tell the character's stories as well as the emotions behind them.

Continue to page 4 of Semiotic Codes