Roland Barthes gives us some of the most fundamental (and thankfully simple) theories in Media Studies, which is why they're some of the first things we teach you. You might remember Barthes' name from the Semiotic Theory which deals with denotation and connotation or 'what we see' and 'what it means'. It answers the question 'what does this piece of media mean?' That's not all. Barthes also gives us another essential theory which answers an even bigger question: 'why am I going to keep consuming this piece of media?'
We've all done it: watched the first episode of a show, played the first act of a videogame or turned on the first twenty minutes of a film - that is, we've all consumed the first part of a narrative...
...and then stopped - and never gone back. We don't care that we don't find out where the story goes next. We're done with it.
What is it that makes us do this?
One reason could be what Barthes calls enigmas. He says these are essential for driving narratives forward and that - badly managed - they can cause audiences to give up on a media product and reject it.
Just as Barthes' semiotic theory gave us higher level vocabulary for 'what we see' and 'what we think' (denotation and connotation) enigmas is a high level word for mysteries or questions. Barthes says that good narrators pose questions. An audience is hooked by a narrative when it makes us ask questions or when it sets out mysteries. In order to get the answers, we have to consume the whole narrative. There's a kind of agreement between the producer and the audience: 'you consume my product and I'll give you questions at the start and (most importantly) answers at the end.' As a basic example, at the start of a hero film, we might ask 'how will the hero get his power?' At the end of the first act, he's exposed to cosmic radiation and gets his power, so that enigma has now been answered. Except we've still got over an hour of the film to go. Now what? We need a new enigma to keep our interest going into Act 2. Thankfully, the film introduces a shadowy, masked figure at that point who attacks the civilians. New enigmas emerge: who is he? Why is he doing this? How will the hero stop him? You'll have to watch the rest of the film to find out! This is fine, as you want answers - you're hooked and engaged as an audience member, which is exactly what the filmmaker wants.
Good narratives keep a fine balance between keeping some enigmas open to interest the audience into consuming the next bit and answering enigmas at a steady rate to reassure the audience that they will keep getting the answers they seek. Remember, too, in this world of sequels, series, followups and franchises that it makes good money sense to leave some enigmas in your first episode, series, film or videogame unanswered so that audiences buy the next product in the series to find out what happens next. Except it can quickly go wrong. Bad narratives can leave too many enigmas open. TV series in particular can get bogged down by plotlines and mysteries that last whole seasons or even multiple seasons, and viewers get frustrated that these plotlines either get forgotten or keep getting dragged out, with no answers in sight. Equally, if a product doesn't have enough enigmas in play or answers them too quickly, this will put audiences off as well. As an interesting case study, the Star Wars films show both the way to do this and the way not to do it.
In the original three films, Darth Vader is an enigma. Who is he? Why did he kill Luke's father? Can Luke defeat him? Will Luke manage without Obi-Wan's support? The audience is full of enigmas throughout the first film and even after the credits have rolled. In the second film, the enigma is solved in an unexpected way: Vader is in fact Luke's father! The enigma in the third film is then how Luke will save him from evil. We find that our at the very end.
We have a steady stream of questions, answers, new questions and further answers to keep us interested for three films (and, when those films first came out, over the span of six years).
In the most recent three films, Kylo Ren is an enigma. Who is he? Why did he fight Luke? Can Rey defeat him? How will she manage without Luke's support?
So far, so good, and you'll notice a similarity or convention in narrative. Except the first film reveals very quickly after the first hour that Ren is Luke's nephew, that he is still weak and able to be returned to the side of good. By answering the enigma too quickly, it removed audiences' interest in the character - and it left the filmmakers with two and a half films to fill with too much information already known about the character and his ending essentially written in the first film. Moreover, his story set up a number of other enigmas... that were never answered!
The same series deals with enigmas in two very different ways - one successful, one less so.
In Summary
Enigmas are a real balancing act. You've got to have just enough questions open to keep your audience interested while answering enough to reassure them that it's worth sticking with your media product to get the answers. Open too many questions, and audiences lose faith that you'll ever answer them. Answer questions too quickly, and audiences will get bored. Consider how No Time to Die uses enigmas in its poster to convince us to watch the full film.