The CODE-X series catalogs a vast codex of source codes (aka “signs”) extracted from past audits.

The object of study in semiotics is not the signs but rather a general theory of signification; the goal of each “audit” is to build a model demonstrating how meaning is produced and received within a category or cultural territory. Signs on their own, therefore, only become truly revelatory and useful once we’ve sorted them into thematic complexes, and the complexes into codes, and the codes into a meaning map. We call this process “thick description”; the Code-X series is thin description.

“SUBLIME NATURE” NORM: American territory so vast that — like freedom itself — it’s both inspiring and terrifying.

“SUBLIME NATURE” FORMS: Wide-angle shots of the landscape, beautiful and scenic, and firmly establishing that this story is set in the American West. Contrast of wide-open spaces with tiny humans traveling across it, or scratching out a living on it — contributing the inspiring/terrifying feeling of awe.

From a 2024 study of American West codes — as surfaced from movies, TV shows, and videogames.