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Mythologies is a book by
Roland Barthes, published in 1957. It is a collection of essays taken from
Les Lettres nouvelles, examining the tendency of contemporary social value systems to create modern
myths. Barthes also looks at the
semiology of the process of myth creation, updating
Ferdinand de Saussure's system of
sign analysis by adding a second level where signs are elevated to the level of myth. It is considered to be a key antecedent of
cultural studies.
Format
Mythologies is split into two: Mythologies and Myth Today, the first
section consisting of a collection of essays on selected modern myths
and the second further and general analysis of the concept.
Mythologies
The first section of
Mythologies describes a selection of
modern cultural phenomena, chosen for their status as modern myths and
for the added meaning that has been conferred upon them. Each short
chapter analyses one such myth, ranging from
Einstein's Brain to
Soap Powders and Detergents. They were originally written as a series of bi-monthly essays for the magazine
Les Lettres Nouvelles.
In a typical example: Barthes describes the image that has been built
up around Red Wine and how it has been adopted as a French national
drink, how it is seen as a social equaliser and the drink of the
proletariat, partly because it is seen as blood-like (as in
Holy Communion) and points out that very little attention is paid to red wine's
harmful effects to health,
but that it is instead viewed as life-giving and refreshing- 'in cold
weather, it is associated with all the myths of becoming warm, and at
the height of summer, with all the images of shade, with all things cool
and sparkling.'
[1]
In another chapter, Barthes explores the myth of
Professional wrestling. He describes how, unlike in
boxing, the aim of the sport is not to discover who will win or 'a demonstration of excellence',
[2] it is a staged
spectacle acting out society's basic concepts of Good and Evil, of 'Suffering, Defeat and Justice'.
[3] The wrestlers, like characters in a
pantomime,
portray grossly exaggerated stereotypes of human weakness: the traitor,
the conceited one, the 'effeminate teddy-boy'. The audience expects to
watch them suffer and be punished for their own transgressions of
wrestling's rules in a theatrical version of Society's ideology of
justice.
Myth Today
In the second half of the book Barthes addresses the question of "What is a myth, today?" with the analysis of ideas such as:
myth as a type of speech, and myth on the wings of politics.
The front cover of the
Paris Match magazine that Barthes analyzes.
Following on from the first section, Barthes justifies and explains his choices and analysis. He calls upon the concepts of
semiology developed by
Ferdinand de Saussure at the turn of the century. Saussure described the connections between an object (the
signified)
and its linguistic representation (such as a word, the signifier) and
how the two are connected. For example, the object and properties of 'a
walnut tree' are joined by the sounds or letters that signify 'walnut
tree' to give us the sign for 'walnut tree', a set of sounds and written
letters that, although they are only arbitrarily connected to a walnut
tree, come to mean
the 'walnut tree' to us.
Working with this structure Barthes continues to show his idea of a
myth as a further sign, with its roots in language, but to which
something has been added. So with a
word
(or other linguistic unit) the meaning (apprehended content) and the
sound come together to make a sign. To make a myth, the sign itself is
used as a
signifier, and a new meaning is added, which is the
signified. But according to Barthes- this is
not
added arbitrarily. Although we are not necessarily aware of it, modern
myths are created with a reason. As in the example of the red wine,
mythologies are formed to perpetuate an idea of society that adheres to
the current ideologies of the
ruling class and its
media.
Barthes demonstrates this theory with the example of a front cover from
Paris Match, showing a young black soldier in French uniform
saluting. The
signifier:
a saluting soldier, cannot offer us further factual information of the
young man's life. But it has been chosen by the magazine to symbolise
more than the young man; the picture, in combination with the
signifieds of Frenchness, militariness, and relative ethnic difference, gives us a message about
France
and its citizens. The picture does not explicitly demonstrate 'that
France is a great empire, that all her sons, without any colour
discrimination, faithfully serve under her flag,' etc.,
[4]
but the combination of the signifier and signified perpetuates the myth
of imperial devotion, success and thus; a property of 'significance'
for the picture.
“I am at the barber’s, and copy of Paris-Match is offered to me. On
the cover, a young Negro in a French uniform is saluting, with his eyes
uplifted, probably fixed on a fold of the tricolour. All this is the
meaning of the picture. But whether naively or not, I see very well what
it signifies to me : that France is a great Empire, that all her sons,
without any colour discrimination, faithfully serve under the flag, and
that there is no better answer to the detractors of an alleged
colonialism than the zeal shown by this Negro in serving his so-called
oppressors ...”
Mythologisation and cultural studies
In writing about the process of mythologisation, Barthes refers to the tendency of
socially constructed
notions, narratives, and assumptions to become "naturalised" in the
process, that is, taken unquestioningly as given within a particular
culture. Barthes finishes
Mythologies by looking at how and why
mythologies are built up by the bourgeoisie in its various
manifestations. He returns to this theme in later works including
The Fashion System.
See also
