Topic > The concept of myth in the book "Mythology" by Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes, 20th century French philosopher, scholar of structuralism, post-structuralism and semiotics. He emerges with the idea of ​​Myth in his book Mythology, and brings two examples to the discussion: The Blue Guide and the 'French Toys'. First of all, to analyze these examples it is necessary to understand the concept of Myth. Myth is composed of the meaning connotation which is always the second level of understanding, inserting divergent nuances and associated new meanings, naturalizing this connotation into a true and genuine aspect in societies. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay So, in The Blue Guide, we can understand the denotation, first level and meaning of tourist book. However, the author claims that the book is “an agent of blindness” (Roland Barthes 1957, 76). Since the connotation of the second level of meaning in the guide, the mythology present in it gives a status quo of Christian monuments and churches, it does not show the true life of the Spanish being, the local culture and the way of living the daily and ordinary life. In this way for the guide people are just a typification, the guide is a type of old-fashioned bourgeois propaganda of these landscapes and transforms this story into nature in Spanish society. Furthermore, French toys provide us with another example of myth, the level of denotation of this object is the miniature of human life that children play with it. However, the second level of the connotation embedded in these toys as a miniature of adult life, is to prepare children for the future role in their life, teaching them for adulthood, as we can see in this Barthes states “All ii toys commonly seen are essentially a microcosm of the adult world” (Roland Barthes 1957, 53). Therefore, the myth of play naturalized this miniature of human life and made it part of children's lives to provide conditions for duties in adulthood. Furthermore, another example that can be analyzed as a myth is the “Swart Piet”, a character from Dutch culture. The physical appearance of this folklore character was described for the first time in Jan Schenkman's book “Sint Nikolaas en zijn knecht” in the free translation Saint Nicholas and his servant. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay And this is a controversial discussion, while some people argue that "Swart Piet" is an ingenious helper from a child's tail who helps Saint Nicholas only by analyzing the level of denotation, in antithesis to what the level of connotation exists , other nuances and meanings inherent in this character who is racist, underestimating and denigrating the image of black people. In this sense, we can understand that Myth is a connotation, the second level of understanding associated with some object. The three examples introduced above expose and reveal the levels of connotation linked in each context and how this process is integrated and naturalized in societies.