The Concept of Myth in the Roland Barthes’ Book “Mythology”

Roland Barthes, French philosopher from the 20TH century, a scholar of Structuralism, Post-Structuralism and Semiotics. He emerged with the idea of the Myth in his book Mythology, and he brings to discuss two examples: The Blue Guide and the ‘French Toys’. First, to analyzed these examples is necessary to understand the concept of Myth. The Myth is composed by the connotation meaning is always the second level of understanding, inserting divergent nuances and associated new meanings, naturalizing this connotation to a veritable and genuine aspect into societies.

Thus, in The Blue Guide, we can understand the denotation, the first level and meaning as a touristic book. Nevertheless, the author argues that the book is “an agent of blindness” (Roland Barthes 1957, 76). Because the connotation the second level of meaning in the guide, the mythology present on it gives a status quo of monuments and Christian churches, not shows the true living of the Spanish being, the local culture and way of life the daily and ordinary life. In this manner for the guide the people are just a typification, the guide is an old-fashioned bourgeoisie type of propaganda of this landscapes and turning this history in nature to the Spanish society.

Additionally, the French Toys provide us with another example of Myth, the denotation level is of this object is the miniature of human life for the kids play with it. However, the second level the connotation embedded in this toys as a miniature of the adult life, is to prepare the kids for the future role in their life, teaching them for the adulthood, as we can see in this states by Barthes “All the toys one commonly sees are essentially a microcosm of the adult world” (Roland Barthes 1957, 53).

Therefore, the Myth over the toying is naturalized this human’s life miniature and make it part of the kids’ life to provide conditions to the duties in the adulthood. Further, another example that can be analyzed as a Myth is the “Swart Piet” a character of the Dutch culture. The physical appearance of this folklore personage was described for the first time in the Jan Schenkman’s book “Sint Nikolaas en zijn knecht” in free translation Saint Nicholas and his servant.

And this is a controversial discussion, while some people argue that “Swart Piet” is an ingenious sidekick of a kid’s tail that helps Saint Nicholas just analyzing the denotation level, antitheses to that there is the connotation level, others nuances and meanings ingrained of this character that is racist, underestimating and denigrating the image of the black people. Along these lines, we can understand that Myth is a connotation, the second level of understanding that is associated with some object. The three examples introduced above exposes and reveals the connotations levels attached in each context and how this process be integrated and naturalized into the societies.