Summary Of "The Myth Today" By Roland Barthes - UNIVERSITY SUMMARIES - E-book - ePub

We have summarized here the essential of this book by the author. THE MYTH TODAYIn this work Barthes is going to pose as a problem what a myth is. In the first place he points out, referring to its etymology, that MYTH IS SPEECH.myth is speechBut it is not just any speech: language needs particular conditions to become a myth. THE MYTH CONSTITUTES A SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION, A MESSAGE. It is not an object or an idea: it is a way of meaning, a FORM.
Anything that justifies a speech can be a myth. The myth is not defined by the object of its message but by the way it is delivered: its limits are formal, not substantial. Everything can be a myth. There are no eternal myths, myths are HISTORICAL. The myth is a message and, therefore, it does not necessarily have to be oral: it can be made up of writings, representations and images. The exclusive requirement is that they always MEAN SOMETHING.