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Step 5 of 8~8 min read~31 min left
Mythologies and 'Myth Today': The Core Texts
Read the key passages from Barthes's individual analyses and his theoretical summary, alongside the most important critical responses.
“Barthes, 'Myth Today': 'Myth does not deny things, on the contrary, its function is to talk about them. Simply, it purifies them, it makes them innocent, it gives them a natural and eternal justification, it gives them a clarity which is not that of an explanation but that of a statement of fact. [...] What the world supplies to myth is a historical reality... and what myth gives in return is a natural image of this reality.' [...] On wrestling: 'The function of the wrestler... is not to win but to achieve exactly the gestures which are expected of him... Wrestling is not a sport, it is a spectacle.' [...] On wine: 'There is no established difference between the strength of wine and that of its opposite, milk... Wine is felt by the French nation to be a possession which is its very own.' [...] On the saluting soldier: 'The form of myth is not a symbol: the Negro who salutes is not the symbol of the French Empire: he has too much presence, he appears as a rich, fully experienced, spontaneous, innocent, indisputable image. But at the same time this presence is tamed, put at a distance, made almost transparent; it recedes a little, it becomes the accomplice of a concept which comes to it fully armed, French imperiality.' — Barthes, Mythologies (1957); 'Myth Today'; readingtheperiphery.org; uv.es”