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Mythologies (Vintage classics) (Paperback)

by Roland Barthes (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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A series of essays in which Barthes seeks to tear away masks and demystify the signs, signals, gestures and messages through which western society sustains, sells, identifies and yet obscures itself.

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3.4 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great, 10 Jan 2002
By J. Tuffin "jontytuffin" (north yorkshire) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
...I was made to read this book as part of my Philosophy degree, a few years back. It was one of the few which had a lasting impression on me. Yes, you can compare it with the Tarantino Star Wars scene if you like ...but only if you read it superficially. The thing I figured out about French philosophy is that the way its worded initially strikes an Anglo-Saxon palate as being pompous, pretentious, and full of hot air. Maybe most of it is, I don't know - I loathe Derrida for these same reasons. But not this book by Barthes. Get past the initial culture shock and you find yourself starting to see how people mythologize just about everything. It's funny. It's illuminating. And it's also pretty salient, when you see how advertisers have tapped into these same impulses. Read it, and do yourself a favour. It's like an immunity shot against so much of the BS we seem to get fed.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is brilliant!, 28 Jan 2004
By ldxar1 "ldxar1" (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This is a masterpiece of social critique, picking apart the ideological underpinnings of many of the things which a lot of people take as "obvious". The unifying theme is the idea of "myth" - basically, a type of signification which projects an additional meaning onto an existing concept so as to make it carry a second, ideological meaning. Because the second meaning is smuggled into the sign, it isn't argued by those who use it, but appears as an "obvious" connotation. Barthes identifies and exposes many such myths in a variety of short essays (originally newspaper columns) dealing with aspects of French society in his day. In addition, this volume contains the long essay "Myth Today", in which Barthes sets out the theoretical underpinnings of his critiques.

If you're one of the people who's taken in by myths, this book could change your life. If not, you'll hopefully appreciate Barthes's efforts enough to start making your own efforts to critique myths. The only slight problem with this book is that its reference points are rather dated. For this reason it's worth reading it alongside something more recent, such as Len Masterman's Television Mythologies collection or one of the Glasgow Media Studies Group books. All in all, though, this can't be faulted.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars why some reviewers hate this book, 22 April 2009
By R. Dudley-smith "jean richmond" (london) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Mythologies (Paperback)
This book is a founding gesture in the history of semiotics. It carries a clear and precise recontextualization of Hjelmslev's theory of language (in the concluding section 'myth today'), one amplified and developed in Barthes' later "Elements of Semiotics". This subsequently became immensely important for social theory (and sociology in particular). It is a stage in Barthes' gradual move to a position that escapes Levi-Strauss' "underlying model" of structure, a transition that culminated in his extraordinary masterpiece "S/Z".

The idea is to begin the work of taking apart the self-evidence of everyday understanding (as produced by "democratized", mediatized and commercial interests) but using Hjelmslev's (as such a radical critique of Saussure) techniques rather than merely phenomenological ones. It is hardly surprising that some reviewers find this offensive: it is meant to be, to all those self-certainties they treasure.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Self-Mythologising
I'm sorry, I've read (and been compelled to read!) enough philosophy to become a little jaded perhaps, but I just find this sort of thing incredibly pretentious. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. M. Bloomfield

5.0 out of 5 stars A clear book in French
I would like to say that I read this book in French, and that it is very legible. I haven't read the English version, but I would like to do so, following the allegations that... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Jean-Francois Lemay

1.0 out of 5 stars Fraudulent 'philosophy'
Anyone, and I mean anyone, could draw the shaky parallels and make the tenuous connections that Barthes makes between the everyday objects and images we see around us and the very... Read more
Published on 26 Jul 2005 by andymdonaldson

4.0 out of 5 stars Possibly a bad translation
I enjoyed the general thrust of the book, a series of essays on various aspects of modern (in the mid 1950's)life. Read more
Published on 28 Jul 2004 by hypocrite_lecteur

4.0 out of 5 stars Makes You Think
This is tough stuff to read, especially without it being explained to you. But if you have the time, the ideas are thought-provoking and relevant. Read more
Published on 1 Mar 2002 by alwayswantedtobeawriter

1.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievably Boring
I had to read this book as part of my degree. I found Barthes to go on at great length about things that required only a little exploration. Read more
Published on 24 Feb 2002 by Desk Chair Dude

2.0 out of 5 stars Trailblazing but unbearable
Barthes' treatment of signs and interpretations was, I'm sure, an absolutely new thing when it first appeared forty years ago. Read more
Published on 7 Jul 2000 by tarbuthnott@europarl.eu.int

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