Myth and Ideology in Popular Culture

How everyday images and products carry a hidden second layer of meaning that makes historical, contingent values look natural and obvious.

Definition

Myth, in Barthes's sense, is a mode of signification in which an already meaningful sign is taken up to carry a further, ideological meaning that presents culturally specific values as natural. Ideology here names the system of representations that secures social consent.

Scope

This topic covers the semiotic analysis of myth and ideology in popular culture, principally Barthes's account of myth as second-order signification, its link to Althusser's theory of ideology, and applications such as the decoding of advertising. It does not cover the general theory of ideology in political philosophy.

Core questions

• How do ordinary images smuggle in ideological messages?
• What does it mean to say myth naturalises history?
• How does advertising address and position its consumers?

Key theories

Myth as naturalised ideology

Barthes argued that myth turns culture into nature, draining contingent, historical meanings of their politics so they appear simply self-evident.

Interpellation and ideological apparatuses

Althusser held that ideology hails or interpellates individuals as subjects through institutions, a framework widely used to analyse how popular culture positions audiences.

History

Barthes's Mythologies (1957) demonstrated mythic analysis on the everyday culture of post-war France. Althusser's 1970 essay on ideological state apparatuses supplied a structural-Marxist account of how ideology constitutes subjects; together they underpinned a tradition of ideological reading exemplified by Williamson's study of advertising.

Debates

Do readers absorb or resist ideology?

Critics question whether mythic and ideological messages are simply imposed, as the structural model implies, or actively negotiated and resisted by audiences.

Key figures

• Roland Barthes
• Louis Althusser
• Judith Williamson

Seminal works

• barthes1972
• althusser1971
• williamson1978

Frequently asked questions

What is a Barthesian myth?

Not a legend, but the way an everyday sign such as a photograph or product is loaded with a further, ideological meaning that makes a particular worldview seem natural.