Barthes and Myth

Roland Barthes (1915–1980) is one of the most important named theorists on the AQA A-Level specification, and his concept of myth is central to sophisticated media language analysis. Barthes took the basic semiotic apparatus of Saussure and turned it into a tool for critiquing ideology — showing how media texts naturalise cultural assumptions and present them as simple common sense. This lesson covers his model of connotation, his account of myth, his influential essay on professional wrestling, and his narrative codes.

Who Was Barthes?

Roland Barthes was a French literary and cultural critic associated with the structuralist and post-structuralist movements. His most famous book for Media Studies purposes is Mythologies (1957), a collection of short essays analysing French popular culture of the 1950s — everything from soap powder adverts to wrestling matches to the face of Greta Garbo — each read as a "myth" in Barthes' specialised sense. His later work on narrative codes, especially in S/Z (1970), gives us the action and enigma codes you will use for moving-image analysis.

Denotation and Connotation Revisited

Barthes built on Saussure's sign theory by adding a second level of signification. For Barthes:

• The first order of signification is denotation — the literal meaning of the sign.
• The second order of signification is connotation — the cultural meanings the sign carries.

This is not a wholly original idea — other semioticians had made similar distinctions — but Barthes' formulation is the clearest and the one that A-Level examiners expect you to cite.

Order	Level	Question
First	Denotation	What is literally shown?
Second	Connotation	What does it culturally mean?
Second	Myth	What ideology does it naturalise?

Myth

Myth is Barthes' most distinctive concept. For Barthes, a myth is not a false ancient story; it is a kind of ideological shorthand by which cultural beliefs are presented as though they were natural or obvious. When a media text repeatedly associates certain signifiers with certain signifieds over time, the association begins to seem natural — it mythologises. The red rose becomes naturally romantic. The suited businessman becomes naturally authoritative. The unsmiling hoodie-wearer becomes naturally threatening.

The Work of Myth

Myth performs ideological work. It takes a cultural, historical construction (certain styles of dress indicating authority) and makes it look biological or eternal. In doing so, it protects power — because if something looks natural, it cannot be challenged or changed.

Consider the myth of the happy housewife in post-war advertising. Repeatedly, adverts showed smiling women in pristine kitchens using cleaning products. The denotation was simply a woman using a product. The connotation was cleanliness, domestic pride, fulfilment. But the myth — the ideological work — was the naturalisation of a specific social arrangement in which women's place was the home. The advert presented a political arrangement as if it were just how things were.

Naturalisation

The process by which myth works is called naturalisation. This is a crucial term for top-band exam answers. When you argue that a text "naturalises" an ideology, you are saying it presents a constructed, historically contingent belief as though it were obvious, self-evident or universal.

graph TD
  A[Signifier: image of businessman in suit] --> B[Signified: the figure of the businessman]
  B --> C[Connotation: authority, professionalism]
  C --> D[Myth: authority is masculine and corporate]
  D --> E[Ideology naturalised]

The World of Wrestling

One of the most frequently cited essays in Mythologies is "The World of Wrestling", and it is useful for A-Level because it shows Barthes reading a specific cultural form in detail. Barthes argues that professional wrestling is not a sport but a spectacle — it is not about who wins but about the clear performance of moral archetypes. The "bad" wrestler is visibly, exaggeratedly bad; the "good" wrestler suffers visibly and triumphs visibly. The audience knows the outcome is staged and does not care, because what they have come for is the legible dramatisation of justice.

For Barthes, wrestling is a "spectacle of excess" in which every gesture is readable. The relevance for media language is clear: much media content, from reality TV to superhero films, operates on similar principles of legibility and moral clarity, naturalising certain ideas about good and evil. When you analyse a reality show or an action film, Barthes' wrestling essay is often the right reference to reach for.

Action Codes and Enigma Codes

In S/Z, Barthes identified five narrative codes by which texts produce meaning and keep readers engaged. For A-Level purposes, two of these are especially important.

The Action Code (Proairetic Code)

The action code refers to sequences of events within a text that imply consequences. A character picks up a gun (action code established) — the audience now expects it to be fired. A car pulls up outside a house at night — we expect someone to get out. The action code drives momentum: it is how texts make us lean forward.

The Enigma Code (Hermeneutic Code)