“Myth Speaks – In Order Not to Say Anything”
Roland Barthes’ Mythologies (1957) remains uncannily relevant today.
Rather than dissecting grand narratives or epic myths, Barthes investigates the ideological messages embedded in the banal and the ordinary — steak, detergent, cars, even striptease.
His object of study is not the content, but the form of meaning, the silent assumptions society makes and naturalizes through repetition.
What Is Myth, According to Barthes?
For Barthes, myth is not a lie, but a mode of signification.
It is the second-order semiological system where a sign (a word, an image, a product) acquires an additional layer of meaning that appears natural, self-evident, unquestionable.
A steak, for instance, is not just a protein-rich dish. In French culture, it becomes a sign of virility, Frenchness, and nationalist pride.
The danger lies not in the myth itself, but in how it disguises itself as truth — in how culture pretends to be nature.
Barthes writes:
“Myth says something — in order not to say anything.”
Myth Is Ideological
A core target of Mythologies is bourgeois ideology — its ability to pass off its own values, tastes, and social arrangements as universal and apolitical.
What appears ‘natural’ — eating habits, aesthetic preferences, gender roles — is, Barthes argues, always culturally and historically produced.
He calls for a critical reading of everyday life that denaturalizes the familiar and reveals how it participates in the reproduction of power.
Why Food Is the Perfect Mythic Object
Food is one of the most potent sites for myth-making.
It appears neutral, necessary, even primal — but in reality, it is laden with codes of identity, class, memory, and nationalism.
When certain foods are called “pure,” “traditional,” “motherly,” or “authentic,” we must ask:
Who made this claim? Who benefits from this myth?
Mythologies has become a foundational text for fields like food studies, postcolonial gastronomy, and critical consumer culture.
It teaches us to ask not just what we eat — but how what we eat speaks.
Why Barthes Still Matters
Even today, cultural discourse is saturated with myth:
“organic,” “local,” “traditional,” “clean eating,” “authentic cuisine” — all of these terms operate as codes of belonging, power, and exclusion.
The question is not only what they include, but what they exclude from being said.
Mythologies is not just a book; it is a method.
It invites us to read not just the world’s texts, but its silences — and in doing so, make visible the invisible forces that shape our consumption, our identity, and our desire.
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