The Humble Charm of Myths
The article analyzes the process of forming a neo-mythological ideology in the intellectual and philosophical environment of the mid-20th century on the example of “Mythologies” by Roland Barthes. It is noted that mythology is interpreted by the author, on the one hand, as social representations following the tradition of French socio-political thought of the time. On the other hand, Roland Barthes’ studies of the mid-1950s are clearly influenced by the neo-Marxist doctrines of that period. The latter is reflected in the sharp social criticism of the petty bourgeoisie, which is simultaneously the creator, the consumer and the character of “mythologies”. The article points out that Roland Barthes practically equates mythology and everyday consciousness. Everyday life and myth share the same property of mediality that is, blending of the object and the subject into the environment. In this case, we are dealing with the sign-image medium of culture, or, to be more precise, mass culture. The object is correlated with the subject. The medium (environment, nature) can be the object of the subject’s activity only partially, also because the subject is a part of that medium.