The High Art of Mythmaking

The ability of abstraction is the thing which distinguishes humans among any other animals, so only humans are able to crate myths. In order to discuss the way the myths are created and sustained, it is necessary to define what is understood by the term ‘myth’, the next task is to study the role of the signs myths contain, and the way these signs may be manipulated in order to create a myth.
In his 1957 book Mythologies (its issue of the year 1984 is used in the paper), Roland Barthes argues that no language use can be separated from structures of ideology and power. He was one who recognized that the signified can operate on two levels of signification
“the primary level, that is, the most commonly accepted signified (four legs, barks, smells); and a secondary level of signification - the ‘other’ signifieds that we come to culturally accept (so with ‘dog’ this might be ‘scoundrel’ or ‘ugly woman’).” ([online] Southern)…