S02 E24: Mythologies: Decoding the Hidden Meanings of Everyday Life

A wrestling match is fake, and everyone knows it. So why do people watch? Because it's not about athletic competition. It's about the spectacle of justice, performed in exaggerated bodies.In this episode, we explore Barthes' collection of short essays decoding French popular culture: wrestling, steak and chips, soap advertisements, plastic, the face of Greta Garbo. Each essay peels back the obvious meaning to reveal the myth beneath.Myth, for Barthes, is how culture naturalizes history. It makes the constructed seem inevitable. It makes ideology invisible by making it common sense.The specific examples are dated. The method is timeless.Source: "Mythologies" by Roland Barthes (1957)