Art - A Culturally Constructed Myth The development of semiotics in the 20th century revealed much about ideology in mass culture. Structuralist Roland Barthes' texts on the matter are very much products of their times, yet many still have a troubling modern-day relevance. Barthes' Mythologies demonstrates the possibilty to find meaning through the 'trivia' of everyday life. He claims to want to challenge the 'innoncence' and 'naturalness' of cultural texts and practices, as they are capable of producing a multitude of supplementary meanings, or 'connotations'. Although objects, gestures and practices have a certain utilitarian function, they are not resistant to the imposition of meaning. Barthes wants to suspend consideration of function, and concentrate rather on what things mean and how they function as signs. Mythologies is a study of the ways in which mass culture constructs this mythological reality and encourages conformity to its own values. Barthes' analysis of signs reveals that there are very few 'innoncent' objects, that almost everything is 'coded' (assigned meaning). Barthes arrives at this conclusion based on his theory of myth: that a form (expanded from Saussure's sound-image, which was limited to linguistics) and a concept create mythologies: sign systems that render one dominant meaning (or 'signification'). For the receiver, this signification arrives automatically and smoothly, thus seemingly denying the intentional re-coding. Barthes believes that this constant creation of myth is how a culture invents its beliefs and narratives, and is able to find meaning in the world. This premise draws a particular parallel in our contemporary society: for it is my hypothesis that our culture now locates meaning through mythological art (whether fine, commercial, popular, industrial etc.). Has art truly become myth? In order to 'read' or deconstruct myth, Barthes suggests, one must (1) accept the myth as a cultural construction, thus emptying its meaning; (2) rear the myth as full, identifying all possible signs and significations; and finally (3) recognize the signifier as both empty and full, capable of signifying many things, yet with only one clear, dominant meaning. It is my argument that such a deconstruction can render art as myth. Having realized art as a structured cultural phenomenon, and having emptied its direct and apparent meaning, it is possible to identify all its possible significations. Interestingly enough, I find that art reveals many diametrically opposed significations: expression and oppression, bias and acceptance, individual and society, creativity and confinement, and freedom and convention, among others. Art signifies the de-politicization of our culture, for even the most political of pieces cease to cause a stir among the masses.
Myths relate to events, conditions, and deeds of gods or superhuman beings that are outside ordinary human life and yet basics to it” ("Myth," 2012). Mythology is said to have two particular meanings, “the corpus of myths, and the study of the myths, of a particular area: Amerindian mythology, Egyptian mythology, and so on as well as the study of myth itself” ("Mythology," 1993). In contrast, while the term myth can be used in a variety of academic settings, its main purpose is to analyze different cultures and their ways of thinking. Within the academic setting, a myth is known as a fact and over time has been changed through the many different views within a society as an effort to answer the questions of human existence. The word myth in an academic context is used as “ancient narratives that attempt to answer the enduring and fundamental human questions: How did the universe and the world come to be? How did we come to be here? Who are we? What are our proper, necessary, or inescapable roles as we relate to one another and to the world at large? What should our values be? How should we behave? How should we not behave? What are the consequences of behaving and not behaving in such ways” (Leonard, 2004 p.1)? My definition of a myth is a collection of false ideas put together to create
The writer acquaints the reader with the idea of myth. While recognizing that researchers contrast enormously on the exact definition, Oswalt demands that this should not discourage the single person from looking for a decent meaning of the saying. While trying to help characterize the saying, he records four essential qualities of a myth. These qualities conclude that people have practically zero natural worth, they are relatively absence of enthusiasm toward history, they are fascinated with magic and the occult, and they refuse to acknowledge obligation regarding individual
The truest of man’s goals is to create art. Art is a by-product of the gift of man over the animals, creativity. Truly, creativity is a replication of God in man and a very possible interpretation of the Genesis 1:27 phrase “in his own image,” along with others—the possession of an immortal soul or the ability to speak. And creativity’s ultimate end product is art. And art more often than not in the history of man has led man to pay homage to his creator. Three of the classic literary artistic works of mankind, Homer’s Iliad, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Dante’s Inferno, feature—if not focus—on the deity or deities of the respective authors and their relation to the characters of the story in the interaction between the two and the worship practices of the characters.
Lyme disease is one of the seven most common diseases reported in the United States to the CDC annually (www.cdc.gov). The rates have gone from 10,000 cases in 1992 to over 30,000 cases in 2009. 95% of these cases were found in the northeast and Midwest regions of the United States (Committee on Lyme Disease, 2011) . More cases happen in this area of the country due to the close proximity of deer to population. The bite itself isn’t the problem, rather the pathogen being spread in mammals from the bite. Lyme disease occurs when a tick penetrates the skin of mammals and the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi enters. Borrelia burgdorferi is carried by ticks named the Ixodes dammini, which is the main vector for Lyme disease. These may also be known as I. scapularis, and may be found on deer (Schilling-McCann, 2010). ¬¬¬In addition to Lyme Disease, ticks may also carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or Tularemia (Smeltzer et al, 2010).
Myth has developed a negative connotation in contemporary western society that likens it to the word malarkey; Bruce Lincoln opposes this connotation and seeks to provide a more concrete definition. To Lincoln, myth plays a powerful and complex role in human history. In the first chapter of Discourse and the Construction of Society, Lincoln discusses the authoritative role myth has played in shaping social forms throughout the ages. Myth is compared and contrasted to other types of narrative including history, legend and fable. Lincoln recognizes the large impact myth has had on the creation, destruction and continuity of social forms.
Thury, Eva and Margaret K. Devinney. “Theory: Man and His Symbols.” Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. 519-537. Print.
The word myth derives from the Greek mythos, which has a range of meanings from "word," through "saying" and "story," to "fiction"; the unquestioned validity of mythos can be contrasted with logos, the word whose validity or truth can be argued and demonstrated. Because myths narrate fantastic events with no attempt at proof, it is sometimes assumed that they are simply stories with no factual basis, and the word has become a synonym for falsehood or, at best, misconception. In the study of religion, however, it is important to distinguish between myths and stories that are merely untrue. The term mythology denotes both the study of myth and the body of myths belonging to a particular religious tradition. The first part of this article discusses the nature, study, functions, cultural impact, and types of myth, taking into account the various approaches to the subject offered by modern branches of knowledge. In the second part, the specialized topic of the role of animals and plants in myth is examined in some detail. Some say that in Ancient Greece, Greek myths evolved over many years like history, passed down for generations. They were stories of human kings and heroes with supernatural powers, or various prayers and rituals for specific gods. The Greeks believed their gods were a lot like humans. They believed their gods were able to have children, feelings, and live their lives the way humans did every day. However, each god had a specific duty. They each were in charge of a different aspect of life. Aphrodite was placed in charge of love, beauty, marriage, and vegetation. Many temples were built in honor of her and other gods, and each city was usually a patron to a particular god. Ceremonies were performed for the worship of the gods, and the people of the towns distributed gifts to shrines. Aphrodite had many statues carved in worship of her.
One need only stroll through any major art museum to come to the conclusion that many great artists are inspired by mythology. At first blush, the fascination with mythology might seem as if the artists are hiding from reality and retreating into fantasy. However, one who believes that has only a limited understanding of the role of mythology in culture, because myths “are not childish stories or mere pre-scientific explanations of the world, but serious insights into reality.” This is because mythical themes help explain cultural norms, and how various cultural groups approach major issues like sex, death, marriage, childbirth, and war.
Throughout the years that humans have roamed this land we call earth they have made myths. Myths that give them a certain sense of security to fill that unknown knowledge they have. The most common myth is the cultural myth. What is a cultural myth? A cultural myth is the narrative explanation--in both written, visual and oral form--of a culture, its origins, its mission, its development, and its future. Along with elements of truth, myths constitute the very substance of a culture’s concept of reality (week 1, day 2 notes).
Lyme disease first took notice as pediatric arthritis incidents in Lyme, Connecticut dating back to 1970. It has since then become a grim public health distress in Europe and certain areas in the United States. Additionally, it has been the most common vector-borne disease in the United States (Glass et al., 1995). Lyme disease is a growing epidemic according to Nichols (2013) and is thought to be widely unreported since becoming a nationally classifiable disease in 1991. True numbers may indicate hundreds of thousand cases. Because of its rapid increase, the cultivation of vaccine that is safe and effective has become a priority (Steere et al., 1998).
“Lyme disease is a tick borne spirochete bacterial infection that is characterized by a rash in the area of the bite, headache, neck stiffness, chills, fever, myalgia, arthralgia, malaise, fatigue, and possible development of arthritis in large joints” (McCance, Heuther, Brashers, Rote, 2010). Lyme disease’s clinical manifestations occur in three stages: Localized infection, disseminated infection, and late persistent infection. Localized infection occurs shortly after the bite with erythema migrans (rash), fever, fatigue, malaise, myalgias (muscle pain), and arthralgia’s (joint pain). Within days to week the disseminated stage begins and manifests with secondary erythema migran, arthralgias, meningitis, neuritis,
Further, the context in which the myth was written must be taken into account when reading the story. Bronislaw Malinowski in his essay “The Role of Myth in Life” says that “The text, of course, is extremely important, but without the context it remains lifeless” (Malinowski 201). The context that needs to be addressed when reading the myth are the cultural and sociological components that surround a mythological text. This context, consisting of the understanding of the culture in which the myth exte...
Lyme disease is a bacterial disease caused by a spirochete, a corkscrew shaped bacterium, called Borrelia burgdorferi. It is spread by deer ticks in the eastern part of the United States and black legged ticks on the West. Many people think that it is only on the east coast but it can be found all over the Unites States and in sixty other countries throughout the world and on every continent except Antarctica. The estimated amount of people diagnosed with Lyme disease each year in the United States is around three hundred thousand, but there has only been twenty three cases were people that have died from it. The blood test for Lyme disease can come back negative for a patient even when the person has it which makes them unreliable to help
In spite of religion being the ruling subject matter of art for many centuries, magic and mysticism have long been interwoven in a dark curtain that hangs over a large segment of the art world. The whole world is alive and filled with soul, whether light or dark. “Each material form may be thought of as attracting an appropriate soul, as firewood treated with sulphur draws flame.” While there is no historical or scientific evidence for the legitimacy of séances, magic or communication with the deceased, in D.H. Rawcliffe’s book Occult and Supernatural Phenomena, he reminds us of the importance of hallucinations and other fantastical experiences of the subconscious. These often provide strange and impressive experiences, interpreted as supernatural in origin. As we study art, we can only begin to wonder what spirits might have visited the great masters, any hallucinations they might have experienced, and how their paintings were influenced by the dark corridors of their subconscious.
One modernist author, Herman Broch, discusses his approach to mythology in his essay “The Style of the Mythical Age.” His focus is on understanding and using archetypes as a way of analyzing mythology. He says, “Myth is the archetype of every phenomenal cognition of which the human mind is capable,” (102). For Broch, Modernist literature is a return to the mythic; myth is the only way in which the world may be understo...