Charles University Popular Culture and Media Theory
WRIGHT VS BARTHES: an application to a western movie
INTRODUCTION
I chose to deal with Wright and Barthes because such a confrontation could give me the possibility to go deeply into the idea of Myth. Indeed, these two post-structuralism writers have discussed some other topics, but in this essay, I will concentrate on the topic of Myth. Both have told us about their vision of Myth, Wright with “the structure of Myth and The structure of western Myth” and Barthes with “Mythologies”.
The first time you generally heard about Myth and Mythology is during Latin or Greek classes. Myth, at that occasion, seems to be a legendary story involving invincible heroes in front of choices and strong enemies like gods. It is then interesting to discover the link between some myths and some actual expressions or words like “narcissism”, “to open the Pandora box”, “to be as strong as Heracles”… But a Myth does not refer only to Greek or Roman Mythology. It can refer to all other fields, like politic, sports, economics, and art.
This essay is therefore an opportunity to see how some major philosophers decoded the origin of the Myth in general and the way it spread and lasted in human memory. To do so, they generally tried to understand the sense of the myth to the “creators” of this myth, that is for the very first persons who were confronted to this myth, then they tried to spot how does the evolution of the representation of the Myth occur depending on the social group and other external relations and finally, they concentrated on the construction of the structure of the Myth.
In a first part, we will present the Myth according to Wright and Barthes, then we will compare them and finally, we will adapt the Wright vision to an example, Sergio Leone’s western: For a fistful of dollars.
I Presentation of the two writers
a) Will Wright
Wright in his book “The Structure of Myth &... [continues]
WRIGHT VS BARTHES: an application to a western movie
INTRODUCTION
I chose to deal with Wright and Barthes because such a confrontation could give me the possibility to go deeply into the idea of Myth. Indeed, these two post-structuralism writers have discussed some other topics, but in this essay, I will concentrate on the topic of Myth. Both have told us about their vision of Myth, Wright with “the structure of Myth and The structure of western Myth” and Barthes with “Mythologies”.
The first time you generally heard about Myth and Mythology is during Latin or Greek classes. Myth, at that occasion, seems to be a legendary story involving invincible heroes in front of choices and strong enemies like gods. It is then interesting to discover the link between some myths and some actual expressions or words like “narcissism”, “to open the Pandora box”, “to be as strong as Heracles”… But a Myth does not refer only to Greek or Roman Mythology. It can refer to all other fields, like politic, sports, economics, and art.
This essay is therefore an opportunity to see how some major philosophers decoded the origin of the Myth in general and the way it spread and lasted in human memory. To do so, they generally tried to understand the sense of the myth to the “creators” of this myth, that is for the very first persons who were confronted to this myth, then they tried to spot how does the evolution of the representation of the Myth occur depending on the social group and other external relations and finally, they concentrated on the construction of the structure of the Myth.
In a first part, we will present the Myth according to Wright and Barthes, then we will compare them and finally, we will adapt the Wright vision to an example, Sergio Leone’s western: For a fistful of dollars.
I Presentation of the two writers
a) Will Wright
Wright in his book “The Structure of Myth &... [continues]
Cite This Essay
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(2009, 04). Wright vs Barthes: an Application to a Western Movie. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 04, 2009, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Wright-Vs-Barthes-An-Application-To-199339.html
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"Wright vs Barthes: an Application to a Western Movie" StudyMode.com. 04 2009. 04 2009 <http://www.studymode.com/essays/Wright-Vs-Barthes-An-Application-To-199339.html>.
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"Wright vs Barthes: an Application to a Western Movie." StudyMode.com. 04, 2009. Accessed 04, 2009. http://www.studymode.com/essays/Wright-Vs-Barthes-An-Application-To-199339.html.
