In 1957, French literary theorist, critic and philosopher Roland Barthes published his book Mythologies, a compilation of essays exploring Ferdinand de Saussure’s concept of semiology, expanding upon his linguistic model of signs to investigate modern cultural phenomenon, which Barthes, terms “myth.” Mythologies is made up of two component parts. In the 1972 English translation of Barthes’ work, the first half is comprised of twenty eight short essays, each pertaining to a specific cultural occurrence – including but not limited to celebrated persons, famous events, consumer goods like margarine and cars, and – and followed by a longer rather elucidatory essay entitled “Myth Today.” Through exploration of Barthe’s language and the semiotic system of cinema, I will attempt to realize Barthes’ proposed model of “semiosis” in relation to the myth of “The Face of Garbo” and, using an film still of Greta Garbo from A Woman of Affairs, I will postulate that there are certain aspects of Garbo, the actress, beyond just her face and left unmentioned by Barthes – particularly her movements and her silence – that are equally important in creating the myth, “The Face of Garbo.”
…show more content…
It is almost as if, frustrated in an attempt to condense into words the cultural phenomenon and spectacle that is the face of early cinema star Greta Garbo, Barthes’ language becomes at once descriptive (grounded in physical reality), while also highly
It is almost as if, frustrated in an attempt to condense into words the cultural phenomenon and spectacle that is the face of early cinema star Greta Garbo, Barthes’ language becomes at once descriptive (grounded in physical reality), while also highly