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REVIEWER ON PPC • Its focus was on women gaining the right to vote. This was •Argues for remedial equal opportunities legislation to rectify
also known as women's suffrage. this situation

Feminism
•The belief in social, economic, and political equality of the
sexes
•Consists of the argument that the inequalities in gender
power relations are socially and culturally constructed
• Women finally gained the right to vote in the US (1920)
Wave 2
1963-1980s
• Called for a reevaluation of traditional gender roles in society
and an end to sexist discrimination
Radical Feminism
•Sees the interests of men and women as being fundamentally
and inevitably divergent
•Regards patriarchy or the control and repression of women
by men as the most crucial historical form of social division
and oppression

•The term feminism was first used by Charles Fourier in 1837,
to link the status of women and social progress.
•Can be traced back to the 3rd Century BCE
•It was only during the Enlightenment (17th to 18th century)
that feminist movements coalesced into a coherent movement
Goals of Feminism
• To demonstrate the importance of women
• To achieve full gender equality in law and in practice.
• To establish equal rights and legal protection for women.
•To put an end to sexism, sexist exploitation.
Waves Of The Feminist Movement
Wave 1
• 1800-1900s
• Seneca Falls Convention (1848)
• 300 men and women gathered to rally for women's rights.
•Equal Pay Act (1965) •Argues for the strategy of female separatism
•Roe v. Wade (1973) Socialist Feminism
Wave 3 •Accepts this stress on patriarchy but tries to incorporate it into
an analysis of capitalism
1990's -
•Argues for the radical transformation of the relations between
•Encouraged women to express their sexuality and
the genders as an integral part of the emergence of a socialist
individuality
society
•Introduction of the term "Intersectionality" to become more
Difference Feminism/postmodern Feminism
inclusive to race and gender
•Represents a broad spectrum of feminisms that emphasize
Wave 4
differences between women and men
Present Day
•Tends to romanticize traditional femininity and masculinity
•Some argue that it is a continuation of the third wave with the and to reinforce conventional stereotypes
added element of the internet and social media
What does the portrayal of women look like in popular media?
•Calling out systems that allow such misconduct to occur
SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION OF WOMEN BY TUCHMANN
Types Of Feminism
• The way cultural production and media representations
Liberal Feminism/mainstreamFeminism ignore, exclude, marginalize or trivialize women and their
interests
• Criticizes the unequal and exploitative employment and
representation of womenin the media and popular culture • Women are either absent, or represented by stereotypes
based upon sexual attractiveness and the performance of
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domestic labor intellectualization, politicalization, socialization, and activity.

The Feminist Critique of Popular Culture The Bechdel Test Modleski's View On Feminism And Popular Culture

and the Study of Popular Culture The Bechdel Test is a low-barrier way to evaluatethe •Gender is a relevant feature of how we perceive mass culture.
representation of women in film.
• The areas of popular culture, particularly those relating to the •There is a need to challenge cultural and social structures that
portrayal of women in different art forms, that are criticized or Rules: categorized femininity as subordinate to masculinity to
outright opposed by the feminist movement change stereotypical views on mass culture.
1. It has to have at least two (named) female characters;
These include: L G B T(Lesbian - Gay - Bisexual - Transgender) AND POP
2. who talk to each other about something besides a man, and CULTURE
•The popular cultural representations which marginalize or
stereotype women 3. who both appear on screen together for more than one A. Pre-colonial Spanish
minute.
•The relative absence of women involved in cultural production • Matriarchy was eminent
Feminism and Mass Culture
•The relative neglect of women as audiences for popular • Men can assume the role of the Babaylan. They were called
culture • Femininity is identified as mass culture while masculinity is Bayog or Bayugin by the Tagalogs, and Asog by the Visayans.
regarded as high culture.
 The overall effect of the portrayal of women in media is •The asog were two-spirit gender-crossers; spiritual leaders in
to reinforce rather than reduce prejudices and High culture(Masculine) community.
stereotypes (Mishra, 2015).
• considered as an art •Feminized men were similar to women in all aspects, except
 In practice, this overall process has meant that men childbearing.
• a kind of progress
and women have been represented by the mass media
in conformity with the cultural stereotypes which serve •Described in the 1668 book, "Historia de las islas e indios
Mass Culture(Feminine)
to reproduce traditional sex roles. visayas" by Father Francisco Alcina, the bayogs were
• what is popular but inferior "deficient for the practice of matrimony, considered
 Men are usually shown as being dominant, active, themselves more like women than men in their manner of
aggressive and authoritative, performing a variety of • associated with regression living or going 2about even in their occupation.
important and varied roles which often require
Feminism And Mass Culture
professionalism, efficiency, rationality and strength to
be carried out successfully. • In literary politics, women writers are inferior to male B. Colonial Spanish
contemporaries. In the wider society:
 Women by contrast are usually shown as being
•Patriarchy and machismo concept became prevalent.
subordinate, passive, submissive and marginal, •Feminism is accountable for the threatsthat mass culture is
performing a limited number of secondary and imposing. •Gender suppression emerged, introduced by the Catholic
uninteresting tasks confined to their sexuality, their Church.t
emotions and their domesticity. •Women as readers are of consequences such as
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•Gender-crossers, in general, were looked down upon. however there were little accounts and documents about them • People who don't experience any sexual attraction for
in prehistory and history. anyone

C. Colonial American
•Western conceptualization of gender and sexuality
introduced in formal education and mass media to regulate
once sexuality.
The Chronicle of Philippine Bakla
• Bakla is an umbrella term for people of third gender who
identify as gay, trans, bisexual, or queer; it alludes to
humanity's remarkable fluidity.
•In pre-colonial Philippines, they were known as Bayok,
Bayoguin, Agi-ngin, Asog, bido, and binabae, and were held in
high regard.
• In Colonial Spanish, Bayoguin became bakla, which means
"confused" and "cowardly."
•Tibo or tibs often refer to more masculine lesbians, otherwise GENDER IDENTITY
known as the 'Butch.'
Gender identity refers to an individuals self-conception as
•Aida Santos was probably the only one who came out as
lesbian in the mid-1980s. a man or woman , a boy or a girl , or combination of
•Aida Santos was one of the pioneers of women's movement man/boy and woman/girl, or as someone who oscillates
in the Philippines. between man/boy and woman/girl, or as someone who falls
outside of those categories entirely. (Encyclopedia Britannica,
SEXUAL ORIENTATION 2022)
• Sexual orientation is defined as one's sexual attractions and GENDER EXPRESSION
arousals toward one or both sexes (Encyclopedia of
Adolescence, 2011) Gender expression is the way in which people show their
feeling of having a particular gender, for example in the way
Heterosexual they dress and behave (Cambridge Dictionary).
• People who’re attracted to a different gender Representation
Homosexual 1. PHILIPPINE MYTHOLOGIES

• By the time World War II rolled around, bakla had come to • People who’re attracted to people of the same gender A. Ikapati/Lakapati
mean "fearful" or "weak," and it had become a derogatory
term for effeminate men, hence the euphemism "pusong Bisexual • The goddess of fertility and good harvest.
babae."
• People who’re attracted to both men and women • Is described as an androgynous, intersex, or transgender
• Transpinay (transwomen) and Transpinoy (transmen) are goddess
Pansexual
terms proposed by the Society of Transsexual Women of the
• A hermaphrodite
Philippines (STRAP) in 2008 to avoid the common derogatory • People whose attractions span across many different gender
stereotype that transwomen and transmen are simply bakla identities (male, female, transgender, genderqueer, intersex, B. Nagmalitong Yawa
and tomboy. etc.)
•Transitioned into a male warrior named Buyong Sumasakay
•The popularity of Swardspeak has given rise to terms such as Questioning/Curious to save Buyong Humadapnon from another magical binukot
badaf, bading, beki, juding, shoki, shoklâ, and vaklúsh, among named Sinangkating Bulawan.
others. • People who’re unsure about their sexual orientation
INDIGENOUS GROUP
• Lesbians in the Filipino community are called tibo or tibs, Asexual
The Teduray People of
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Mindanao are an Indigenous group with progressive beliefs
and practices toward members of their community.
•Mentefuwaley libun means "one who becomes a woman."
•Mentefuwaley Lagey "one who becomes a man."
VIEWS ON LGBT
Marxists
•Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were described in
the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality as "personally
homophobic." Marx, in particular, commented rarely on
sexuality in general.
•However, several communist parties, like the Communist
Party of Germany, the Revolutionary Communist Party USA,
and the New People's Army in the Philippines, have made
several statements supporting equal rights for same-
sexcouples and gay individuals.
Structural Functionalism
• Talcott Parsons (1955) stressedthe importance of regulating
sexual behavior to ensure marital cohesion and family stability.
From a functionalist perspective, homosexuality cannot be
widely promoted as an acceptable substitute for
heterosexuality. If this happened, procreation would eventually
cease.
THEORY OF CONFLICT
•For conflict theorists, the debate over same-sex marriage has
two key dimensions: ideological and economic.
•Dominant groups (heterosexuals) embrace traditional
marriage and the nuclear family to triumph over what
they perceive to be the intrusion of a secular,individually driven
worldview.
•Many gay and lesbian activists, on the other hand, argue that
legal marriage is a fundamental right that cannot be denied
based on sexual orientation.
•From an economic standpoint, supporters of same- sex
marriage argue that legal marriage confers certain
entitlements, many of which are financial in nature, such as
Social Security benefits and medical insurance (Solmonese
2008).
Interactionism
• Interactionists are interested in how discussions of
homosexuals often focus almost exclusively on the sex lives of
gays and lesbians; homosexuals, especially men, may be
assumed to be hypersexual and, in some cases, deviant.
•Interactionism is also concerned with homophobic slurs.
Consider Cooley's "looking-glass self," which contends that
self emerges as a result of our interpretation and evaluation of
the responses of others (Cooley 1902). Constant exposure to
derogatory labels, jokes, and widespread homophobia would
lead to a negative self-image, or worse, self-hatred.
Queer Theory
•Scholars reject the effects of labeling by naming their
discipline "queer," instead embracing and reclaiming the term
"queer" for their own purposes.
•Emphasizes the importance of a more flexible and fluid
conception of sexuality—one that allows for change,
negotiation, and freedom.
LGBT RIGHTS IN THE PHILIPPINES
• In a 2013 Pew Research Center survey titled "The Global
Divide on Homosexuality," 73% of adult Filipinos agreed that
"homosexuality should be accepted by society," the highest in
Asia.
•Several anti-discrimination bills, such as the SOGIE Equality
Bill, have been pending and have yet to hurdle legislation.
•Same-sex marriage or civil unions: Yet to be approved
•Changing of legal gender is not allowed
•The HIV/AIDS Stigma
•Conversion Therapy isn't banned in the country
EVENTS
•June 26, 1994 - First Pride March in the Philippines was held
in Quezon City led by Progressive Organization of Gays
(ProGay) Philippines and Metropolitan Community Church.
•2015 - Fight For Love
•2016 - Let Love In
•2017 - #HereTogether
•2018 - #RiseUpTogether
•2019 - #ResistTogether
•Metro Manila Pride 2022 - "Atin Ang Kulayaan: Makibeki
Ngayon, Atin Ang Panahon"
LANGUAGE
• Swardspeak or gay lingo is a type of slanguage built on
preexisting languages.
•Purposefully transforms or creates words that sound similar
to words in other languages, most notably English, Japanese,
Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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• It's bright, witty, and humorous, with vocabulary drawn from
popular culture.and regional variations.
• Dynamic; no definite set of rules
THEFRANKFURT SCHOOL AND THE CULTUREINDUSTRY
TheOrigins oftheFrankfurt School
— set up in 1923
— founded by left-wing German, Jewish, intellectuals drawn
from middle and upper classes of German society.
— developed critical theory and research
— construct a theoretical critique of modern capitalism.
Important Figures:
 Theodore Adorno
 Max Horkheimer
 Herbert Marcuse
 Walter Benjamin
Factors that made the members flee to Western Europe and
North America:
a. Nazi Party's rise to power in Germany (1930s)
b. Nazi's racist oppression of Jews
c. Nazi's totalitarian repression of the left
—1940s: return to Germany with Adorno and
Horkheimer.
— some members who stayed in America renounced the
school’s theory and politics.
— others, particularly Marcuse, extended the school’s
analysis of modern society to post-war American capitalism.
Features of the context.of Frankfurt School’s
analysis of popculture and mass media:
A. the fascist state of Nazi Germany
B. Soviet, Marxist totalitarianism, and American monopoly.
C. consumer capitalism
— according to Craib, In the eyes of the Frankfurt School, “it
seemed as.though the possibility of radical social change had
been.smashed between the twin cudgels of concentration
camps and television for the masses”
— according to the Frankfurt School, Enlightenment is a
nightmare as.science and rationality, for them, is stamping out
human freedom.
Adorno
—for Adorno, ‘the total effect of the culture industry is one of
antienlightenment, in which enlightenment, progressive
technical domination becomes mass deception and is turned
into a means of fettering consciousness.’ As such, ‘it
impedes the development of autonomous, independent
individuals who judge and decide consciously for
themselves…while obstructing the emancipation for which
human beings are as ripe as the productive forces of the
epoch permit.
— This critique of the Enlightenment is linked to the theory of
modern capitalism and the culture industry which Adorno and
others began to develop in the 1930s and 1940s.
COMMODITY FETISHISM
It is the basis of the theory of culture industry, which that
stressescultural forms like popular music, film, and television
function to secure the continuing economic, political and
ideological domination of capitalist societies. The culture
industry reflects the consolidation of commodity fetishism, the
domination of exchange value, and the ascendancy of state
monopoly capitalism. The commodities produced by the
culture industry are governed by the need to realize their value
on the market. In Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947), which
Horkheimer coauthored with Adorno, he extended his social
cultural criticism to western civilization. He wrote this work in
California while he was in exile.
THE CULTURE INDUSTRY
• is a concept created by Theodor Adorno and Max
Horkheimer and is related to Marxist philosophy.
• The Concept of Culture Industry
• It shapes the tastes and preferences of the masses. Thereby,
molding their consciousness by inculcating the desire for false
needs. It works to exclude real needs, alternative and radical
concepts, and politically oppositional ways of thinking and
acting. Adorno saw culture as something which has been
imposed upon the masses and makes them prepared to
welcome it given they do not realize it is an imposition.
Concept of False Needs
• It assumes that people have true or real needs to be creative,
independent and autonomous, in control of their own destinies,
fully participating members of meaningful and democratic
collectivities and able to live free and relatively unconstrained
lives and to think for themselves.
• True needs cannot be realized in modern capitalism because
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the false needs, which capitalist system has to foster in order
to survive, come to be superimposed over them.
• False needs work to deny and suppress true or real needs.
• False needs created can be fulfilled at the expense of the
true needs which remain unsatisfied in light of consumerism
and commodity fetishism. People do not realise their real
needs remain unsatisfied.
The School views the culture industry ensuring the creation
and satisfaction of false needs, and the suppression of true
needs.
It is so effective in doing this that the working-class is no
longer likely to pose a threat to the stability and continuity of
capitalism.
They both believed that the collective output of Hollywood
possessed really no redeeming qualities what they called
rubbish devoid of intellectual expression mere twaddle as they
noted. (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1973, p.121)
PROCESS OF STANDARDISATION AND PSEUDO-
INDIVIDUALIZATION
Standardization
• means that popular songs are becoming more alike and their
parts, verses and choruses more interchangeable keeps the
customers in line by doing their listening to them, as it were.
•Pseudo-individualization disguises this by making the songs
appear more varied and distinct from each other.
• keeps them in line by making them forget that what they
listen to is already listened to for them or‘pre-digested”
REGRESSIVE LISTENING
• A state of "primitivism,” by losing oneself in the repetitive
themes of the music.
• With respect to the audience, Adorno then goes on to argue
that, ‘the counterpart to the fetishism of music is a regression
of listening’ (1991:40)
Benjamin and the critique of the Frankfurt School
Walter Benjamin
• a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist
• Born on July 15, 1892 at Berlin, Germany
• a member of the Institute.
The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction
In this essay, Benjamin aims to assess the effects of mass
production and consumption, and modern technology, upon
the status of the work of art, as well as their implications for
contemporary popular arts or popular culture.
• Benjamin argues that the work of art acquired an ‘aura’
which attested to its authority and uniqueness, its singularity in
time and space.
• fabric of tradition - This process was hastened by the
changes associated with the Renaissance which extended the
secularisation of the work of art and its subject matter.
• The Renaissance initiated the struggle for artistic autonomy
• Benjamin stresses the democratic and participatory rather
than the authoritarian and repressive potential of
contemporary popular culture. This position is not, of course,
without problems of its own, which include the relationship
between power and the new popular arts, historical accuracy
and an exaggerated technological optimism.
STRUCTURALISM, SEMIOLOGY AND POP CULTURE
Introduction
• Since the emergence of structuralism and Semiology they
have had an important effect upon the study of popular culture,
and have influenced other seemingly distinct perspectives
such asfeminism and Marxism.
Structuralism
• a theoretical and philosophical framework relevant to the
social sciences as a whole, which stresses the universal,
causal character of structures.
Semiology
• the scientific study of sign systems such as cultures.
Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought
STRUCTURALISM
• a movement characterized by a preoccupation not simply
with structures but with such structures as can be held to
underlie and generate the phenomena that come under
observation...with deep structures rather than surface
structures...referable [according to Lévi-Strauss]
tobasiccharacteristics of the mind'.
SEMIOLOGY
• the general (if tentative) science of signs: systems of
signification, means by which human beings-individually or in
groups- communicate or attempt to communicate by signal:
gestures, advertisements,language itself, food, objects,
clothes, music,and the many other things that qualify' (Bullock
and Stallybrass 1977:566 and 607).
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STRUCTURAL LINGUISTICS AND IDEAS OF SAUSSAURE
Ferdinand de Saussure
·attempted to establish and develop the discipline of structural
linguistics.
·Saussure is concerned with establishing linguistics as a
science.
3 Distinctions Given by Saussure
1.Langue and Parole
• between language as an internally related set of
differentiated signs governed by a system of rules (language
as a structure) and language as used in speech orwriting
(language as an accomplished fact ofcommunication between
human beings).
• Langue is the overallsystem or structure of a
language (itswords, syntax, rules, conventions and meanings).
• Parole is defined anddetermined by langue. It is the use of
language made possible by, and deriving from, langue. Parole
is the sum of thelinguistic units involved inspeaking and writing.
'In separating language from speaking, we are at the same
time separating: (1) what is social from what is individual; and
(2) what is essential from what is accessory and more or less
accidental'(1974:14).
2. Signifier and Signified
• Any linguistic sign, such as a word or phrase, can be broken
down into these two elements of which it is composed. It is a
distinction which can only be recognised analytically,not
empirically, and is a function of langue rather than parole. The
meaning of particular linguistic units is not determined by an
external material reality which imposes itself upon language.
These units do not have a direct referent in the external,
material world.
3. Synchronic and Diachronic analysis
• He argues that if the task oflinguistics is to reconstruct the
langue which makes speech and writing possible at any
particular point in time,then synchronic analysis has to be kept
separate from diachronic analysis.
Synchronicand Diachronic analysis.
Synchronic - the study of structures or systems at a particular
point in time
Diachronic analysis involves the study of structures or systems
over time.
In Saussure's linguistics, synchronic analysis entails the
reconstruction of the system of language as a relational whole
which is distinguished from,but not necessarily subordinated
to,the diachronic study of the historical evolution and structural
changes of particular linguistic units and signs. To mix the two
would undermine the attempt to define the relational structure
of a language.
Saussure regards linguistics as a sub-branch of semiology. He
suggests that semiology is a science which studies the life of
signs within society, shows what they are composed of, and
discovers the laws which govern them.
Structural linguistics is one of the first stages in the
development of semiology. In making his case, Saussurelaid
the foundations for later attempts to use structuralism and
semiology to study other systems such as popular culture.
STRUCTURALISM, CULTURE AND MYTH
Claude Lévi-Strauss
·french social anthropologist
·well known for introducing the concepts and methods of
structuralism into anthropology, and using them for studying
the myths irculating in pre-industrial societies.
Claude Lévi-Strauss Version of Structuralism
1. Structuralism
is concerned with uncovering the common structural
principles underlying specific and historically variable cultures
and myths. These structural principles involve the logical and
universal characteristics of the human mind which lie behind,
classify and produce the empirical examples of cultural myths
which can be discovered.
This idea of structure is theoretical and explanatory. In the first
instance, it has little to do with empirical reality, but it causes
the things we can see.It is not directly available to observation,
and lies behind, while producing what we can view.The
relationship pictured here by Lévi-Strauss is similar to the one
Saussure draws between langue and parole
2.Totemism
REFERS TO THE USE OF TYPES OF ANIMALS OR OTHER
'NATURAL' PHENOMENA TO REPRESENT A SPECIFIC SOCIAL
GROUP,SAY A CLAN OR A TRIBE.
According to Lévi-Strauss,totemism cannot be explained by
any particular example since there is no necessary reason why
certain totems should represent certain groups.
Totemism also provides a symbolic reconciliation of the
opposition between culture and nature because they are
united by the totem which represents them both. It is an
empirical symbol through which societies and their Cultures
mediate the universal relationship between culture and nature.
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3. Structural Anthropology
Lévi-Strauss mentions a myth to be found among the lroquois
and Algonquin indians of North America which, he suggests,
closely resembles the Oedipus legend.
The story concerns incest between brother and sister rather
than mother and son, and murder, although not the unwitting
slaying by a son of his father; however, it does contain the
moral that attempts to prevent incest make it inevitable.
'Is this a simple coincidence-different causes explaining that,
here and there, the same motifs are arbitrarily found together?
Or are there deeper reasons for the analogy? In making the
comparison, have we not put our finger on a fragment of a
meaningful whole?'
As Lévi-Strauss concludes: 'it seems that the same correlation
between riddles and incest exists among peoples separated by
history, geography, language and culture' (ibid.:
BARTHES,SEMIOLOGY AND POPULAR CULTURE
Roland Barthes (1915-1980)
• French critic and semiologist Roland Barthes (1915-1980),
and in particular to his book Mythologies (originally published
in 1957).
• Barthes sets out a way of interpreting popular culture which
has, with some notable revisions, been highly influential and
extensively discussed ever since.
• Barthes, structuralism and semiology
The general points made here are comparable to those made
about structuralism, except that semiology does not
assume there is a universal structure underlying sign systems.
- I was dazzled by this hope: to give mydenunciation of the self
-proclaimed petit-bourgeois myths the means of developing
scientifically;this means was semiologyor the close analysis of
the processes of meaning bywhich the bourgeoisie converts
its historical class-culture into universal nature;
semiologyappeared to me,then, in its programand tasks, as the
fundamental method ofan ideological critique.
KEYPOINTS
Semiology is defined as a science of signs, in keeping with
Saussure's original suggestion. It not only possesses a notion
of ideology against which the truth of science can be
measured, but it promises a scientific way of understanding
popular culture.
Semiology argues that material reality can never be taken for
granted. It is always constructed and made intelligible to
human understanding by culturally specific systems of
meaning. This meaning is never 'innocent', but has some
particular purpose or interest lying behind it, which semiology
can uncover.
Semiology is concerned with this production of meaning, with
what Barthes calls 'the process of signification'. Cultural
meanings are not universal, nor are they divorced from the
social conditions in which they are to be found. Rather,they
present themselves as universal when they are really
historically and socially fixed.
Writing Degree Zero
'Writing degree zero' is a style developed in order to reject the
idea of politically committed writing. It values writing which is
colourless, transparent and neutral,blank and impersonal. It
pretends to be as asocial and ahistorical as Writing is never
just an instrument of communication, an open way of
addressing people. It is rather a product of certain social and
historical circumstances and certain power relations, and
cannot escape their influence.
Non-ideological writing, writing which presents itselfas being
beyond ideology, is for Barthes shown to be an illusion by his
investigation of French classicism and 'writing degree zero'
possible.
Myths and popular culture
'Myth is a system of communication, that is a message',
Barthes writes, 'a mode of signification...a type of speech...
conveyed by a discourse. Myth is not defined by the object of
its message, but by the way in which it utters this message'
(1973:117)
Barthes notes that 'any semiology postulates a relation
between two terms, a signifier and a signified' (ibid.: 121), a
distinction elaborated by Saussure, as we have seen.
The case he has in mind is a bunch of roses which can be used
to signify passion. Barthes asks:
Do we have here, then, only a signifier and a signified, the
roses and my passion? Not even that:to put it accurately,there
are here only 'passionified' roses. But on the plane of analysis,
we do have three terms [even if empirically there is only one
thing, the roses];for theseroses weighted with passion
perfectly and correctly allow themselves to be decomposed
into roses and passion: the former and the latter existed before
uniting and forming this third object,which is the sign.(ibid.:121-
122)
Barthes suggests that the study of myths needs to avoid
confusion.
Signification is the myth itself (ibid.: 131), the coming together
lobeniairish:bsedmathematics2

of form and concept in the cultural sign. But the form does not men is equally natural and inevitable
hide the concept, or make it disappear as some theories of
ideology tend to insist.

Ifone wishes to connect a mythical schema to a general history,

to explain how it corresponds to the interests of a definite
society-in short, to pass from semiology to ideology' (ibid.:
138), one has to become a semiologist and understand 'the
very principle of myth: it transforms history into nature' (ibid.:
140).

Myth is not an unconscious process, but, according to Barthes,

its consumers take it at face value, and accept it as natural and
inevitable.

Bourgeois men and women novelists

understanding of the relationship between the signifier, the

signified and myth by drawing a distinction between
denotation and connotation.

Barthes refined his understanding of the relationship between

the signifier, the signified and myth by drawing a distinction
between denotation and connotation. On one level, the
meaning of popular cultural signs is self-evident.

Denotation refers to those things which appear to us as natural

and which we can take for granted.

According to Barthes, bourgeois ideology characteristically

denies the existence of a bourgeois class.

He argues that 'the fact of the bourgeoisie becomes absorbed

into an amorphous universe, whose sole inhabitant is Eternal
Man, who is neither proletarian nor bourgeois.'

Myth is again seen by Barthes to transform history into nature.

This time the role of women as mothers is made to appear
natural and inevitable, the related connotation being that the
power and dominance of