Myths are stories that are based on tradition.

Some may have factual

origins, while others are entirely fictional. But myths are more than
mere stories, and they serve a more profound purpose in ancient and
modern cultures. Myths are sacred tales that explain the world and
man's experience. Myths are as relevant to us today as they were to
the ancients. Myths answer timeless questions and serve as a compass
for each generation. The hero's quest is a model for young men and
women to follow as they accept adult responsibilities. Some myths
reassure, such as myths that explain natural phenomena as the actions
of gods rather than random events of nature.

When Barthes wrote Myth Today, he didn't mean the traditional

fables. Instead, he said that the dominant ideology of the time was
similar to the conventional myth, so he called it Myth Today.
Barthes's Myth Today is a complex system of ideas and beliefs built
up by society. At the same time, It was both formal and historical,
semiological and ideological, according to Barthes, who said myth
was all of these things. When it was a part of semiotics, it was a
formal science because semiotics was a science of forms. When it was
a part of historical science, it was a science of meaning or ideas in
form. So mythology was a mix of formalism and meaning-orientation.
Rich and different forms of mass culture tried to show the same thing:
Bourgeois ideology, which was everywhere in French society and
made the proletariat think like Bourgeois. It didn't just manipulate the
ideology of the whole community, but it was the unique soul of all
forms of mass culture, and the colourful forms were just different
ways to show that.

Barthes viewed myth as serving the ideological interest of the

bourgeoisie by making the dominant ideology such as beliefs, values
attitudes, and their current systems seem natural, common-sense, and
necessary. For Barthes, myth was a speech of social reality, and it
functioned as a speaker that the existing system was standard and
should be accepted by all the citizens without any doubt. He also
outlined critical features of the myth which was enveloped in Western
culture—“a myth which allies itself with scientific truth, rationality,
accuracy, fairness and impartiality and which is reflected in the
discourse of science, law, government, journalism, morality, business,
economics and scholarship. In this way, myths penetrated our mind
without being noticed and “the power of such myths is that they ‘go
without saying’ and so appear not to need to be deciphered,
interpreted or demystified

In conclusion, both connotation and myth are ideological in culture

semiotics; connotation is the rich and colourful exhibition of fashion,
values, living attitudes, lifestyle and so on, whilst myth is the total of
these
connotative meanings—middle class ideology. Both belong to the
surface ideology level, dominated by the deep ideology.

By using this example, Roland Barthes is attempting to investigate the message contained in

this picture and the amount to which it contributes to the formation of an ideological

worldview. To put it another way, Barthes is interested in how photos are ideologically

motivated and how they send an educational message to society. This photograph of a black

youngster saluting emphasises a condensed image that aspires for maximum efficiency in

conveying its message. It attempts to persuade us with its message. As a result, for Barthes,

this picture is an ideal medium for exploring how ideologies are represented in visual

imagery.
Barthes' work is based on the internal sign connections between the signifier and the

signified. According to Barthes, the signified has two levels of meaning: denotational and

connotational. The denotation is the sign/dictionary word's definition, and it sets off a chain

reaction in the actual world. The connotation is the interpretive connection that comes with

the sign, and it varies depending on the culture and environment. Connotation is a higher

level of interpretation for Barthes, and he thinks that belonging to the same culture entails

having identical connotations to specific signals.