Important Facts
- Born: November 12, 1915, Cherbourg Octeville France
- Died: March 26, 1980, Paris France
- Influenced by Ferdinand De Sassure (noteworthy semiotician)
- Alma Mater: University of Paris
- Main interests: Semiotics, literary theory, linguistics
- His father dies when he was very young in World War 1, he was raised by his mother, grandmother, and aunts in a small village in France
- He spent the early 1960's studying semiology and structuralism
Semiotics and Mythology
Barthes constantly looked at things we see in society as a "norm" trying to find why we see these things that way. For example, in french culture, drinking wine is considered to be a sign of "robust health", he argued that wine can be unhealthy and hindering. Throughout his time he constantly showed how semiotics play a big part in modern day myths and beliefs.
His theory of how he interprets semiotics
Sign: The total of the signifier and the signified. ex... how we as humans interpret the signifier and the signified
Semiology: The relationship between the signifier and the signified. ex... A person studying the signs on a dollar bill
Signifier: The object, Signified: The meaning
References
https://theorisingfilm.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/8/
http://arthistoryunstuffed.com/roland-barthes-structuralism/
http://www.slideshare.net/Holly541/roland-barthes-12665769
http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=714&fulltext=1
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/death-of-the-author-roland-barthes-a-biography-by-louis-jean-calvet-trs-sarah-wykes-polity-press-1567120.html