The construction of myth is a construction based on deformation. The mythical signifier, also the linguistic sign, carries with it two aspects- its meaning and its form. History attaches itself to the meaning while the form in the secondary system remains empty. The concept distorts this history and transforms the signifier into a gesture- depriving it of memory but still keeping its existence.
Myth is a double system; its point of departure is constituted by the arrival of a meaning. A spatial metaphor shall say that the signification of the myth is constituted by a sort of constantly moving turnstile (Fig.1) which presents alternately the meaning of the signifier and its form.[1]
According to Barthes, myth is speech stolen and restored. He uses this analogy about theft to remark on myth’s suspicious, or ‘out-of-place’ look. When something is stolen but then restored, it is put back in place but not its original “place”. It is this brief act of larceny, this moment taken for surreptitious faking, which gives mythical speech its benumbed look.[1]
“I saw Mr. jones today out walking his dog. Something about him seemed a bit different.”
