A flower lying in a garden is only a flower. At least, that is how we tend to see it. It grows among other plants. It receives sunlight and rain. Its color attracts insects. It has a biological history, a structure, a smell. Nothing about it, by itself, requires a birthday, an apology, a declaration of love, or a funeral.

The Production of Myth by Roland Barthes on Slide Share

Then someone picks it. The flower is wrapped in paper, tied with a ribbon, and carried across town. It is handed to someone with a particular expression, at a particular moment, perhaps accompanied by a sentence as ordinary as, “Happy birthday.”

The flower has not biologically changed. But something else has happened. It has entered a world of meaning.

This small transformation, from an object in the world to a sign within a cultural world, is one of the simplest ways to understand semiotics. And from there, we can begin to understand something much larger:

discourse.

When signs enter culture

Signs do not remain innocent for very long. Once signs circulate within society, they become available for interpretation, repetition, manipulation, and contestation. This is where myth and ideology become important.

Consider the idea of beauty. We often encounter images of beautiful women in advertisements:

fair skin, tall bodies, thin waists, smooth faces, carefully…