Abstract
In the 1950s, the French philosopher, critic, and semiotician Roland Barthes wrote a series of texts, published subsequently as the collection <em>Mythologies</em> (1957), that constitute a dissection of French popular culture of the time. Barthes used theories embraced in linguistics, and his approach has been replicated over the years, but here I argue that the participatory web, and in particular social network services, offers us a perspective to rethink mythmaking by non-elites, thanks to the networked language and semiotic practices of Instagram users. In other words, and by invoking the Ancient Greek understanding of mythologies as the telling of stories, I look at how so-called ordinary citizens create a new set of myths by analysing the discursive presentations of a range of ‘things’ that individuals draw on at Paris Orly Airport. I explore how these ‘things’, and in particular Starbucks coffee, are explicitly made to carry meaning, according to the captions, hashtags, and emojis given by the original poster.
Highlights
Between 1954 and 1956, the French philosopher, critic, and semiotician Roland Barthes wrote a series of witty texts that were published subsequently as the collection Mythologies (1957)
The second part of the project (Blackwood “Frenches on wall and online”) points to the potential for multimodal, digitally mediated performances to index the transnational, and in particular the creation of hybrid language forms which are mediated not by Ile de France or standard French but by cultural resources from English, the creoles of the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean, and Arabic. This small body of work indicates how this present study proposes a new approach to understanding digital meaning-making as a shared process, and—by positioning itself in relation to Barthes’ mythologies—sits at the nexus of cultural studies, digital Modern Languages research, and sociolinguistics
Taking Orly Airport as the site of enquiry, the starting point for vernacular mythologies has been the trope of the passport and/or boarding pass geotagged at Orly, where Instagram users upload a picture of their passport whilst waiting in the departure lounge
Summary
Between 1954 and 1956, the French philosopher, critic, and semiotician Roland Barthes wrote a series of witty texts that were published subsequently as the collection Mythologies (1957). George describes the “fast castes” as those within society who are not merely the fastest but, more subtly, the most mobile, those with whom prestige, wealth, and power are normally identified This exploration of vernacular mythologies gives rise to the question as to what the advent of the digital means for Barthes’ mythmaking, and whether this invites a recalibration of such telling of stories about things for the twenty-first century. I argue for the understanding of selfperformance on SNS through the recreation of motifs and patterns in the visual arrangement of props to convey a certain identity of a mobile, experienced traveller with recognized good taste (Blackwood “Languages, images, and Paris Orly Airport on Instagram”) At this stage, it is useful to return to George’s concept of ‘fast castes’ as the emphasis in this article shifts away from French nationals to those individuals who pass through Orly Airport but may well be holders of a Brazilian, an Italian, or a Moroccan passport. On SNS such as Instragram, cultural producers present their appraisal of a set of props to mediate their relationships with their online entourages and to evaluate positively—and often playfully—the importance placed on a range of ‘things’ and how these objects reflect the OP’s status and prestige
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