Mythologies and its rumors – Barthes and colonization
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1984-1124.v0ispep143-147Keywords:
Barthes, Mythology, Colonization, History, Video, Photography.Abstract
I propose to present an analysis of the video Vita Nova (2009), by the artist Vincent Meessen, which departs from a photographof the cover of Paris March Magazine from 1955. This photograph –a young black boy saluting the French flag – is analyzed by Barthes in the text “Myth today” in Mythologies (1957) and it is deciphered as “alibi of colonization” (BARTHES, 1957, p. 203). In its development, the film reveals an unexpected relationship: the fact that Barthes’grandfather, Louis-Gustave Binger, was a colonial Explorer who ruled the territory corresponding to Ivory Coast nowadays. The film appropriates from Barthes’ texts, twisting them and creating new meanings. I seek to identify some inflexions, displacements and other reflections based on Barthes’texts in this work, taking into consideration issues as myth, power, colonization and history.
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References
ALTMANOVA, J. Du nom déposé au nom commun: néologie et lexicologie en discours. Milano: Educatt, 2013.
BARTHES, R. Mythologies. Paris: Le Seuil, 1957.
BARTHES, R. Le degré zero de l’écriture. Paris, Le Seuil, 1972.
BARTHES, R. Roland Barthes par Roland Barthes. Paris, Le Seuil, 1975.
BARTHES, R.“La division des langages” In Oeuvres Complètes, Tome II: 1966-1973, Paris: Le Seuil, 1994.
DEMOS, T.J. Return to the Postcolony - Specters of Colonialism in Contemporary Art. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2013.
EMMAÜS, J. “Restitution de l’histoire: A la recherche de Diouf, Issa et Santoura, enfants de troupe en 1955” In Le Faso, 14 août 2006: http://www.lefaso.net/spip.php?page=impression&id_article=15689
MCQUILLAN, M. Roland Barthes (Or the Profession of Cultural Studies). New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
Yao, E. “Ecole militaire préparatoire de de Bingerville”le parcours des enfants de troupe” in Linfofrome, 21/03/ 2012: http://www.linfodrome.com/societe-culture/1456-le-parcours-des-enfants-de-troupe
Vídeo
MEESSEN, V. Vita Nova [vídeo-instalação] Produção: Normal Asbl, Bélgica, Distribuição: Argos, 2009. DV, PAL, 28 min., cor, son.
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