Roland Barthes after 1968: Critical Theory in the Reactionary Era of New Media

Abstract

Abstract:In the reactionary aftermath to the international events of 1968, Roland Barthes reconsidered his previous works of structuralist semiology, especially Mythologies (1957). While taking a post-structuralist turn, Barthes's late works seek to grapple with a ruling class increasingly immune to enlightenment modes of dialectical critique and satirical demystification. By reconsidering Barthes's reflections on technological transformations in the era of late capital, this article leverages Barthes's figuration of the "neutral" to explicate his paradoxical politics of aesthetic resistance. Throughout his array of experimental and speculative writings in the 1970s, Barthes offers insights into the polarized nature of culture and politics in a hyper-mediated society of the spectacle while providing blueprints for modes of subversion finely tuned to persuade those who will not be persuaded.