Roland Barthes' "Jet-Man"

[kratsayra]

If anyone happens to be familiar with Roland Barthes' Mythologies - he has an essay in it called "The Jet-Man" that I'm about to discuss with my students tomorrow.

I'm horribly embarrassed because I have no idea what a "Jet-Man" actually is. I'm uncertain if it is a jet airplane pilot or if it is a rocket-powered man who flies around (as in the Rocketeer).

I think perhaps he is a Rocketeer type because of "the anti-G suit of inflatable nylon, the shiny helmet." And the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that this is what Barthes is talking about. But a quick search online shows that many people (even in published books) seem to have understood the jet-man to be a jet pilot. And then again, he also talks about how "one is gifted for jet-flying" which seems to mean flying jets (I do know French, but I don't have the original on hand, unfortunately). Hmm.

Sorry to bother you all with such a specific question. Just thought I'd throw it out there in case anyone had any thoughts.

In any case, I highly recommend Barthes' Mythologies - it's an awful lot of fun :)

[Kafka's Crow]

I will have a look, isn't about heroes and how heroes are made. Being a structuralist, Barthes gives an account of how an ordinary man becomes a hero and how that hero is surpassed by the super-hero. He goes on to analyse the super-hero, rates him below the 'hero' because he lacks human emotion of bravery. Hero had human limitations, he overcame them, a super-hero (Jet-Man) has no such limitations therefore lacks the very human virtue of bravery. People create heroes and like to see their humanity reflected in them. Superheroes are given, they have no choice but to be what they are. Heroes choose to become great.

Like everything else in Mythologies Jet-Man depicts the reflection of a society in its task of hero-making and hero-worship.

[kratsayra]

thanks. I asked a colleague of mine and we decided that the Jet-Man is definitely a jet pilot (rather than someone who flies around with a jet pack). I know that people with jet packs are few and far between and mostly fantasy, and everything else in Barthes' Mythologies is about real/everyday people and things.

[Kafka's Crow]

thanks. I asked a colleague of mine and we decided that the Jet-Man is definitely a jet pilot (rather than someone who flies around with a jet pack). I know that people with jet packs are few and far between and mostly fantasy, and everything else in Barthes' Mythologies is about real/everyday people and things.

Pilot is the real hero, Jet-Man is the super hero created by society. Every society makes its own heroes and its values are reflected in its 'heroes and hero-worship' (to quote Carlyle's words). I'll read the text again in a couple of hours (it's only a couple of pages or maybe three), I read the book back in 1993!