Myth (n.) is a type of speech chosen by history, and mythology as the study of 'ideas-in-form' -- that is, as a science forming part 'both of semiology inasmuch as it is a formal science, and of ideology inasmuch as it is a historical science.
Myth (n.) is neither a lie nor a confession: It is an inflexion.
Myth (n.) is representative of the process of taking a purely cultural and historical object and transforming it into the sign of a universal value.
A Myth (n.) is not to be exposed, but rather, what is to be exposed is the fact that we were somehow aware of the mythological character of certain images and ideas all along.
Myth (n.) is ideological in that it represents a cultural value as universal and natural and turns culture into nature, often while still recognizing its status as myth, as a cultural product.
Myth (n.) is not simply a delusion or trick played upon us by those in positions of power; rather a myth can at one and the same time be literally itself (true) and the medium through which ideology propagates itself (ideological).
Myth (n.) is a peculiar system in that it is a second-order semiological system. The sign (say, a rose) is a mere signifier in the second, mythological system.
Myth (n.) is a second-order system which hijacks meaning and turns it into a signification, or a second-order meaning.
Myth (n.) is a metalanguage: a second-order language which acts on a first-order language, a language which generates meaning out of already existent meaning.
Myth (n.) is difficult to study because it is always hiding in plain sight — for example, in a photograph of a black French soldier which one might argue is nothing more than what it is — always acting like an alibi and saying,: ‘I am not where you think I am; I am where you think I am not’.
Myth (n.) is a thoroughly ideological process, works by presenting culturally specific objects and relations as if they were timeless, natural, and thus unquestionable.