Genre codes transform real history into naturalized myth selectively

Evidence

Why and how do areas of conventionalization arise (and disappear)? The Western tale, of course, arose out of—though it quickly ceased to conform to—the real historical circumstances of the opening up of the American West. In part, what the production of the Western genre codes achieved was the transformation of a real historical West, selectively, into the symbolic or mythical “West.” But why did this transformation of history into myth, by the intervention of a stylized set of codes, occur, for our societies and times, in relation to just this historical situation? This process, whereby the rules of language and discourse intervene, at a certain moment, to transform and “naturalize” a specific set of historical circumstances, is one of the most important test cases for any semiology which seeks to ground itself in historical realities. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 791

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The mechanism by which language and codes turn historically specific circumstances into ‘natural’ universal myth — the bridge Hall builds between semiology and historical materialism — is dense and central to his whole project.
• XREF: Directly the ‘naturalization’ idea behind Gramsci’s common sense and how ideology becomes taken-for-granted; core to reading Hall as political thought. — connects to: Historical events only reach audiences after being transformed into narrative form; Founding myths substitute fabricated narrative for genuine history to serve ruling classes; Histories and causal narratives persist buried inside the language used to tell them (+8 more)
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 791

Broader Connections

• Founding myths substitute fabricated narrative for genuine history to serve ruling classes #exemplifies (0.70)
• Histories and causal narratives persist buried inside the language used to tell them #expands (0.65)
• Archival genres themselves shaped colonial epistemic practices #corroborates (0.60)