By Daniel Whitmore
Claude Lévi-Strauss, the French anthropologist and key figure in structuralism, brought new depth to the study of myth by treating it not as mere folklore or primitive belief, but as a system of meaning shaped by underlying structures. His work laid the foundation for applying structural analysis to narratives, particularly in relation to genre and cultural expression.
In his analysis of myths from different cultures, Lévi-Strauss proposed that the function of myth is to mediate contradictions—between life and death, nature and culture, self and other—through symbolic resolution. He argued that myths operate through binary oppositions and their transformation. The deep structure of a myth, he claimed, is more important than the surface story.
Though he focused primarily on indigenous mythologies, Lévi-Strauss’s ideas were quickly adopted by film theorists and genre scholars interested in the recurring patterns and symbolic logic of popular narratives. His influence is visible in the study of heroic journeys, moral dualities, and the cyclical nature of myth in fantasy, science fiction, and epic genres.
Rather than seeing genre as a fixed category, Lévi-Strauss’s structuralism encourages us to view genres as cultural tools that encode collective contradictions and offer imaginative solutions. Mythic genres, then, are not just entertaining but structurally meaningful—vehicles through which societies process their deepest anxieties and ideals.
While Lévi-Strauss’s highly abstract models have been criticized for ignoring historical and psychological context, his legacy endures in any approach that seeks to understand how genre forms reflect and resolve cultural tensions.
Source: Claude Lévi-Strauss, Myth and Meaning; The Raw and the Cooked; and related works.