WPCe 2 BPZ Courier 10cpi#|x (x6X@FX@Roland PR-1112ROPR1112.PRSx  @XNX@USUK2> ZN %#|xHP LaserJet IIIHPLASIII.PRSx  @,\,6TX@USUKCourier 10cpiCourier 10cpi (Italic)2X F`c?xxx,wx6X@8;X@?xxx,Ax6Nh ;XHCurrently in North American popular culture there exists a trendwhich revolves around the ideal bodyaesthetic. Speciallydesignated space, technology, magazines, fashions, and a lot ofpeople's lifestyles revovle around this quickly increasingcommercial industry. The obsession with having the perfect figurehas made its way into every element of our lives: we see it incommercials, in halfhour infomercials, written as slogans, alludedto by food products, and personified by work out junkies such asMadonna and Sharon Stone. Fitness centres are rampant and exerciseequipment is developed and produced at high speeds. It ispresently so ingrained in our society that it has taken on the formof myth. Roland Barthes says in his book Mythologies that "nothingcan be safer from myth" (143): that "everything can be a mythprovided it is conveyed by a discourse" (117). In this discourse ? I will expose the myth of the Aerobic Babe through the creation ofits mythology, using Barthes paradigm of first, second and thirdlevel semiotic systems. I will also discuss that by lookinng atthe aerobic babe mythology, one could call the myth a perectexample of our postmodern society. First, to identify the aerobic babe as a myth in a Barthian manner,I must use his model (124) and fill in the necessary semioticelements: the signifier, the signified and the sign. If onefollows the Barthian model first there must be a liguistic systemwhere the sign of that system doubles as the signifier of a secondorder system, myth. When the sign of the first system comes intobeing, the meaning of that sign allows it to act as a signifier inthe next mythical system. Barthes views this sign as somethingwith meaning which temporarily empties itself or its meaning, sothat it may become a form ready and willing to be appropriated bya signified. "Myth's point of departure is constituted by thearrival of meaning." (133) is the way Barthes describes thelaunching of myth from the sign of the previous linguistic system. To discuss and analyze myth Barthes says that it is not necessaryto breakdown the linguistic system: it is only necessary toacknowledge its sign as a signifier for myth to access. He writesof this, "The semiologist no longer needs to ask about thecomposition of the language object he will only need to know itstotal term and only in as much as this term lends itself to myth."(124). Because, then, it is not our concern to show how the firstsystem came to into being, I will jump in and start with thesignifier of the myth, which as we know, has taken its form fromthe meaning of the sign in the linguistic system. The signifier in the aerobic myth is the woman (or sometimes man)who looks unnaturally toned and fit and is posed usually inadvertisements. Her body looks like something which came from aplastic mold. It is "perfectly" shaped, smooth, tanned, hairlessand flawless. She is the woman in tight, low cut aerobic wear;big, doneup hair, and a smiling face. She does not sweat, nor isshe ever out of breath. She is often found in newspaper ads forfitness clubs, such as Bally's Matrix and Superfitness, or on TVlate at night selling mail order portable work out equipment(equipment so small that you can hite under you desk and work outh)0*0*0* in the luxury of your own office this of course, though, would befor the male aerobic babe). This woman, when in union with hersignified, comprise the aerobic babe myth. Once she becomes amyth, her meaning is easily recognized: people see her and theyunderstand her message immediately. This of course, though, isdependent on the signified, which Barthes also refers to as theconcept. Barthes explains that often a neologism is necessary whendiscussing in myth because often the signified is something thatdoes not fit into an already established word. Myth takes on sucha natural form that it is not until one wants to deconstruct it,that it becomes apparant that there is no word for what is beingsignified: until the deconstruction, the signified seems like anatural phenomenon that gets taken for granted, thus leaving it ? unnamed. In the aerobic babe myth I shall name the concept In ? shapness, after the existence of many North Americans striving toget "in shape". I have no alternative than to create a new wordfor the concept of this myth because other established words, suchas fitness or healthyness do not apply exactly. Each of thosewords has their own connotations and they do not fit the concept ?h which lies within this myth. The Inshapeness myth is culture andtime specific: it reflects something that is going on in societyright now, and other words to represent this concept would notwork. Likewise, the aerobic babe as a signifier would not be rightfor any of the words that I just considered as possible signifieds. She could only signify a neologistic concept because she, herself,is also so new. Now that we have determined that the concept of the aerobic babe ?p myth is Inshapeness, a few words on what Inshapeness actually is, ?8 are in order. The Inshapeness myth is based in the quest for theperfect body. What constitutes the "perfect body" is the promotedand accepted version of a desired anatomical aesthetic. This ideahas been present for centuries and the form in fashion is dependenton the trend of the day, whether it be the Rubenesque woman formthe Baroque period or the thin, waiflike woman of the twenties. Now the ideal body is one that is hard as rock or perhaps,"steel", as in the television ad for the mail order video entitled,"Buns of Steel". Although the previous ideal bodies revolvedaround fashion and/or art, this particular body in discussion doesnot entirely remain in that sphere. (In the fashion world theideal body does have to look toned and fit but it is different from ?! what exists in the world of Inshapeness.)  ?(# Inshapeness encompasses a world of its own: it has the masses inits pen. The world of Inshapeness has millions of people buyingthe same work our clothing, going to the same type of work outcentres, and all desiring to achieve the exact same body which atthat point could hardly be called a body; a form would be moreappropriate, or to use their language, "a shape". This world makesit convenient for any one to join. Chain fitness centres exist allover major cities, they usually carry the same or similarequipment, and the layout is very ordered, so that little mentalh)0*0*0* involvement it is like ordering from a fast food restaurant. ANdif you do not have the time or money for fitness clus, you simplyorder a piece of equipment for your home at prices that range from$29.99 to hundreds of dollars and have your own private regimen. The body in this world is removed from the Self and is worked on as ? a seperate entity. Inshapeness does not connote healthy eatingfor instance, or getting exercise for the sake of feeling better.  ?x Inshapeness revovles around looking great and aiming for an idealphysique. This distinction is necessary when looking at this mythas a part of a postmodern society. The aerobic myth is a combination of the aerobic babe as a ?` signifier and Inshapeness as the signified. Using a mathematicalanalogy the structure of the myth would be, woman in exercise wear ? + Inshapeness = aerobic babe myth. The sign is the aerobic babewith meaning, until then she is only the aerobic babe with form. No ? tuntil she meets Inshapeness can she be anything but a signifier(unless, of course, she takes a step backwards and remains as thesign in her previous linguistic system). Once the sign has meaningthe signifier and the signified have done their job, and theirrelationship remains eliptical; they work as a unit and remain thatway as long as the sign continues to have meaning. This, then, isthe construction of the myth of the aerobic babe. She is an imagethat portrays getting in shape as possible and as a positive movein one's life. Her message to the typical North American is that,"You too can have this great body; get on your aerobic clotes andgo work out so that your body can look perfect." The only way the aerobic babe myth can be discussed is with theknowledge that comes with the aerobic babe mythology. We could noteven speak of the myth if the mythology were not created. Theaerobic babe myth without a mythology exists as naturally assunshine does: as something so natural that it does not even invokequestioning it is a completely accepted norm working on theoblivious public. Barthes says that the, "mythconsumer takes thesignification for a system of facts: myth is read as a factualsystem, whereas it is but a semiological system" (142). Myth,though, can only be seen as a semiological system with the exposingaid of a mythology. He writes of this, "the best weapon againstmyth is perhaps to mythify it in its turn, and to produce anartifical myth: and this reconstituted myth will in fact be amythology" (147). Mythology is a third order system thatoperations in the same way that the second order system of mythoperates. Just as a myth takes a sign from a linguistic system anduses it as a signifier, mythology takes a sign from a mythicalsystem and uses it as a signifier. A mythology of a particularmyth, then, uses the mythical sign as its signifier. The mythologyof a particular myth, then, uses the mythical sign as itssignifier. The mythology of the aerobic babe uses the sign in theaerobic babe myth as its signifer, the process then starts allover. As we have already established, the signifier in the aerobic babemythology starts as the sign of the aerobic babe myth. It is theh)0*0*0* exact same woman in her aerobic wear, except that she no longer hasher mythical meaning. She is for a second time drained of most ofher meaning so that she may become a form, again to be appropriatedby a signified (one must remember that she never really loses hermeaning, she just wears it on the outside so that a new concept mayprovide her with a new meaning.) Her form has always been thesame, it is her meaning that keeps changing: it evolves andchanges, and accumulates more meaning as it passes through thevarious semiological systems. The process within a mythology is exactly the same as the processwithin a linguistic and mythic system. A mythological concept mustnow come and appropriate the aerobic babe form in order to give itmeaning. And just as the concept in a myth is usually a neologism,so is the concept in a mythology. The concept in mythology isusually a metaconcept: it is a concept that is aware of theprevious concept and makes a statement on that previous concept.  ?H In the aerobic babe mythology I shall call the concept Postmodern ? Bodyism.  ? As a signified, Postmodern Bodyism is aware that the aerobic babemyth is a farce and should only be seen as an outcome of our ownpostmodern society. This concept protects one from being trappedby the myth itself. As Barthes says, it cuts him off from all themythconsumers and allows him to liberate the myth (171). By beingaware of what the aerobic babe myth is and how it works, one isable to avoid becoming an aerobic babe themselves. One does nothave to physically participate in the myth to be a believer: themyth is an ideology and one can acknowledge it as legitimate andnever have to leave the couch. One may not be cognizantly aware of ?p Postmodern Bodyism, for example, but may intuitively be a cynic andtherefore be able to skirt myth's trap: the protection here is thatthe cynic feels the concept and relates to it, but has never found ? it necessary to name it. Postmodern Bodyism has its roots indisbelief and sees through the myth. It is an idea that is aware ?X of the fact that the goals of Inshapeness are ludicrous.  ?  Postmodern Bodyism is, then, the concept that Inshapeness isfalse: that the idea of the perfect body is farce and that all itis, is another way to manipulate society by the reins of their ownvanity, into a world of packaged, fitness goods. The sign in the aerobic babe mythology will look exactly the sameas the sign in the aerobic babe myth, except that she will readmuch differently: her meaning could not be farther from the meaningof the mythical aerobic babe sign. Once one sees through theaerobic babe myth, the original signifer signifies the crass, dehumanized, automated, produced world of postmodernism. When one ?$ sees the aerobic babe as a mythological sign the message is not get ?% in shape and obtain the perfect body. On the contrary, the messagecommunicates the world of fitness as unrealistic, consumeroriented, and a sign of our inorganic times. Barthes writes, "themythologist is condemned to live in theoretical sociality; for him,to be in society is, at best to be truthful...his connection withthe world is of the order of sarcasm" (171). This view of a sign,h)0*0*0* that to others would represent the myth of the aerobic babe, showsthe metacognizant nature of mythologies. The aerobic babe as a mythological sign of postmodern may seemclear, but some examples for those who have not bought into themyth may help to clarify the world which it represents and how thatis an example of postmodernism. In the fitness world of the aerobic babe myth the body that isworked on is no longer a part of the Self: the connection betweenbody and mind gets severed. The mind becomes metaaware that it isworking out and striving for a shape that has already beenconstituted. The body becomes an object to the mind that isexternal entity and can be controlled just as any other piece ofequipment can be. Conceptually the body gets deconstructed intoindividual muscle parts and is then no longer regarded as a whole. The work out junkie works on this muscles or that muscle and failsto perceive his body as something that is attached to him and haslife. What happens in this postmodern world of working out is adisassociation with the body. The mind treats each worked out areaof the body as though it were inanimate as though it were beingmanufactured which dehumanizes it and makes it a perfectcandidate for being included under the idea of postmodernism. Some of the language used within the world of the aerobic babereflects how the body is perceived. The most obvious ones are theterms "in shape" and "out of shape", "Got to get in shape", "Boy,am I ever out of shape": using terms like this usually means, "I'vegot to get fit...I've got to get healthy...I better do someexercise." The use of the world "shape" suggests that there is ashape that is being aspired to, not a strength or a feeling ofhealthiness. Getting "in shape" is so commonly used that people donot think about what they are meaning. Although they would claimthat they really meant getting fit or healthy, if they have boughtinto the myth then they would literally mean attaining a certainshape. Another word that is used in aerobic classes and circulatesaround the gym is "sculpt". There are classes that range from tento a hundred people who are there to "scuplt and tone". Again, theword "sculpt" suggests that the body is worked on as an externalmaterial. I think of scupting clay and making forms, I guess thepostmodern workout babe would too, except the clay would be theirown body. The equipment used in up to date gyms verges on unbelievable unlessyou have seen it for yourself. Imagine fifteen Stairmasters(automated stepping machines) next to fifteen hightech,programmable stationary bikes, tread mills that can increase theirslope, and hundreds of other machines for every muscle in yourbody. Imagine this on a couple floors of a high rise building, ?H& complete with neon lights that flash and spell aerobics, little,white lights, snazzy carpeting, chrome, and popular music beingpiped in or leaking out from the glass box that holds the aerobicsclasses. This is no exaggeration this is Bally's Matrix inEtobicoke.h)0*0*0*ԌThe fitness centre is the farthest thing from anything natural thatI have seen. At capacity, at least one hundred people are therestepping in sync, rowing in sync, bending forward, lifting bars,lying down pushing some thing and more. These people are likerobots who interect with machines that talk to them: they listen totheir walkman or independently tune out because there is nothingwith which to make a connection. The machines are all programmableaccording to your own personal selection. Before you start youhave to push in your weight, your desired level, your desired timeperiod and then you're off. You interact with a machine that beepsevery time you are below performance level, or have walked so manyflights of stairs, or are almost finished frankly these machinesbeep whenever they get the chance. After you have finished, on thedisplay panel appaers the amount of calories you have burned off,how many flights of stairs you have climbed, or the number ofkilometres you have just jogged or cycled. This is a sign of theinformation obsessed attitudes of postmodernism. The attitudesthat also thrive on automation and technology and communicate inways that are less and less in need of other human beings.  ? I want to make one final point on the world of Inshapeness andpostmodernism. There is a paradox which is intrinsic to thesystem: Why would someone work at saving time and energy, only tohave to make up for it at the gym? Why, for example, would Mr.Executive ride the evelator thirtyfive floors to his office twicea day and then after work go to the gym and walk seventy flights ofstairs on the Stairmaster? Or ride the escalator, or partake inany other energy consuming device? Could it possibly be that he,along with many other millions of people, have bought into theaerobic babe myth? All the people who are involved in thiscontradiction prove the point that "naturalization is the essenceof myth" (142): that myth makes its way into our consciousness andtakes the form of something real. It is precisely because ofmyth's cunning nature that mythologies are necessary. The onlyhope for escaping myth is for mythologies to be recognized, voicedand communicated.