[current issue] [back issues] [submissions] [links] [staff] [mail us]

'Myth Today' and national identity

An examination of Roland Barthes' 'Myth Today' in relation to advertising perpetuating the myth of national identity in New Zealand, especially the manifestation of this within the New Zealand tourism campaign. 


by Rebecca Burns 

All Rights Reserved © Rebecca Burns and Deep South
Deepsouth v.6.n.3 (Spring 2000)

 
[previous page 1 | 2 | 3 ]


The New Zealand Tourism Board's website "100% Pure New Zealand" serves as a case study for the way in which the New Zealand tourism campaign plays on certain aspects of our culture to manifest national identity. One example is the portrayal of a "native" culture, commodifying the culture and portraying Maori as a primitive race by depicting them in traditional costume. Research for a report by the Aotearoa Maori Tourism Federation (no date given) found that the use of Maori images in tourism promotions is narrow and based on stereotypes.14 Under the label 'Discover Maori Culture' the website talks about "Our indigenous Maori culture ..." and "Our Maori people have preserved their traditions and customs as well as their language."15 This could be read as implying a boundary between Maori and Pakeha as well as a sense of ownership with the use of the word "our." On the other hand, the words are more likely to be an attempt at depicting a "shared culture" in the name of commodifying New Zealand. 
 

As well as this, the banner of 'Cultural Landmarks' approaches the Treaty of Waitangi with somewhat rose-tinted glasses: "... historic places like Waitangi, where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, joining British and Maori as one nation." This assumes several points. First, it ignores the fact that the Treaty of Waitangi has since been widely disputed by Maori. Thus portraying New Zealand as a harmonious bi-culture that subsequently because of Treaty issues is not always so. Secondly, the old strain of "mother-country England" shines through by the announcement of the joining of "British and Maori", completely ignoring the fact that many other cultures settled here in the nineteenth century such as the Dutch, Irish and Chinese.
 
 
 

By far the most dominant imagery in the promotion of New Zealand, both nationally and internationally is the use of landscape. This is not surprising New Zealands landscape is one of great beauty. However, this not only denies the existence of New Zealand cities but also occurs at the expense of urban culture. A perfect example occurs in the opening sequence of Lee Tamahori's 1994 film Once Were Warriors. The shot begins by focussing on a beautifully placid, rural landscape, as though it were an establishing shot, but to the audiences surprise, pans out to reveal the truth of the situation. The landscape is actually a billboard advertising an electricity company, which hangs over an urban, concrete motorway. 
 
 
 

The "100% Pure New Zealand" website shows no urban imagery. It is however filled with many landscape/outdoor photos and information about them. In one section entitled 'Heartland' the potential tourist is encouraged to "experience a true kiwi lifestyle in uncrowded rural areas." This is problematic because of two factors. One, how is a rural lifestyle more "true" than its urban counterpart? And secondly, the majority of New Zealands population live in urban areas, so if we take this above statement to be true then only a segment of the population are leading "true" lives. The writer of the website does however try to compensate for this by saying: "We love the great outdoors, but we also make a good espresso ..." as if to align coffee with "high" urban culture. There are so many landscape shots in the "100% Pure New Zealand" website that they actually become quite generic.16 The landscape and outdoor activities are heavily concentrated on in the "100% Pure New Zealand" campaign as a construction of what it is like to be a New Zealander.
 
 
 

An interesting page in the "Pure" website is 'Clinton's 100% Pure New Zealand Experience.' Two pages are devoted to U.S President Bill Clinton's visit to New Zealand for the 1999 APEC Leaders Summit. Apparently "the President quickly discovered the magic of New Zealand."17 Here, the tourism campaign seems to seek valorisation by showing Bill Clinton enjoying the New Zealand visit. Again landscape is depended upon when the Clinton is quoted as saying: "Everybody on our plane was just gasping when we saw the landscape, it's just so beautiful." Clinton is shown on the website in order to create credibility. This is a reflection of New Zealands need for approval and wish to gain closer links with the U.S.
 
 
 

By the examples provided it is possible to see a common thread in New Zealands search for national identity. We seem to play on the same imagery repeatedly, as though frightened to explore new boundaries. In undertaking the research for this paper I was lead to really think about exactly what our national identity is portrayed to be. I also asked some friends to write down words they commonly associated with "New Zealand." All of the answers were similar and included words such as rugby, sheep, farms, trees and rural. This is exactly how myth has saturated the view of our cultural identity. All the participants are urban dwellers, whose contact with farms, sheep and so on is very limited. And so why did they relate such concepts with the country they live in? The answer lies in the media. As Barthes himself once said: "I try to imagine going to a place that I have not already seen in pictures."18

 

[previous page 1 | 2 | 3 ]
 

[bibliography]


14 Brian Human and Julie Warren, 'Snappers in Brochureland' in Kearsley, Professor Geoff (Ed.) Tourism Down Under II - Towards a More Sustainable Tourism, Dunedin: Centre for Tourism, University of Otago, 1996, p187.
15 Located at http://purenz.com/maori.cfm 
16 I am not trying to deny the beauty of the New Zealand landscape, but am attempting to point out the tourism industry's reliance upon it as a marketing tool.
17 http://purenz.com/clinton.cfm 
18 Human and Warren, p181.

Bibliography

Barthes, Roland, 'Myth Today' in Mythologies, New York: The Noon Day Press, 27th Edition, 1993.

Eagleton, Terry, Ideology - An Introduction, London: Verso, 1991, pp5-6.

Human, Brian and Warren, Julie, 'Snappers in Brochureland' in Kearsley, Professor Geoff (Ed.) Tourism Down Under II - Towards a More Sustainable Tourism, Dunedin: Centre for Tourism, University of Otago, 1996.

Novitz, David, 'On Culture and Cultural Identity' in Culture and Identity in New Zealand, Novitz, David and Willmott, Bill, (Eds.) Wellington: Crown Copyright Reserve, 1989.

Maharey, Steve, 'Media' in New Zealand Society, Spoonley, Paul and Pearson, David, (Eds.) Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 1990.

McNeill, Tony, 'Roland Barthes: Mythologies (1957)' @ http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/~osOtmc/myth.html, (last updated) April 1996.

Perry, Nick, The Dominion of Signs, Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1994.

Williamson, Judith, Decoding Advertisements - Ideology and Meaning in Advertising, London: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd, 1978. 

http://www.purenz.com/shocked.cfm

http://purenz.com/clinton.cfm

http://purenz.com/maori.cfm