Advanced semiotics: how can myths resolve contradictions in Zoe Sugg's vlogs?

“[A myth provides] a logical model capable of overcoming a contradiction” (Barthes, 1958)

To watch Zoe Sugg's vlogs (or indeed those of any other YouTube lifestyle vlogger) is to be faced with a contradiction. On the one hand, Sugg/Zoella is a friendly, welcoming face, directly addressing her young target audience as an equal. She shares tips and tricks and elements of her life, often in an intimate mode of address. Yet she is also an unassailable multimillionaire businesswoman, using her brand identity to sell products to her vast audiences which she has systematically cultivated over more than ten years.

So how can she be two things at once? How can anyone take this person seriously?

Roland Barthes offers an explanation for how this is possible. Myths are ideas, stories and concepts about the world that help us to make sense of it. Modern life has left meaning fragmented (an idea further explored by Jean Baudrillard), so where things don't quite make sense, myths step in. Except here we are not talking about Hercules and Perseus and King Arthur. Myths here are things along the lines of marriage, hegemonic norms, capitalism and consumerism. So what does this mean in practice? Lets look at some examples!

How do myths resolve contradictions in the video “Baby Shopping, Chilled Day With Mark & GRWM | ad”?

How can Zoe Suggs address a vast anonymous audience while maintaining the illusion of friendly, face-to-face communication?

• While Sugg presents a myth of inclusivity and friendliness, she is ‘talking’ to an anonymised audience, with no real knowledge of who is watching and why they are doing so. 
• The audience is statistically represented through a view counter. This video currently has 760000 views, with this vast number being symbolic of a huge and adoring audience, as well as Sugg’s enormous financial potential
• Sugg starts the video bare faced, and talks unguardedly about her own life. The use of a MS set up by Sugg herself is symbolic of her professionalism ,and reinforces that she is in charge of her own business empire, despite employing people to help.
• A sense of relatability and realism is constructed through the proairetic code of Sugg discussing meeting Mark Ferris. This suggests that Sugg has a rich and exciting personal life, white also being down to earth, which constructs a sense of verisimilitude.
• A voyeuristic mode of address is constructed through the household/bathroom setting, which positions the target audience directly in her bathroom. The audience are encouraged to appraise and to imagine themselves in this situation. Zoella gives implicit consent for this voyeurism to occur, and positions the audience as a friend rather than a lover
• A binary opposition is constructed through Sugg’s clear hegemonic attractiveness, and her relatable and often flawed appearance. The MES of her acne constructs a relatable symbolic code for the target audience
• However, her spots also function as a proairetic code, as the audience are encouraged to anticipate how Sugg is either going to cover them up and/or treat them. This highly relatable mode of address is part of Sugg’s enormous popularity.

How do myths resolve contradictions in the video 'Mark Felt The Baby Kicking & Things We Don't Share Online'

@sarahx6770 

2 years ago 

I’ve been following you since the days you used to sit on your mums living room carpet chatting about your favourite Mac lipsticks! So lovely to feel like we’ve grown up together without even knowing one another. Sending you lots of well wishes for the rest of your pregnancy, Zoe xxx

• Close up and static shots, seemingly mounted by Sugg herself provide a personal mode of address to the target audience, and furthermore symbolically position them directly in her garden
• Initially, the video features handheld cinematography, symbolising a natural and candid point of view shot that aligns views with Sugg directly, and therefore provides them with the gratification of voyeuristic pleasure
• Her slightly untidy garden has connotations of a relaxed and chilled out ideology, and helps the target audience to identify with the multi-millionaire 
• At one stage, Sugg shouts at Mark “shout into my vagina!”, a comedic mode of address that will appeal to a millennial female audience. This allows audiences to see a different side of Sugg, and cultivated the ideology that she is candid and unguarded
• A binary opposition is constructed between both genders and sexualities. The stereotypically camp Mark confirms Sugg’s heterosexuality. By providing her emotional support, and touching her belly in an intimate mode of address, mark is constructed as the stereotypical gay best friend, and plays up to comedic stereotypes
• Mark exclaims: “she’s going to be an acrobatic!” this grammatically incorrect statement symbolically encodes Marks status as a non-threatening and humorous best friend