Myth in Design

I was reading in my graphic design book, This Means This This Means That by Sean Hall, about "Framing Meaning" and one of the sections was about myth. It discusses how myths are not just ancient stories that are mostly false. They are a devise that helps us understand the world that can be true, partly true, or straight out wrong. There are many different types of myths and they each have their own function. For example, there are urban myths, product myths, and image myths. More specific myths include the myth of childhood, the self, the countryside, science, politics, religion, design, art and the lives of the highly esteemed. Since this is a graphic design book, the section went into more depth on the myth of the artist. It hit on how many artists in the past are depicted with the dramatic lives. Take Vincent Van Gogh, for instance. His life was very interesting, which reflects in his work. When we look at his painting, we make correlations with his life and thus can make sense of why he worked they way he did. But if all of the sudden we were told that we lived a fantastic life and died of old age, the way we look at his paintings would completely change. A myth can completely change the way we look at something, especially if we believe it to be true.