This is a time of year when mythology flourishes.

Indeed to have the fun we think we deserve, we actively encourage traditional myths that allow our children to enjoy the festivities to the full. In doing so, we create modern myths to suit the times. Some are less palatable than others.

Timely then, that the academic and critic Peter Conrad should explore, lampoon and ultimately debunk some of our most popular modern myths. On Saturday, in 21st Century Mythologies (BBC Radio 4) a handy omnibus pieced together a series of sketches broadcast recently, exposing the shallowness of much that is valued and respected in modern society. Taking a lead from French philosopher and semiotician Roland Barthes he picked at the scabs of what are, admittedly, easy targets, but ones that, nonetheless, receive acres of coverage in both the press and on social media. In other words, their fame lies in being talked about.

In his 1957 collection of essays, Mythologies, Barthes dealt with the subject of mystification and linguistics. Today we would call it marketing and branding and there can be few things, quite literally, as hollow at its core as the cronut. To the uninitiated, a cronut is a faddish, much sought after, croissant-doughnut hybrid with limited availability, selling for $5 a piece. People queue overnight outside fashionable delis to procure this deep fried, high fat food-portmanteau. With relish, Conrad questioned why it can be so modishly retro to queue for dough product, as if in a 1930s breadline.

In a devastating critique that dwelled on the theme of hollowness; the Kardashian sisters were presented as a family of talentless yet shameless self-publicists, who symbolise everything that is wrong with modern consumer society. They embody, he claimed, most of the cardinal sins: greed, wrath, pride, envy and lust. Gluttony he exempted them from on account of their miniscule, yet fashionable dietary habits, and they can never be accused of sloth as they do spend most of their waking hours obsessing about themselves.

A day earlier there was mythological talk when, as part of BBC6 Music's excellent Three Wise Women strand, Alison Goldfrapp curated an afternoon of music and documentary. La Chanson de Serge - The Serge Gainsbourg Story - was given a welcome airing. Presented by the late Malcolm McLaren, it portrayed Gainsbourg's life as an abject lesson in modern pop mythology. It's a story of existential outsider made national hero; despite his repeatedly scandalising the sensibilities of his country. With typical mirth McLaren wove a tale that neatly blurred the lines between fact and speculation; creating a myth of which Gainsbourg might have been proud. I wonder if we'll still be talking about the cronut in 30 years?