Jair Bolsonaro’s Zombie Politics during the COVID-19 pandemic: an analysis of Toni D’Agostinho’s political caricature A Política Zumbi de Jair Bolsonaro durante a pandemia de COVID-19: uma análise da caricatura política de Toni D’Agostinho
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12957/rmi.2025.91833Keywords:
Bolsonarismo, Zombie politics, Political caricatureAbstract
This article aims to analyze the figure of Jair Bolsonaro as a zombie in a caricature of the artist Toni D'Agostinho, published on the artist's social networks, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic between April and June 2021. To do this, we will use the methodologies of iconographic analysis and iconological interpretation combined with the ideas of post-structural theories of International Relations, which understand the role of discourses in the construction and endorsement of political identities. In this sense, we will interpret the meanings of the zombie figure in the context of the national and international administration of the Bolsonaro government during the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring its elements identified in the cartoons: negationism, ignorance-chloroquine and brutality and armed violence. We argue that the caricature represents imagistically the behavior of the character projected politically internally and externally by the former president, as a member of the Global Far Right. Finally, we argue that the figure of the zombie has acquired iconic status in international politics, and it is through this iconic status that this figure is constantly utilized for political commentary.
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