RED ON THE BRAZILIAN FLAG:

ANALYSIS OF CARTOONS IN REACTION TO JAIR BOLSONARO'S JARGON IN THE BRAZILIAN DIGITAL CONTEXT

Abstract

This study aims to discursively understand the political and ideological associations of the color red within the Brazilian sociopolitical context. These associations are triggered by the phrase “our flag will never be red,” stated by Jair Bolsonaro in his inauguration speech (2019) and recurrently used throughout his electoral campaign and presidency (2018–2022), both in public and digital environments. The research draws on the concepts of memory, event, and ideology (Pêcheux, 1999; 2006; 2011) to analyze the sociopolitical framework of the proposed timeframe. The corpus is composed of digital cartoons that reference the color red in political contexts and the context of Bolsonaro's statement. The analysis is grounded in the theoretical-methodological principles of Semiolinguistics to understand and identify speech acts, communication situations, and the subjects (Charaudeau, 2001), as well as the notions of digital discursivity and digital nativity developed by Dias (2016) and Paveau (2021), respectively. These approaches allow us to begin this search for comprehending the color red as both an ideological symbol and a marker of rejection by certain oppositions within the Brazilian political domain.