Comunicação no contexto histórico-político: análise comparativa entre líderes de opinião reais e ficcionais sobre os efeitos de Katniss Everdeen e Jair Messias Bolsonaro

Abstract

This work analyzes the media construction of opinion leaders, focusing on the problematization of forms of mass domination stemming from movements led by such figures. The study starts from the premise that major historical events, such as Nazism, were driven by influential figures, and recognizes the need to analyze the elements that characterize the communication of opinion leaders, with an emphasis on populism and charisma. The methodology consists of a qualitative approach (Godoy, 1995), film analysis (Vanoye and Goliot-Lété, 2002), and narrative analysis (Mozzato and Grzybovski, 2011), in order to understand the composition of leaders' images in both real and fictional spheres. This is achieved through a comparison between Katniss Everdeen, the symbol of the revolution in Panem—a fictional country from the film The Hunger Games (2012)—and the former president of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro (2018). The theoretical framework is supported by concepts developed by authors such as Urbinati (2018), Weber (1999), and Wolf (2003), who discuss populism, charismatic authority, and the theory that conceptualizes opinion leadership (the limited effects theory), respectively. The results reveal an understanding of the plurality of leadership and the possibility of identifying common characteristics in the construction of opinion leaders and their methods of mass persuasion, enabling a mapping of such aspects.