Coronelismo em versão retrofit na TV: um estudo de caso do discurso assistencialista de Luciano Huck

Abstract

Personal needs (material and affective) are exposed daily on Brazilian television in politically and business-interested shows, a symbolic violence with traces of abuse of power disguised as social action. It is in this media environment that this research is framed, which has as its object the assistencialism practiced by the presenter Luciano Huck and, as a starting point, the following problem: how this television strategy establishes material and affective relationships with the public. The objective is to identify and analyze the characteristics of the presenter's speech, which, among other categories, we propose to call neokitsch assistencialism, as a retrofit of coronelism. We understand that the study can contribute to the field of research in communication by proposing, in addition to an aesthetic rating of assistencialism, the discussion of concepts such as the electronic halter: an affective link with political connections established with the public from the resolution of emotional and material problems, as did the colonel, a historical character from a period that Vilaça and Albuquerque (1978) call “feudalismo matuto”. Furthermore, we consider the importance of analyzing this strategy within the spectrum of media discourse studies. We apply adapted methodological tools, which include televisual analysis, discourse analysis (French school) and critical discourse analysis. Regarding coronelism, the theoretical framework is based on Leal (2012), Vilaça and Albuquerque (1978) and Vilela (2008). Regarding assistencialism, we adopted Alayón (1995), Mota (2010) and Sitcovsky (2009) as reference. We also take as a reference Weber's (2004) concept of charismatic domination, as well as reflections on popular TV programs by França (2006) and Araújo (2006). About the political bias, reference in Gomes (2004) and Aldé (2004). In the exercise of assistentialist actions, Luciano Huck has difficulties in dialoguing with poorer people and with that reverberates prejudices typical of a conservative (with an air of modernism) and elitist discourse. Based on this panorama, we argue that this discourse of coronelism in a retrofit version is presented as an electronic halter project based on solidarity. Paradoxically, it separates the two sides of the issue, as it contributes little or nothing to solving the assisted's problems, from a structural point of view.