4. Mocking the Inept: Brazilian Cartoons and Criticism of the Jair Bolsonaro Government

This chapter investigates representations of the Bolsonaro government in the cartoons of the influential and award-winning Brazilian cartoonist Laerte Coutinho. In the Brazilian case, political cartoons translate an important feature of the country's cultural tradition: humor. Brazilians value humor as a strategy to face the ills they confront in their daily relationships and in their socio-political coexistence. It is argued that through her cartoons, political humor was a form of denunciation and resistance to Bolsonaro’s anti-democratic and anti-human rights agenda. By denouncing and mocking government actions, the cartoons raised awareness of key national questions, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, electoral system and democracy, conservative values, the environment, etc., contributing to a critical view and stance towards the Bolsonaro administration. In the context of a government aligned with authoritarian postures, humor emerges as a cultural trait of Brazilians and as a space for political socialization committed to strategies of resistance and construction of a critical political culture in the country. Methodologically, we used Documental Image Analysis, both in its qualitative approach to understanding cartoons based on the influence of their context, place, and author, as in their strategy of a three stage investigation: pre-iconographic, iconographic and iconological.