Meaning and Interaction in the Construction of the Body in the Weekly Media

Abstract

This article aims at analyzing the production of meaning in the ways the body is presented in the media of weekly information, addressing the media discourse as locus of social interaction. For that, it is based on semiotic studies developed by Algirdas Julien Greimas and his collaborators, more specifically Landowski’s sociosemiotics, Floch’s plastic semiotics, and Oliveira’s studies on fashion discourse and the construction of identity. The object of study consists of the covers of the three main Brazilian weekly magazines Veja, Época, and Istoé issued between 2000 and 2006. The thematic and figurative reiterations, guided by invariable and variable elements, led us to the observation of two main discursive isotopies – health and beauty – around which to organize the discursive analysis. From there, we observed the construction of body simulacra related to a mode of presence which is mainly subjective and another one which is mainly objective. Based on these modes of presence, we propose a typology of body simulacra related to different regimes of meaning and interaction. The analysis of the mechanisms of enunciation in correlation with the regimes of meaning and interaction has led us to observe the way the media operates in the communication of information about the body, promoting values underlying the identity construction of the contemporary subject.