Open Access„We will go through this TOGETHER!“ Bemerkungen zu Vulnerabilität und zum kompulsiven Resilienzvarieté in politischen COVID-19-Krankheitsnarrativen
Author(s) -
Silvia Bonacchi,
Ingo H. Warnke
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
lubelskie materiały neofilologiczne/lublin studies in modern languages and literature
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2450-4580
pISSN - 0137-4699
DOI - 10.17951/lsmll.2021.45.2.53-64
Subject(s) - authoritarianism , narrative , vulnerability (computing) , context (archaeology) , resilience (materials science) , sociology , sketch , politics , political science , media studies , psychoanalysis , humanities , psychology , social psychology , gender studies , democracy , history , law , philosophy , linguistics , computer security , computer science , physics , archaeology , algorithm , thermodynamics
In a first, tentative and explorative review, the paper discusses issues of resilience performance in socially addressed illness narratives in the context of political communication and self-representation. Using the examples of U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and their Covid-19 disorders, the paper explores forms of media self-representation as resilient politicians. In a critical reading, the gender-coded displays of vulnerability and masculine resilience are related to the performance of the supposedly normal. Taking Judith Butler as a reference point, the illness narratives of strength are interpreted as a defense against and fear of weakness and threat. In the conclusion, the initial observations are related to questions of new forms of authoritarianism, so-called soft authoritarianism. The article is intended as a sketch and as a preliminary consideration for a future systematic study of vulnerability, gender, and political communication.