Meghan Markle e o casamento real: análise do acontecimento na cobertura da Folha de S. Paulo

Abstract

This research consists of a discursive analysis of the coverage of the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which took place on May 19, 2018, in the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. The choice fo this theme is due to the characteristics of Meghan, who is biracial, american, a commoner from the perspective of the royal family, divorced and older than the prince. These aspects make her different from most members of the British nobles and create singularities in the way she is portrayed in the press, suggesting that she does not belong in that environment. They also make Meghan stand out in a way that a white, noble, british bride would not. Therefore, we ask: considering the british royal wedding, and from the analysis of the news in Folha de S. Paulo, what would be the happening: the royal wedding itself or the bride, Meghan Markle? To answer the question, a bibliographic review of the concepts of happening, celebrity, intersectionality, colorism and crossbreeding was performed. The analysis methodology was the french Discourse Analysis (AD) (according to the theory of the linguist Dominique Maingueneau) to analyze the news’s writing and relate it to elements such as images and infographics. Through the analysis, it was observed that, at the beginning of the coverage, Meghan appears as a passive subject, target of Harry’s action, who marries her. Afterwards, Folha introduces the duchess’s crossbreeding and she is characterized as a feminist and a changemaker in the royal family because of her unusual characteristics. Especially in the last news analyzed, the crossbreed element is highlighted, as Folha puts side by side the characteristics of the bride and groom and demonstrates the mixture that occurred at the ceremony. Throughout the coverage, a depreciation of the royal family also appears and royalty is portrayed as an old and outdated entity. Then, a relationship between the concepts and the results of the analysis was performed. It is concluded that although Meghan was highlighted in the wedding, it is not possible to determine the happenning with certainty, since both are intertwined.