Reading figurative images in the political discourse of the British Press

Abstract

The present work aims to study visual metaphors and multimodal metaphors in the political cartoons published in the British press during the Brexit campaign. The theoretical approach adopted draws upon the theories elaborated by Halliday (1995) Forceville, Ruiz de Mendoza and Diez, and Hart, with the objective of identifying the three analytical steps that lead to the conceptual frames structuring the political event under investigation. Results show the extent to which the visual representation of the Brexit campaign proposes novel and original perspectives of interpretation, and further evidence of the relevance of metaphors and metonymies in the narration of events and in the construction of public opinion.