The imagetic construction of a crime: analysis of magazine covers on the case of Isabella Nardoni

Abstract

Since the beginning of time, the image has been present in our lives, taking up different functions. Throughout history, production and support techniques have changed and the image has gained more power to a point where, in some moments, it substitutes texts and drives opinion making. Therefore, the objective of this work is to analyze the visual elements found on the covers of Veja, Isto É and Época on the Isabela Nardoni’s case, verifying the significance of the image for the construction of narratives surrounding the facts. The theoretical and conceptual background used in the analysis is based on two authors: Harry Pross, who, through his signs relational theory, searches for the visual readings of several cultural texts by an axes interpretation (insideoutside, above-below, bright-dark). The other author, Ivan Bystrina, one of the main thinkers in Culture Semiotics, like Pross, understands the perception by axes, or poles, stressing that the negative always attracts more attention, emphasizing that these characteristics are based on archaic values still ingrained in man. In this work, it was possible to see, through the exposed references, significant elements for the visual construction of the narrative of a crime on magazine covers.