METAPHORS ON COVERS OF VIDA SIMPLES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PANDEMIC: A CRITICAL APPROACH

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic (2020-2023) had a significant impact on the physical and mental health of populations. In this context, there were numerous publications that attempted to understand the events unfolding, seeking to make sense of a new experience, whose dimensions and consequences were still unknown. Interested in this discursive framework and situated at the intersection between Critical Discourse Analysis and Cognitive Linguistics (Charteris-Black, 2004), this paper aimed to analyze conceptual metaphors (Lakoff; Johnson, 1980) in six covers of the brazilian magazine Vida Simples published during the first six months of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was observed that the undertaken metaphorical mappings point to-and create-a reality in which the individual is responsible for their own health, corroborating a neoliberal-capitalist worldview of self-care.

Keywords:
Critical Discourse Analysis; Metaphorical mappings; Social cognition; Covid-19; Mental Health