Personal attributes as a promise of political action: when satirical impersonators hold politicians accountable ; Los atributos personales como promesa de acción política: Cuando los imitadores les cobran la palabra a los políticos

Abstract

Despite being well recognized for its impact, the specific logic guiding the production of satirical impersonation of politicians remains insufficiently researched in the field of political communication. This article aims at unveiling the ideas those artists use to conceptualize their job and, on that basis, enriching the theoretical notions present in the field. This study stems from the observation of the production process of Polònia, a tv program based on the impersonation of politicians that is broadcast weekly in Catalonia, Spain, from 2006. Data consists of interviews with some impersonators and the analysis of how this show represented the political negotiations conducted to form a government in 2015. Central in this production process is the personal traits of each politician, out of which, impersonators make their own impressions to craft their imitations. Then, in the sketches, Polònia shows if politicians are consistent with the impression they bring about with their personal traits. Satirical impersonation holds politicians to their own form of accountability: If a politician inspires a given way of being with their personal performance, he or she must be consistent with that in the daily political struggle. The personal is a promise of political action which, if not fulfilled, sends the politician to irrelevance. This centrality of the personal is discussed in comparison with its conceptualization in political communication literature. ; Pese a su impacto, la lógica que guía la producción de imitación sátira de políticos y políticas es aún poco investigada en el campo de la comunicación política. Este artículo devela las ideas que estos artistas tienen sobre su trabajo y, a partir de ellas, busca enriquecer las nociones teóricas presentes en el campo. El estudio emerge de la observación del proceso de producción de Polònia, un programa de imitación de políticos transmitido semanalmente en Cataluña desde 2006. Se incluyen entrevistas con algunos imitadores y se analiza cómo se representó una ...