Political humour and the strengthening of New-Pentecostalism in Costa Rica: analysis of the 2017-2018 electoral campaign

Abstract

This paper analyzed the electoral dispute developed in Costa Rica between 2017-2018, fundamentally the image of two participating political parties: Acción Ciudadana and Restauración Nacional. The objective was to determine the most relevant factors that stimulated political discussion and how digital cartoons and memes portrayed the electoral campaign and the candidates for the presidency. The electoral campaign was of great relevance when new political forces like the Neopentecostals participated, which received criticism during this period. In that matter, the transformation of the Costa Rican political sphere and the rise of new groups to national politics were reflected. The methodology was based on the application of semi-structured interviews to ten Costa Rican citizens and on the analysis of graphic humor of a political nature. In the analysis of cartoons and "memes" were highlighted elements of the publications, symbols that displayed the position in favor or against the presidential candidates, in addition are exposed the context in which they appear and what were their objects of mockery. For this, two digital cartoons were selected, from the CRhoy newspaper, published prior to the first and second round of the elections and, one of the most prominent memes during the electoral contest.