Discurso e poder no álbum Animals, Pink Floyd

Abstract

Regarding the understanding of art as a way of political and ideological manifestation, this research had as corpus analysis the album Animals (1977), from the British band Pink Floyd. This work aims to expose how the relations of power are formed and the discourse elements in the corpus analysis. Interpretative research was then made using the theoretical framework from the Marxist theory written by Marx (1818-1883) and Engels (1820-1895), with contributions from Fernandes (1988). Furthermore, the types of analysis of Discourse Analysis were used, with contributions mainly from Orlandi (2013), Chaui (1991), and Thompson (2011), as well as Foucault’s (1979) definition of power. During the analysis, the idea of a homogeneous discourse was discarded, focusing instead on the interpretation possibilities through enunciative hints evoked by discourses in different production contexts. It is deduced that the society represented in the album by pigs, dogs, and sheep are the essence of the Class Struggle, a term used in the Marxist theory, and that the discourses within these relations of power indicate relations of force. It is concluded then that, in the context of the album, the pigs represent the owners of means of production, meanwhile the dogs represent the middle class seeking ascension, and lastly, the sheep, are the proletariat.