Tales to Help Democracy Fall Asleep: Narrative Analysis of Recent Political Discourse

Abstract

This article proposes a narrative semiotic interpretation of a corpus of four audiovisual pieces circulated through hypermedia, using the enunciative device of La libertad avanza between 2023 and 2025. Through the operationalization of Greimas's actantial model, distinct narrative structures are characterized in a series of stories. The comparative and diachronic description of heterogeneous discursive units allows us to consider the evolution and displacement of the figures of opponent, helper, and heroic subject in libertarian discursive formation. We argue here that the counterdestination and production of the adversary progressively distance themselves from the human figure, while the helpers become closer to the semantic field of populist lexicon. Furthermore, the transformations in the role of the subject reflect a process of consolidation and development of the leadership and figure of Javier Milei, who, we believe, occupies a privileged hierarchical role in the libertarian enunciative device. We consider the implications for the Argentine political system and its emerging sectors of the development and effectiveness of narrative structures that dehumanize the opponent and the adversarial camp, which challenges the democratic horizon. Furthermore, Milei's leadership strains categories of populist strategy.