doxa.comunicación | nº 28, pp. 97-109 | 99

January-June of 2019

Mayte Donstrup

ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978

2. Method

This research is based on an observation of the degree of admiration currently held by some female characters, who in some cases are perceived as role models to follow because of their strength and courage. This is the case of Lagertha, the protagonist of the Canadian production Vikings, a character who at first glance seems to have broken the glass ceiling because she expresses her opinion without hesitation, goes to battle with men, and leaves her husband when he cheats on her. However, are these features enough to break traditional gender roles?

In order to answer this question and discover the faithfulness, or lack thereof, of this character to the principles assigned to her beforehand (History Extra, 2017; Vikings Cast, s/a), a textual analysis will be carried out following the premises set out by Hermida Bellot (2013), which allow us to uncover the archetype behind the character. In other words, the first three seasons of the series will be viewed –a total of 29 episode– with annotations of the main actions of the character that will allow us to clarify her personality in order to associate her with some of the archetypes proposed by Lynn Schmidt (2001, 2012). On the other hand, this analysis will be supplemented with an ideological analysis according to the definition of ideology by van Dijk (2000): schemes that serve to represent social groups through the delimitation of Us vs. Them. At the same time, this part will be supported by power theorists (Russell, 2017; Galbraith, 2013; Greene, 2003; Machiavelli, 1983), in order to study the actions exercised by the main character and thus establish her success or failure.

Lastly, in order to answer the question of the perception of Lagertha’s position of power by followers of the TV series, a search for opinions on Twitter about the character has been carried out. In this regard, a search has been carried out manually with the Twitter Search tool by using the keywords ‘Lagertha’ and ‘Leader’ with the objective of limiting the sample to a specific end: to collect the opinions of users when they reflect on the character as a ruler. The content of the corpus publications was analysed using a template that allowed for qualitative coding of the data extracted from the social network. Every tweet that referred to Lagertha as leader was considered as a unit of analysis from which the links they offered –images or videos– were codified, as well as the comments they made about her.

Table 1: Analysis index card

Source: Author-created

The analysis index card has been divided into five sections: firstly, the presence or absence of the image has been identified in order to perceive the representation they make of her –as a warrior, as a mother, or in some other role–. Secondly, the entire content of the tweet has been transcribed and interpreted in its entirety in order to understand its content. Finally, the tweet in general has been compared: a rating of positive, negative or neutral is given –the latter does not disqualify the character, nor is the character praised–.

In short, the findings are divided into three areas: the first relates to the archetypal dimension of the character; the second relates to the crossroads between the theories of power and Lagertha’s actions; and the third is the results of the comments