Zelenskyj – Defending the Democratic Spirit : a semiotic case study on political personalisation

Abstract: Since Russia initiated their war in Ukraine February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj went from being a national celebrity to becoming a global phenomenon. With international news media reporting on his every move, the representation of Zelenskyj has become central to how distant audiences make sense of the war, gaining immense popularity among Western audiences particularly. For Ukraine, having no formal alliance, the vitality of winning international popular support cannot be exaggerated. What makes Zelenskyj an unusual case interesting for the study of political personalisation is largely due to how he has been represented visually. The research field has previously focused more on verbal or written communication, predominantly studying personalisation within national election contexts. This thesis therefore aims to provide new insight on the significance of visual representation, within an international context of representing leaders’ to gain popular opinion. For this purpose, we apply a semiotic approach to convey the cultural meanings in pictures of Zelenskyj, furthermore analysing his image in comparison to pictures of his opponent, Russian President Vladimir Putin. The analysis found ideological notions and myths embedded in visualising Zelenskyj dressed as a soldier in the field or together with world leaders, ultimately representing him as a “defender of liberal-democratic principles” and ”member of the Western family”.