"Uma mão lava a outra" : crowdfunding e novas formas de produzir quadrinhos no Brasil

Abstract

This research build an analysis of social relations established between comic book artists in Brazil – specifically those who produced comics via crowdfunding. It is discussed the transformation crowdfunding produced in brazilian comic book market (according to Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory). We point out how crowdfunding increases and make explicit the relevance of personal contacts (or social capital) as an important and necessary resource to the comic book artist’s career. At the same time, we analyze comic book artists’ discourse about their perspective on their professional trajectory in order to understand what are the reasons that lead them to defend a meritocratic perspective of success in comic book media. By applying Michel Foucault’s biopolitic, we point out the internalization of responsibility for success – and failure – of the comic book artist, that even having profound knowledge of structural conditions of comic book market, attributes success solely to personal effort. With this, we point out how this discourse hides different chances to achieve success from different degrees of social capital each comic book artist possess.