An image, to say the least, surprising. French President Emmanuel Macron has published two black and white photographs in which he appears sweaty and muscular punching a punching bag. In French social gatherings they accompany the images with the music of ‘Rocky’, and even some tabloid newspapers headline ‘Rocky’ Macron. But apart from the jokes about this display of testosterone, the truth is that the Elysée publishes the images at a time when the French president is the harshest voice among the European powers against Russia, recently going so far as to suggest sending troops. to help Ukraine.
The black and white images, published on the Instagram page of his official photographer, show the president with clenched teeth and an aggressive look, ready for combat. Is Macron using visual language to send a message to someone? There are those who say that the recipient would be Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is also very fond of photographing himself in his most typically masculine side: knocking down a rival while practicing judo, hunting with a rifle in hand or riding a horse through the steppe bare-chested.
Others have lamented the increasingly normalized use of testosterone in political communication. The deputy of Insoumise France Aleix Corbier recalled on the social network extreme right”. “You don’t fight an ideology by adopting its codes,” he reflected.
In the newspaper Libération, columnist Jonathan Bouchet-Petersen spoke of “cliché” and stated that “this virilistic and neo-populist visual trend, although Macron seems increasingly warmongering, is a rather regrettable communication choice.” For his part, talk show host Philippe Bilger pointed out on the CNews channel the “narcissistic” tendency of the French president.
It is not the first time that Macron extols his virility in his personal images, which usually show him as a dynamic and energetic leader. A few weeks after the start of the war in Ukraine, in March 2022, the photographs published by his photographer in which he appeared in the Elysee in ‘Zelensky style’ were widely commented on. He dressed in jeans and a military sweatshirt, he had several days of beard and dark circles under his eyes, working late at night. In April of that year, another image in which he appeared relaxing on a sofa with his shirt open and showing his lush chest unleashed humorous comments on social networks, which compared him to the character of Gastón, from Beauty. and the Beast.
