The power of images, with these muscles! The French are half amused and half bewildered by a photo that shows their president training for boxing. With a pretty determined expression and very impressive biceps, Emmanuel Macron hits a punching bag, a punching ball. There is already speculation about who these blows could actually be aimed at, but more on that later.
People have known that Macron boxed for a long time. His wife recently said he works out twice a week. But is twice a week enough for such biceps? Or was there perhaps a bit of help in editing the photo, perhaps emphasizing the buxom streak a bit? Well, this much is clear: the image is not the work of artificial intelligence. You don’t have to look long to be sure of its authenticity, so it’s not a joke from the future that suddenly blew over.
It was taken by Soazig de La Moissonnière, Macron’s court photographer, 42 years old. And to dispel all doubts: She posted the photo on her own Instagram account. Soazig de La Moissonnière has been accompanying the president for many years and captures him in black and white photos – a collection that should definitely survive the president’s term in office. Great photos, very aesthetic. Critics say they are over-aesthetized and that the strong contrasts dramatize and heroize the presidential subject in all of his appearances.
Social media is full of pastiches of “Rocky Macron”, with more or less funny memes and photo montages, and that was to be expected. Carla Bruni recently showed the world a photo of her husband Nicolas Sarkozy, 69 years old, Macron’s predecessor in office, in which he is flexing his right upper arm muscle as if the fate of the republic depended on it, and received a lot of ridicule for it. But “Sarko” was yesterday.
The slightly more serious analysis of Macron’s pose is now presented by political communication experts. The number may seem infantile to the layperson: the photo of the boxing president, which was certainly approved by him in advance, fits in well with similarly macho shots of Vladimir Putin, the nemesis of the West. The Russian president has already been seen as a judoka who puts his opponents suspiciously lightly on their backs, as an ice hockey player, as a bare-chested rider. For a few weeks now, it has seemed as if the Frenchman wanted to take on Putin personally, in close combat, so to speak, with his verbose toughening of policy on the war in Ukraine.
Russian President Putin sits firmly in the saddle, scantily dressed.
(Photo: Alexsey Druginyn/AFP)
Opinions about Macron’s boxing number vary widely. On France Info For example, on a public radio station, two communications experts argued about whether the president was just once again displaying “primary virilism” or whether he embodied the French’s desire for the “Coq”, the proud rooster ready to fight . The exegesis has only just begun – and one already wishes that the image were a joke from the future that has suddenly arrived.