"Melania made the beautiful statue. Stiff and gloomy. But with the mask she challenged Trump"
Neuroscientist Alice Mado Proverbio analyzes the body language of the first lady at the first presidential debate: "The message to the voters? The plastic representation of the submissive, manipulable, docile woman who fully embraces what is asked of her"
She stepped onto the stage first, she walked over to her husband Donald Trump, she laid a hand on her shoulder with little conviction and then she positioned herself next to him. It was then that the US president took her hand: a squeeze that melted in the blink of an eye. Composed and detached: this is how Melania Trump appeared in the arena where the duel with Joe Biden took place. An abysmal distance separates her behavior from that of the Democratic Party candidate's wife, who threw her arms around her neck as soon as she stepped onto the stage. We asked Alice Mado Proverbio, a neuroscientist at the University of Milan - Bicocca, what the body language of the first lady communicates: "Melania seems to be called to a question. Employee outfit, very high heels that prevent a natural and free gait. They are part of the constraint. Her hand is stolen as if it were her husband's property ”.
Wrapped in her black suit jacket and trousers, signed by Dolce and Gabbana, Melania showed off an office look, presenting herself as a perfect business woman. The dark tone of the jacket and trousers contrasts with the color chosen by Jill, a green, which, as per tradition, is the symbol of hope. Biden's wife didn't opt for pants, but she chose a refined dress consisting of a skirt.
“In striking contrast, Jill Biden's femininity, naturalness, and spontaneity communicate to us her freedom of thought and of her emotions, as a woman and as a person. She wears the mask because she decides to protect herself - adds Alice Mado Proverbio -. I believe that (on Melania's side above all) there is little that is not artfully prepared. The message we want to convey to the voters is precisely the plastic representation of the submissive, manipulable, docile woman who fully embraces what she is asked of him ".
The first lady, however, presented herself to the debate with the mask, an "accessory" to which her husband has proved unfamiliar on several occasions. “Wear the mask? It's not for me. I can't picture myself like this behind that beautiful desk in the Oval Office, ”the US president said in April. Since then his wife has taken to wearing it in public events, almost in a gesture of defiance. She as if to prove herself far from the thought of her.
"The most simplistic reading of Melania's body language is, of course, that she unconsciously expresses her personal (and emotional) detachment from her husband's politics (rigid posture, no expansive gesture, immediately moves sideways and then moves away) - concludes the neuroscientist -. Jill Biden on the contrary walks directly towards her mate, and she hugs him tightly seeking her facial contact, demonstrating intimacy, and the freedom (power) to give and receive love. Voters and electricians are warned ".
