Charm: How Magnetic Personalities Capture our Hearts, Minds, and Politics

Stephanie Boon
School of Music

Charm: How Magnetic Personalities Capture our Hearts, Minds, and Politics
Julia Sonnevend, Associate Professor of Sociology and Communication, The New School for Social Research,
11 November 2020

We’ve all met charming people in our lives— from celebrities to entrepreneurs and powerful leaders, and even that one person we’re attracted to but can’t quite explain why except for saying “They’re just charming!”. The word ‘charm’ or the quality of being charming is very elusive in itself, it’s hard to describe in words, and yet it is something powerful enough to sway our hearts and minds. However, the line that separates charm being used for good from evil is a thin one, and seeing how more powerful leaders of our world, like politicians, are jumping onto social media to help cultivate their image, it’s important we see how charm works in such contexts. Thus, I decided to attend this seminar, Charm: How Magnetic Personalities Capture our Hearts, Minds, and Politics, presented by Professor Julia Sonnevend. 

The seminar looked at case studies to illustrate how politicians have used charm offensives, which are diplomatic techniques in which countries aim to shift their international reputation through strategic public relations campaigns utilising personal magnetism (or charm). The research drew mainly from press coverage and the media representation of recent significant political events as case studies. I was slightly taken aback when I saw that one of the people she decided to look at was North Korea’s leader, Kim Jung-Un. The word ‘charm’ does not necessarily pop into my mind when I think of him, however, it is important to remember that in this research, charm is defined as form of personal magnetism and not the qualities we might usually associate with the word colloquially. Leading up to the 2018 Winter Olympics held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, she looked at how Kim Jung-Un changed his image to be more relatable or human through the use of charm offensives. It was documented in the press that he, after years in isolation, had begun to emerge as a powerful player in politics. Some of the key events which she studied how those events had been documented in the media included the 2018 North Korea-United States Summit held in Singapore, and the crossing of the DMZ line. Through this, she managed to identify the characteristics of the charms offensives used to develop this new image of Kim Jung-Un. This included, but is not limited to, the increasing openness to news photography, which allowed Kim Jung-Un to increase his visibility in both the media and the world, as well as the use of planned image campaigns. She observed that the images used in such reports often had Kim Jung-Un smiling, or in interaction with someone else, to help boost his relatability.  

Whenever a huge political event, like negotiations and summits, take place, I find it quite difficult to keep up with all the information-heavy press releases and articles. I often find myself skimming through them and the photos they use in those articles are what really catch my attention. A part of me always knew that these were obviously your choreographed picture opportunities, but this seminar highlighted how these images actually work to wire our thinking. From your typical handshake moments between two political leaders, to the more fun-like-tactic of posting a selfie, these are just some ways politicians translate their charming personalities as leaders onto mediatised platforms— to become more human, more relatable.  

I learnt that charm isn’t necessarily something we have to be physically present for to be able to feel, but instead, it’s a magnetising trait that can be translated onto various mediated environments, like the media or social media.  I’m not sure if knowing more about charm, the role of it, and how it works, may be useful for my studies, but it definitely still is insightful. My understanding of charm as trait had significantly shifted after attending this seminar. Although in everyday life charm is still a fairly elusive trait when it comes to describing people I meet, I learnt about how it is defined in the realm of personality or social psychology. Furthermore, I was intrigued by her choice of methodology— the use of case studies. Research that I have personally conducted and the literature I tend to read whilst doing such research rely mostly on experimental studies, questionnaires, and interviews. Thus, knowing more about how case studies are used in research and how applicable or relevant it can be to “real-life” contexts allowed me to gain a better understanding of a research methodology I have yet to be able to use.  

To conclude, with many of us turning to media— be it press coverage, the new, or social media networks— to get our information in quick and easily-digestible ways, I think it's important for us to take a step back once in a while to try and try to understand why that photo was used, or why was that tweet crafted. After all, there is a fine line between using charm for seduction and deception.