Did anybody see this on Channel 4 tonight?... Fascinating programme looking at the intricacies of body language... Tonight was looking at the subject of power... and it concentrated primarily on Blair, Bush and Clinton... and the power struggles for dominance as shown through body lang signals... Bush completely overpowers Blair... almost every example they showed of Blair and bush together showed Bush displaying dominance over Blair... even to the extent that, when Bush visited the UK, he assumed control and showed Blair into 10 Downing Street as if it was The White House... and it showed what Blair does when he's feeling uncomfortable... he puts his hands in his suit jacket pockets to try to assume a nonchalant pose... almost ever meeting between the two of them shows Blair taking on this defensive pose... points to Blair simply being outpowered by Bush... But Bush doesn't get away either... when he is feeling anxious, he has a tendancy to shew the inside of his cheek... it showed this clearly when he received the news of 9/11... its something that can be very difficult to see, but they found numerous examples when he was feeling pressured... but the best example was when Bush met the Queen... out goes the dominant Bush power walk... out goes the dominant patting people on the back... in its place we get a simply overdominated Bush who looks awkward... to the extent that, when they started to play the American National Anthem, Bush picked up his glass thinking it was some kind of ceremonial toast before realising that it was his own anthem... But the master of all matters body language was Clinton... they analysed his confession over the Monica Lewinsky affair and looked at the effectivness of his facial expressions... head angle... biting lip to appear sincere... something that reappears time and time again... It was a fabolously interesting programme... My fave section was when they got a camera angle that recorded Gordon Brown as Blair was addressing the Labour Party Conference... and the judgement was that Brown simply cant sontrol his agitation with Blair... They're doing sex next week.. Fly... . .
Ooooh I did, I thought it was fascinating! I loved those two leaders fighting to get in the door! And the Gore/Bush bit. I'm also reading a very large but very interesting book, peoplewatching, on the same topic.
Yeah... the whole door thing was just crazy... Butterfly... Who is your book by?... I'd like to get hold of a copy and read up on this stuff... it made me watch the news in an entirely new light... watching Blair's strong hand gestures... Ah... just made me think of the guy who does that brilliant piss-take of Blair on "Dead Ringers"... Oh... and I possible think that Gordon Brown's attempt at a smile is one of the scariest things that I've seen in quite some time... Fly... . .
Aye, it was fascinating hokum! The bit with Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat having a bitch-slap fight over the Palestinian territories was the best...
OHHHHHH i'm so sorry I missed it!!!! I really was looking forward to watch it, but I've been with so much to do that it just slipped my mind! silly! Still thanks for the commentary.
The book I'm reading is called "Peoplewatching - the Desmond Morris guide to Body Language". It was previously called Manwatching, read the author's note for why it was changed I've been raving about that programme today, I've seen body language programmes before, but this was the first one that really made me look hard at people's body lanuage.
