When television came along, reporters, newscasters and others had to learn about blusher and makeup and dress for the camera. Humans transmit information and attitude with body language and facial expression. The Republic of Spin tells of reporters who were told "when you are on camera, remove the toothpick from your mouth." When I think of non-verbal expression, I still chuckle at memory of "The Millennial Job Interview" https://www.google.com/search?q=millennial+job+interview&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-ab
I guess it is another situation where judgment and balance are called for. Too much primping and makeup and "warmth" and you will be seen as quite phoney. Too little and you come across as cold, insensitive and maybe even of limited intelligence. Watching "Victoria" and "The Crown", I can see that the king or queen stands for the nation and its history and glory and travails in a way that a president does not. When we know that the president won the position by a hair and that a large portion of the population dislikes him, we don't feel the same thrill as a person would meeting the head of state who is in the position more or less for life. That person is the king or queen because of royal blood and was foreordained to be the head of our country.
There are scenes in The Crown where Elizabeth II is being prepared for a television broadcast on Christmas Day. What she wears, what she says, how she says it - all get pre-planned to the point that she feels artificial and false. Whether it is the mayor, our governor or our alderman, do we want to see confidence and health or fear, hesitation and pallor? We may assert that we want the truth but underneath, maybe we don't want too many details of yesterday's headache and the sore knee.
