The Art of Seduction (28 page)

a close-up fills the screen. You must have a style or presence that makes you
merely the dreams of
stand out from everyone else. Be vague and dreamlike, yet not distant or
mystified masses. It is a
absent—you don't want people to be unable to focus on or remember you.
seductive occurrence. . . .
•

They have to be seeing you in their minds when you're not there.

To be sure, seduction in the

age of the masses is no

Second, cultivate a blank, mysterious face, the center that radiates Star-
longer like that of. . .
Les ness. This allows people to read into you whatever they want to, imagining Liaisons Dangereuses
or
they can see your character, even your soul. Instead of signaling moods and T h e Seducer's Diary,
nor
for that matter, like that

emotions, instead of emoting or overemoting, the Star draws in interpreta-
found in ancient
tions. That is the obsessive power in the face of Garbo or Dietrich, or even
mythology, which
of Kennedy, who molded his expressions on James Dean's.

undoubtedly contains the

stories richest in seduction.

A living thing is dynamic and changing while an object or image is pas-
In these seduction is hot,
sive, but in its passivity it stimulates our fantasies. A person can gain that
while that of our modern
power by becoming a kind of object. The great eighteenth-century charla-
idols is cold, being at the
intersection of two cold

tan Count Saint-Germain was in many ways a precursor of the Star. He
mediums, that of the image
would suddenly appear in town, no one knew from where; he spoke many
and that of the
languages, but his accent belonged to no single country. Nor was it clear
masses.
. . . •
The great
how old he was—not young, clearly, but his face had a healthy glow. The
stars or seductresses never
dazzle because of their

count only went out at night. He always wore black, and also spectacular
talent or intelligence, but
jewels. Arriving at the court of Louis XV, he was an instant sensation; he
because of their absence.
reeked wealth, but no one knew its source. He made the king and Madame
They are dazzling in their

nullity, and in their

de Pompadour believe he had fantastic powers, including even the ability to
coldness
—t
he coldness of
turn base matter into gold (the gift of the Philosopher's Stone), but he
makeup and ritual
never made any great claims for himself; it was all insinuation. He never
hieraticism. . . .
•
These
great seductive effigies are

said yes or no, only perhaps. He would sit down for dinner but was never
our masks, our Eastern
seen eating. He once gave Madame de Pompadour a gift of candies in a
Island statues.
box that changed color and aspect depending on how she held it; this —JEAN BAUDRILLARD, entrancing object, she said, reminded her of the count himself. Saint-
SEDUCTION,
TRANSLATED BY

Germain painted the strangest paintings anyone had ever seen—the colors BRIAN SINGER

128
•
The Art of Seduction

If you want to know all
were so vibrant that when he painted jewels, people thought they were real.
about Andy Warhol, just
Painters were desperate to know his secrets but he never revealed them. He
look at the surface of my
would leave town as he had entered, suddenly and quietly. His greatest ad
paintings and films and
me, and there I am.

mirer was Casanova, who met him and never forgot him. When he died,
There's nothing behind it.

no one believed it; years, decades, a century later, people were certain he

— A N D Y W A R H O L , QUOTED I N

was hiding somewhere. A person with powers like his never dies.

STEPHEN K O C H ,
STARGAZER:

The count had all the Star qualities. Everything about him was ambigu
THE LIFE, WORLD & FILMS OF

ANDY WARHOL

ous and open to interpretation. Colorful and vibrant, he stood out from the crowd. People thought he was immortal, just as a star seems neither to age nor to disappear. His words were like his presence—fascinating, diverse, strange, their meaning unclear. Such is the power you can command by transforming yourself into a glittering object.

Andy Warhol too obsessed everyone who knew him. He had a distinctive style—those silver wigs—and his face was blank and mysterious. People never knew what he was thinking; like his paintings, he was pure surface. In the quality of their presence Warhol and Saint-Germain recall the great trompe l'oeil paintings of the seventeenth century, or the prints of M. C. Escher—fascinating mixtures of realism and impossibility, which make people wonder if they are real or imaginary.

A Star must stand out, and this may involve a certain dramatic flair, of the kind that Dietrich revealed in her appearances at parties. Sometimes, though, a more haunting, dreamlike effect can be created by subtle touches: the way you smoke a cigarette, a vocal inflection, a way of walking. It is often the little things that get under people's skin, and make them imitate you—the lock of hair over Veronica Lake's right eye, Cary Grant's voice, Kennedy's ironic smile. Although these nuances may barely register to the conscious mind, subliminally they can be as attractive as an object with a striking shape or odd color. Unconsciously we are strangely drawn to things that have no meaning beyond their fascinating appearance.

Stars make us want to know more about them. You must learn to stir

people's curiosity by letting them glimpse something in your private life, something that seems to reveal an element of your personality. Let them fantasize and imagine. A trait that often triggers this reaction is a hint of spirituality, which can be devilishly seductive, like James Dean's interest in Eastern philosophy and the occult. Hints of goodness and big-heartedness can have a similar effect. Stars are like the gods on Mount Olympus, who live for love and play. The things you love—people, hobbies, animals—

reveal the kind of moral beauty that people like to see in a Star. Exploit this desire by showing people peeks of your private life, the causes you fight for, the person you are in love with (for the moment).

Another way Stars seduce is by making us identify with them, giving us a vicarious thrill. This was what Kennedy did in his press conference about Truman: in positioning himself as a young man wronged by an older man, evoking an archetypal generational conflict, he made young people identify with him. (The popularity in Hollywood movies of the figure of the disaffected, wronged adolescent helped him here.) The key is to represent a
The Star
•
129

type, as Jimmy Stewart represented the quintessential middle-American, Cary Grant the smooth aristocrat. People of your type will gravitate to you, identify with you, share your joy or pain. The attraction must be unconscious, conveyed not in your words but in your pose, your attitude. Now more than ever, people are insecure, and their identities are in flux. Help them fix on a role to play in life and they will flock to identify with you. Simply make your type dramatic, noticeable, and easy to imitate. The power you have in influencing people's sense of self in this manner is insidious and profound. Remember: everyone is a public performer. People never know exactly what you think or feel; they judge you on your appearance. You are an actor. And the most effective actors have an inner distance: like Dietrich, they can mold their physical presence as if they perceived it from the outside. This inner distance fascinates us. Stars are playful about themselves, always adjusting their image, adapting it to the times. Nothing is more laughable than an image that was fashionable ten years ago but isn't any more. Stars must always renew their luster or face the worst possible fate: oblivion.

Symbol:
The

Idol. A piece of stone carved into the

shape of a god, perhaps glittering with gold

and jewels. The eyes of the worshippers fill the stone

with life, imagining it to have real powers. Its shape allows

them to see what they want to see
—
a god
—
but it is actually
just a piece of stone. The god lives in their imaginations.

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The Art of Seduction

Dangers

Stars create illusions that are pleasurable to see. The danger is that people tire of them—the illusion no longer fascinates—and turn to another

Star. Let this happen and you will find it very difficult to regain your place in the galaxy. You must keep all eyes on you at any cost.

Do not worry about notoriety, or about slurs on your image; we are remarkably forgiving of our Stars. After the death of President Kennedy, all kinds of unpleasant truths came to light about him—the endless affairs, the addiction to risk and danger. None of this diminished his appeal, and in fact the public still considers him one of America's greatest presidents. Errol Flynn faced many scandals, including a notorious rape case; they only enhanced his rakish image. Once people have recognized a Star, any kind of publicity, even bad, simply feeds the obsession. Of course you can go too far: people like a Star to have a transcendent beauty, and too much human frailty will eventually disillusion them. But bad publicity is less of a danger than disappearing for too long, or growing too distant. You cannot haunt people's dreams if they never see you. At the same time, you cannot let the public get too familiar with you, or let your image become predictable. People will turn against you in an instant if you begin to bore them, for boredom is the ultimate social evil.

Perhaps the greatest danger Stars face is the endless attention they elicit. Obsessive attention can become disconcerting and worse. As any attractive woman can attest, it is tiring to be gazed at all the time, and the effect can be destructive, as is shown by the story of Marilyn Monroe. The solution is to develop the kind of distance from yourself that Dietrich had—take the attention and idolatry with a grain of salt, and maintain a certain detachment from them. Approach your own image playfully. Most important, never become obsessed with the obsessive quality of people's interest in you.

Se-

ducers draw

you in by the fo-

cused, individualized atten-

tion they pay to you. Anti-Seducers

are the opposite: insecure, self-absorbed,

and unable to grasp the psychology of an-

other person, they literally repel. Anti-

Seducers have no self-awareness, and never

realize when they are pestering, imposing,

talking too much. They lack the subtlety

to create the promise of pleasure that seduc-

tion requires. Root out anti-seductive

qualities in yourself, and recognize them

in others
—
there is no pleasure or profit

in dealing with the Anti-Seducer.

Typology of the Anti-Seducers

Anti-Seducers come in many shapes and kinds, but almost all of them share a single attribute, the source of their repellence: insecurity. We are all insecure, and we suffer for it. Yet we are able to surmount these feelings at times; a seductive engagement can bring us out of our usual selfabsorption, and to the degree that we seduce or are seduced, we feel charged and confident. Anti-Seducers, however, are insecure to such a de-
Count Lodovico then
gree that they cannot be drawn into the seductive process. Their needs,
remarked with a smile:

"I promise you that our

their anxieties, their self-consciousness close them off. They interpret the
sensible courtier will never
slightest ambiguity on your part as a slight to their ego; they see the merest
act so stupidly to gain a
hint of withdrawal as a betrayal, and are likely to complain bitterly about it.
woman's favor."
•
Cesare
It seems easy: Anti-Seducers repel, so be repelled—avoid them. Unfor-
Gonzaga replied: "Nor so
stupidly as a gentleman I

tunately, however, many Anti-Seducers cannot be detected as such at first
remember, of some repute,
glance. They are more subtle, and unless you are careful they will ensnare
whom to spare men's
you in a most unsatisfying relationship. You must look for clues to their
blushes I don't wish to
mention by name. "
•

self-involvement and insecurity: perhaps they are ungenerous, or they argue
"Well, at least tell us what
with unusual tenacity, or are excessively judgmental. Perhaps they lavish
he did," said the Duchess.
you with undeserved praise, declaring their love before knowing anything •
Then Cesare continued: