Body language expert Mark Bowden agrees that people looking at Donald Trump’s mugshot photo would get the sense that he’s angry. Pointing out his tilted forehead, “knitted” eyebrows, and closed lips, Bowden says that Trump’s expression makes it seem he is angry at the people viewing the photo. “Whether intended or not, there’s a perceived aggression being directed at us, the viewer, or who we may perceive the viewer or image taker to be,” Bowden tells Nicki Siwft exclusively.
Bowden compared Trump’s mugshot to Stanley Kubrick’s classic anti-hero depictions, “where the central character lowers their forehead and stares at the camera to convey a peak in their loss of any grip on reality. This is to indicate a deranged or psychotic state. It’s possible that Trump was aiming to present a challenging look to his detractors, but instead, he accidentally fell into a more bizarre category of classic 20th Century film imagery: Kubrick’s outsider descending into self-destruction,” he says. That said, Bowden also presented the flip side. Those who support President Trump “may see a heroic man taking aim at his enemy.”
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But, whether the 2024 presidential hopeful is seen as a hero or a criminal, Bowden says there’s a “kind of romanticism and exaggeration that is congruent with Trump’s grand brand.”
