English Version | The life of those who matter

Princes and princesses, weddings and divorces, trips to paradise, dream existences, rumors, revelations, suitors, and traditions. This is the world of glossy magazines (pink magazines, in Portuguese). Pages and pages of a reality constructed around wishes and some magic, of stories so blown-up they become tales, that do not always have a happy ending.

It was April 2021 when Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, passed away. The husband of Queen Elizabeth II of England lived a long, filled life, a lasting love story, and a fairytale wedding which didn’t fell short – obviously – of a queen. His story has been told time and time again and would only be unknown to those not aware of the social life specialized publications that came out during the days following his death – a more or less expected death, more or less predictable, and highly documented. The absence of the prince and the ceremonies that marked his goodbye allowed for the revelation, with some detail, of the staging that this kind of event involves, the funeral of someone with this kind of social and mediatic attention, besides his effective function – which the prince disregarded with the same sense that has always defined him, saying “I don’t matter, my wife is the important one”. Even in a moment of immense sadness and grieving of the British royal family, it was clear how there was extreme carefulness in presenting an immaculate spectacle: the military parade, the dresses, and jewels of women, the suits of gentlemen of the family, the beyond perfect masks, the tightly followed schedules, the preciseness of gestures, the synchronization of faces, looks, waving, of silence. We wonder: what for and for whom? The answer was easy: for the entire world, that carefully observed them, as if they were the departure of someone close to them. The thing is the British royal family really is close to all of us. Who doesn’t know about the family ties, the intrigues and scandals revolving around the elderly Queen Elizabeth II? The stories of her sons, especially Prince Charles, heir to the throne, and his divorce? And his sons, that are the Queen’s grandsons, one of whom is an uncurable rebel? The presence of the British royal family on the tabloids is fairly assiduous; the stardom and presence of the Windsor’s reach its climax on the specialized section of the press in the lives of those that make people dream – in the so-called glossy magazines.

Princes and Princesses

The thoroughness and rituals of a funeral such as the one of Prince Philip are not just protocol. There is in these ceremonies a certain exhibition of virtuoso, of posture, dignity, where the most royal family of all royal families gave a true lesson to the people, meaning the rest of the world, that either attentively watched, as if trying to learn from it, or admired the elevation with which everything happens and everyone behaves (if they move, sit, walk, exist). It’s understandable. When a prince dies, he dies in two places simultaneously: in (real) life and in our dreams filled with royalty existences. In the same way, the pink press fulfills a double mission: to accompany the lives of these great social figures, at the same time that it cultivates close to the reader a dream of this kind of existence and the illusion that we know its leading characters. In Portugal, we don’t have kings and queens, but nonetheless, we had a very mediatic royal wedding. It so happens that the consort queen had the tough luck of becoming the wife of the king of a republican state. The fact that D. Duarte Pio of Bragança was the putative heir to a non-existing Portuguese throne did not stop royalty inspired sprits to feel hopeful in an extinct monarchy when, with all the pomp and media reserved to actual kings – such as those in England and Spain, for example – married, first, and had children, a little later, wildly appeasing the glossy magazines that portrayed his ostentation, as well as his family’s, as banner aristocrats: here he is, the potential monarch, one we could have if we were in need of a king around here.

It’s undeniable: kings and queens, princes and princesses, they suck in all the mediatic attention, and the flashes of cameras, filling with their stories and public outings the pages of the noblest – pun intended – glossy magazines. Even in Portugal, where the king we have is, as previously stated, a normal citizen with no institutional support, the attention given to magazines that specialize in royalty is absolutely remarkable. Let’s look at examples: in the issues following the week after the ceremonies, the funeral of Prince Philip was worthy of a four-page spread in Nova Gente and a seven-page one in Lux. Caras magazine, which is probably the one closest to the magic formula of the Spanish number Hola (we’ll get there, further on), dedicated 11 pages to the even (in Hola, the subject was worthy of 12). Still, in Caras, a red suit worn in public for the sixth time (!) by Queen Laetitia of Spain earned also a full page. Let it be noted that, when it comes to the obsequies at Windsor Castle, the comments regarding the simplicity of the ceremony and elegance of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, daughter-in-law of Prince Charles, and wife of Prince William, were recurrent. The look Kate wore to the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh was worthy, in fact of special attention and careful observation on the part of every consulted publication during the development of this text. The earrings Kate chose to wear, as well as the prominent necklace she had around her neck, belong to the Queen’s collection and, truth be told, are a perfect fit for the sleek and serene style, though assertive and filled with character, of the Duchess. Lastly, the car that drove the body of Philip was also the target of prying eyes. The very adequate choice was for a converted Land Rover Defender, the favorite all-terrain car of the Duke of Edinburgh. All these details, apparently filled with irrelevancy, are important for the understanding just how far the staging we mentioned at the beginning of the text actually goes: the magazines will watch, register, interpret and communicate to their readers, closely attentive to everything, from the most generic to the more detailed, all that constructs this performance.

Beyond royalty

Evidently, not only of kings and queens the socialite magazines live, also because royals are not the only ones with the power to inspire us. A quick example: in Nova Gente, Roberto Carlos, who is also called “king”, sure, but by those who love him, has earned a three-page headline when he turned 80. Artists, especially those that live in the universe of our imagination, are many times role models and sources of inspiration worthy of pages on top of pages. Other figures that appear amongst these are television protagonists, particularly within Portuguese publications. Raging from actors to TV presenters, many are those that tell their stories, their news, or make their revelations about the life they lead or, once, led. TV presenters are often described as “loved by their audiences”, varying, from case to case, between “much” or “the most” loved. Shopping, their homes, their new looks, the holidays in idyllic locations, all these can be motives for two pages of conversation and many others – perhaps even more so – with pictures. All these protagonists and stories have in common the fascination they exert over glossy magazines’ readers that see them as idols, as role models, or even as hate pets – yes, because being a public figure always has a B side, and that B side also sells.

The current state of affairs we find in this type of magazine is a little different than the world of illusions they create in their pages. The reality behind it is much less pink. Portuguese publications still keep, for example, the recent tragedy that fell upon the Carreira family under a close eye. The divorce of Iker Casillas and Sara Carbonero has also been under the spotlight. Some public figures that, in recent times, have stayed away from the spotlight still appear in some publications: from Rute Marques to Isabel Angelino, from António Calvário to Marta Aragão Pinto, going through very serious cases such as the one of Daniel Sampaio, who suffered greatly with COVID-19, or the public complaint of sexual harassment that the actress Sofia Arruda filed. Unfortunately, not everything is pink, and it can get very dark indeed, even in the midst of the so-called “high society”. However, right after the mishap of reality, glossy magazines try to quickly transport us back into that celestial circle where only good things can happen, and the world is a prettier place. Then we go back to finding inspiring families, almost all of them filled with children and not rarely portraying such photogenic babies to whom no one can resist, even your truly who is writing. Speaking of, in one of the publications there is a column dedicated to etiquette for children, a pedagogic space that, in context, makes perfect sense. To finish off, it is infrequent to resort to the inspirational remedy that are philosophies and respective practices for a perfect life. If a few decades ago, ending poverty and hunger were the main purpose of those who aimed to change the world, nowadays the trend reflects the premise that says that, in order to change the world, we should change ourselves first. It is within this chapter that stories and tips about changing lifestyles, whose basis became an existence of awareness and sustainability, in a constant search for balance and well-being, using plastic only as a last resort. Lastly, of course, we couldn’t not mention astrology, where we can always find a public figure on display to illustrate the “sign of the week”.

The foam of life

“A publication to dream, to distract, forever elegant, forever tasteful”, that is the way Eduardo Sánchez Pérez describes Hola, the publication he now runs. That same description was contrived by his grandfather, Antonio Sánchez Gómez who, together with Mercedes Junco Calderón, founded the magazine in 1944. “Hola should carry in its pages what its founder came to call ‘the foam of life’. Hola is the magazine of good news.” We didn’t choose Hola by chance. Magazines dedicated to socialites and stardom were born in the first half of the XX century. The breakthrough of cinema, the rise of publications and genres of journalism, the increasing number of spectacle rooms in the United States and Europe, what we could call the “massification of popularity”, or fame, awoke within the public an until-then unknown need: knowing how the stars behaved, famous people, if they were still humans like the rest of them, mere mortals, what made them special. Many magazines of the sort emerged throughout the XX century and some of them extended their lifespan until the XXI century, keeping their joviality intact – People, for example, can be seen as the queen of glossy magazines, reaching impressive audience numbers in the United States: its reach is of 100 million readers on every issue. However, no publication embodies the spirit of a glossy magazine like Hola does: “We bet on a journalism that is human and kind”, Sánchez Pérez states, underlining its “fidelity to fundamental values: quality and truth.” The magazine director also considers that “building a better world, more positive, cohesive and loveable”, the orienting principles of Hola “since the first issue”, are what distinguishes it from other publications of its kind. We don’t know if that is exactly true, given that Hola was a model for many other magazines that followed, but what is certain is that it bets much less on gossip and more on the dream factor and inspiration than some other competitors scattered around the globe – and it is best to not even mention English tabloids, for example, whose issues feed essentially on photos taken by paparazzi hiding in the bushes and hearsay. Which is, after all, the secret for the success of these publications? Where does the root of our fascination reside? Sánchez Pérez has no doubt: “The lives of successful people always create interest, and we enjoy learning more about them.” Feeding the illusion with dreams at the expense of other people’s success is not wrong (it is much better than being jealous of it) – though, on the other hand, it is not seldomly that readers of this kind of readership state how it soothes them and calms them. “Therefore, these successful people, at times, convert into social role models of whom we care and want to copy. We want to know more about their tastes, their personality, what important things happened to them, and how they face difficult situations.” The director assertively finishes: “I believe the fascination by people that matter has always been there and always will be.” Hola dedicated one page to the subtle way Queen Laetitia re-wears her clothes – with emphasis on that red ensemble she would have used for the sixth time -, the same number of pages the divorce of Jennifer López and Alex Rodríguez also occupies.

Translated from the original on the "Pink Issue", from may 2021.Full credits and story on the print version.