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I just finished watching an episode of Star Trek: Next Generation, and this led to a conversation between my partner and I about Patrick Stewart Okay... I confess, like many women I find him swoon worthy. My partner actually works with a woman who has met him in person and apparently he is just as charming and magnetic in real life.
Yet, he's an old guy, but much like Sean Connery... he just has something incredibly attractive and compelling.

There are of course, various other figures who sometimes exert a magnetic presence or energy to which people are somehow naturally drawn.

So my question is this:
What do you think it is exactly that gives some people a certain, almost undefineable, compelling quality, an energy, force or presence that attracts others to them ?

You know I've always tried to find a rational explaination for this but I don't really think there is one definitive answer that everyone can agree with. I also find that it seems to be more present with people older than myself. Maybe its an experience in life thing.

Personally I find auras to most likely be the answer. Reason being is PS and SC both have this appeal to women, but being a man I just can't see it that way. I find them to be gentlemen just no attraction for me.

Women I would most likely put in this category are Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn. Even now I find Sophia Loren to be like this and I know it isnt the beauty aspect of it because I find the same traits in PS and SC.

Although I do find Audrey Hepburn to be one of the most beautiful and attractive women of all time that was not the reason for me to choose her. I chose AH because she passed in the early 90s, 93 I believe, but even still watching videos from the past, be it film or documentary, she still possesses that attraction.

It really is one of lifes oddities being able to feel and attraction towards someone that is not physical, sexual, or mental. I think that is why I go with the aura idea.

[QUOTE=Shai Hulud]You know I've always tried to find a rational explaination for this but I don't really think there is one definitive answer that everyone can agree with. I also find that it seems to be more present with people older than myself. Maybe its an experience in life thing. [/QUOTE]

I think it may well have something to do with age and experience. Looking at it, and considering the people I've actually encountered in real life with that quality, they have all been at least 40. Perhaps that is a point where some individuals begin to realise themselves and gain a certain inner confidence and wisdom, as well as insight into the universe around them. I use the term "universe," here in both the more literal and abstract sense.
The brashness and/or insecurities of youth have been replaced by understanding and an understated knowledge of personal ability.

What I have also noticed with such people, and I agree where Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren are concerned, is that they possess a kind of inner fire that seems to emanate from them, you can see it in their eyes, the way they move, the way they interact in their environment, and the response they elicit in others.

It's the bald head, DW. I swear, it's the bald head...

what about Austin Powers?

The power he has is called "television." Take any bald man with a deep voice, trained in stage elocution, and give so much makeup, costumes, lighting, and retakes that it would please a Communist Era dictator, and you have someone who looks completely natural, friendly yet in control.

And anybody would look good, anyway, whose predecessor in a tv series was William Shatner.

Sorry, I forget to mention in my title, minimal spam please

As I said, I have met people who possess those qualities in real life, but I selected public figures because obviously on an internet forum we are unlikely to be acquainted with the same individuals. Clearly, real life people do not have the benefits of television, nor do they all possess a deep voice. And it has nothing to do with makeup either; that is superficial and entirely immaterial, I'm talking about what comes from inside.

Also, and I should have mentioned this before, this is not always a positive thing... sometimes profoundly magnetic or charismatic individuals become a force or influence in horrific events ... Adolph Hitler anyone?

Not that Hitler was alone, there were many circumstances, people, in some cases a mob mentality...
...a historical backdrop at work. However, he has been noted as charismatic or magnetic.. and his name has become synonymous with the Third Reich.

I hope my post didn't generate the remarks about spam, because I meant pretty much what I said (up until the Shattner point, at any rate). Unless, of course, you (meaning anybody) have always preferred bald, deep-voiced men, then you have to question why this one, particular example is charismatic--meaning, you find 'em attractive. Charisma, then, becomes a matter of presentation within media. It's putting a person in a situation or situations where they fit some ideal, and where the behind-the-scenes production are unified in trying to make them look their best.

lol Fable,
the remark about spam was general, I know you meant what you said. And while you were, to a degree, joking about Shatner, IMO you made a fair point.

[QUOTE=fable] Unless, of course, you (meaning anybody) have always preferred bald, deep-voiced men, then you have to question why this one, particular example is charismatic--meaning, you find 'em attractive. Charisma, then, becomes a matter of presentation within media. It's putting a person in a situation or situations where they fit some ideal, and where the behind-the-scenes production are unified in trying to make them look their best.[/QUOTE]

I recognise how any kind of behind-the-scenes production can aid in the way somebody is presented/presents themself, and this no doubt does contribute to the appeal figures like Patrick Stewart hold amongst many.
But basically, I just used him as a single example, and also because he is an individual most people on this forum will recognise. If I said M. Balzac who once taught a graduate seminar in Epistemology at "X" university (or for that matter, "My friend Bob"), nobody would know who the hell I was talking about. As I stated, I have met various figures in real life, who do not have the benefit of TV, a behind-the-scenes team, or anything else, who exert an exceptionally powerful presence. I needed a readily identifiable figure, though, to demonstrate the kind of thing I'm talking about.

Also, as far as actors and the like go, I think the same does still apply, otherwise each and every actor or public figure out there, given their access to production teams and so on, would resonate that distinctive energy, but this is definitely not the case. Some actors, Shatner serves as a good example actually, simply do not have it, and they never will, not even with all the help in the world.

[QUOTE=fable]...And anybody would look good, anyway, whose predecessor in a tv series was William Shatner.[/QUOTE]

Couldn't have put that better myself.

All else aside, Patrick Stewart is a decent enough actor, though I found his portayal of Ahab in the Moby **** film somewhat fragmented.

I suppose I often admire simplicity. The actor Morgan Freeman is one of my favorite actors. He's not a bodybuilder, nor a recipient of numerous cosmetic surgery alterations, nor is he flashy or over-rated. However, he has the ability to carry a leading role in any film he finds himself in. If anyone has charisma, I would say he does - it stand out even more since he isn't exactly a sex symbol. He is defintely what you would call an anomaly, after the fashion of Gene Hackman, another favorite of mine.

I have a difficult time thinking of any female figures in the public eye that strike me in a similar fashion. Perhaps that's because there is more pressure for women to be "glamorous" in society. However, I have met many women personally that exude a great deal of magnetism and charisma, attracting a following of admirers in their wake.

This thread reminds me of FPJ...

... I think that such attraction is due to the aura exuded by these types of individual (as mentioned too by Shai) --- the kind of aura that oozes with an appeal normally connected to maturity, wisdom and inner strength of character. A sense of self-confidence without the arrogance, rather with grace. Firm but graceful.

@DW: I edited the title of the thread as you would have wanted.

[QUOTE=Maharlika]... I think that such attraction is due to the aura exuded by these types of individual (as mentioned too by Shai) --- the kind of aura that oozes with an appeal normally connected to maturity, wisdom and inner strength of character. A sense of self-confidence without the arrogance, rather with grace. Firm but graceful.

@DW: I edited the title of the thread as you would have wanted.
[/QUOTE]

I agree with that,and I think such qualities far exceed anything like superficial 'good looks'. It is why I find figures like say Alan Rickman or Liam Neeson much more interesting and attractive than er.. well Tom Cruise. The two former individuals simply have... a presence..

Thanks for the title change Mah *hug*

I think when meeting someone in person smell has a large part in this assessment. A person who wears the appropriate amount of aftershave or perfume in the right scent will exude a certain confidence that is unexplainable.

I'd say that, although a hypothetical individual's magnetism/force of personality/etc. can be partially attributed to their good looks (or lack thereof), it has more to do with the way they carry themselves. It's the self-confident person that catches our eyes, the one who holds there head high and floats from social "clique" to social "clique", the one who isn't self-consciouss or afraid of what others may think of them. That, to me, is what gives an individual "magnetism" or "charisma" - belief in themselvs, but not at the cost of others.

I like Jop's assessment, in so much that we assess people for qualities we admire.

Fable, as always, makes a valuable point in that with the backing of television, anyone can appear clever, calm, collected and witty. Think of all the times in your life when you wish you had said or done something different. In TV land, you never have that problem, you just keep trying til it comes out proper.

Maybe thats the captains allure, he's so proper.

As for real people in real life, the right look and smell go along way, but I think the most important has got to be attitude.
When some folks enter a room, they demand your attention and respect, by sheer presence. I think this comes from a concentration of confidence, experience, and attractiveness.

I think the look is absolutely essential, and it is definately the look of a face that has been lived in.

I think that those who exert magnetic appeal of this type often prove underwhelming when one gets to know them well...It is all the look, but actually, those with the real qualities that we attribute to these mysteriously magnetic individuals with the rugged faces and eyes deep as hell may look any unexpected way at all.....