The fake photo of Kate Middleton doesn't stop staring at us. We see it, but it looks at us and holds us like a trompe l'oeil, in which we try to guess what is true and what is false about it. An impossible task, especially in the digital age where appearances are the truest thing.
The psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan said that in our passion for looking - and being looked at - we rediscover the world as a spectacle that possesses us and in which we enjoy. That scene envelops us and turns us into victims of a decoy. We believe that we look and, in reality, we are looked at.
As soon as it was known that the future queen was ill, millions of people were attracted and when the photo appeared, many millions more could not take their eyes off that family portrait.
What 'looks at us'? Our concern for his health, for his marital life, for the fate of the British crown, for the defense of the truth? Judging by the diversity of voyeurs, none of this seems to be a sufficient reason.
Perhaps, the fascination with the fallen angel is a more powerful reason, attending this entanglement live and direct, as if it were a reality show in a royal version. The unstoppable succession of conspiracy theories about the case only adds dramatic tension and keeps us glued to the serial.
And how are the actors - Catalina herself - doing in this mess? Each one will experience it differently, without a doubt, depending on what is at stake: breakup, illness, economic loss...
Being looked at by millions of eyes can cause satisfaction. For some, with a demanding ego, it is their daily food. Others enjoy that look as long as they do not notice it excessively, to conceal their exhibitionism. And, for others - guided by their phobic fears - it is about getting out of the scene as soon as possible. The writer J. Salinger was a good example of a famous elusive person.
The gaze also judges us - which is why adolescents avoid it so much - and that judgment can affect our image to the point of embarrassing or blaming us (few public defendants now come without some screen to hide under).
When we cannot show our face it is because our gaze confronts us with something that has become unpresentable (for us), which is beyond the visible. The interesting question in this case is why what is visible (photo) is so visible (fake): error or lapse?
