Why Are We So Obsessed With Power Couples?
Few power couples in recent history have had the impact of Victoria and David Beckham, otherwise known as Posh and Becks. Between her history-making ’90s girl-group domination and his ascent through soccer’s hall of fame, the two quite literally changed the world around them. Acres and acres and acres of print space were dedicated to the glamour-soaked lives they lived, in front of and off the cameras.
With the premiere this month of Beckham on Netflix, the couple are back in the limelight. The documentary miniseries primarily focuses on David’s rise from local soccer legend to one of Manchester United’s most memorable players, and the many scandals that soon followed. But Victoria threads a significant portion of this epic tapestry, as her introduction to his life turned the world of soccer on its head.
In the moments since the credits rolled, my mind has wandered to the other power couples of the current age. There’s Bey and Jay, of course. Kanye and Kim arguably occupied that role for some time. But who else? Not many, I’d think, and fewer still left standing as the decades roll by and the landscape of fame continues to shift dramatically. As the series chronicles, there is a kind of alchemy between two people whose relationship becomes the stuff of myth. It’s a rare kind of celebrity physics, in which the gravitational pull wraps around not one but two poles.
Viewers are told frequently in Beckham that David came into the constellation of Man United players as a legitimate star. Groomed by head coach Sir Alex Ferguson since he was a youth player, David was brought into the fold at Man United earlier than most of his peers. At various points, both David and Ferguson agree their relationship was unique. Ferguson describes David as relentless and unfathomably talented, while David admits soccer was the only thing he ever thought about. His training at the hands of his father as a child reminded me of the things Mathew Knowles put Beyoncé through as a young girl. While she was singing and running laps to build up breath support, David was doing the soccer equivalent, which I won’t disrespect by attempting to redescribe here.
In 1996, David was thrust into the spotlight after he scored a game-breaking goal from the halfway line against Wimbledon FC. The kick stunned commentators and fans alike. Elements of the powerful chemistry between him and Victoria become clearer. While her girl-powered supergroup rose to dizzying heights, David unknowingly set the course for how the game of soccer would soon be played and talked about in England.
With his rising star came cars, and clothes, and haircuts that puzzled Ferguson. Friends and former teammates like Larry Neville remark on how David spent all his paychecks on what his coach regarded as frivolities. As the child of working-class parents, I was struck by the way David’s humble background influenced his desire for independent self-expression through material goods. I believe, in part, this drove his later tastemaking abilities once Victoria entered the picture: He understood the power of a good fashion statement.
But this is not just a story about one man. As the legend goes, Posh pursued Becks, who was a fan. Before her appearance at one of his matches kindled a firestorm of publicity and tabloid gossip, the two would sneak away between rehearsals and practice. At times, Beckham would drive hours through the night to see her for just a few minutes, before turning around to make it back to Manchester in time. When news of their relationship finally broke, the world of soccer was once again thrust into an uncomfortable growth spurt.
Overnight, Becks was elevated to the position of rock star, transcending the boundaries of his sport. Paparazzi would wait eagerly for the couple outside the field, hotels, airports, and their homes. Sir Alex Ferguson and David’s teammates balked at the attention as he grew almost too big for the bounds of Old Trafford stadium. Victoria went to work styling him and creative-directing his looks and appearances in the media. When he wasn’t playing games, David was modeling and serving as a much-desired spokesperson for brands. On Man United’s tours around the world, the team would laugh about all the billboards they saw him on in cities they’d never been to before.
What interests me most about Posh and Becks’ early relationship, however, is not the publicity around them, or the legend of how they first met. It is the simple fact that, like other power couples, the two were both famous before they met. The fantasy of the power couple relies on the heady mystique of celebrity—the knowledge that these people live lives beyond the likes of just about every single person on the planet.
No disrespect if I’m forgetting a rags-to-riches story here, but this is an essential element of all modern power couplings. Beyoncé and Jay-Z were superstars in their field, and Kim and Kanye were two of the most influential figures in pop culture when they stepped out together. More recently, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s branding potential has yet again revealed how much the public loves it when famous people fall for each other, although the jury’s still out on their staying power.
The dream of the power couple draws from the myth that two people can have it all, and then some. Becks was a groundbreaking soccer hero, Posh was a feminist-anthem-slinging pop star. Their clothes were gorgeous, if questionable in hindsight. They could have kids, and travel the world, and know absolutely none of the limits mere mortals feel placed upon them.
As Beckham implies, however, this is only partially true. In 2004, rumors he’d been cheating on her in Madrid broke through the tabloids, and a circus erupted around their marriage. The two play coy about this in their separate interviews, merely alluding to a difficult time when they were at war with the world and each other. I was reminded, again, of other famous couples. Women, no matter how rich or famous, are not immune to the perils of infidelity, or the carelessness of men whose star power relies on their presence in each other’s lives.
But the film touches on that time mostly to reaffirm the couple’s position as “us against the world.” It’s a pattern throughout Beckham. Earlier, they’d been thrust into the spotlight as the enemies of English football after David impulsively kicked an Argentina player during a pivotal match in the 1998 World Cup. England lost that match in the penalty shootout, and the entire country blamed him as a result. Victoria was pregnant with their first son, Brooklyn, at the time, and wherever she and David went, they were taunted, harassed, followed—they even received death threats. During matches, presenters would be drowned out by the sounds of boos, and after Brooklyn was born, angry fans sent kidnapping threats to Victoria and their families.
Had it not been for these challenges, I don’t know if they would have lasted—or remained as significant in the celebrity imagination. While the myth of their joint star power relies on the dream that two people can have it all, the transgressions made them human, and brought a dimension to their image that only fascinated the public more. (Excuse me while I cue up Lemonade.) What would otherwise become a source of conflict between two people and maybe their friends is, refracted through the lens of fame, elevated to an international incident, a pain point in geopolitical affairs. As a veritable industry, the two had the power to move the needle of the economy and global relations with a wedding band. While not born to the British nobility, their purple wedding outfits might as well have been coronation gowns.
Watching Beckham, I was stunned by the rampant sexism lodged against Victoria in those days. While David was lauded for his plays on the field, she was dogged by the same journalists for being a woman with ambition, a woman who’d “ruined” a soccer player (never mind that he arguably upped his abilities after she came into his life). It was an uncomfortable reminder of the inherent power imbalances in even the most sought-after relationships—one I think has been nominally equalized by her continued success in fashion and his retirement, but only slightly.
It’s hard to say if there’s still room in the modern celebrity landscape for couples of this magnitude—the kind of stars whose image depends on being dazzlingly out of reach. With the advent of social media and the ubiquity of the attention economy, the mechanics of celebrity romance may have simply changed too much. (Sorry, Timothée and Kylie!)
Still, I wonder if the premiere of Beckham will shift Posh and Becks’ role in the public imagination. Already, X.com and Instagram are overrun with retrospective posts on their most iconic (and troubling) fashion looks. The viral fashion landscape has never been more ripe for chunky blonde highlights and Roberto Cavalli tops, or mid-’00s sportswear, either. David’s latest sports endeavor, his Miami-based soccer club Inter Miami FC, recently signed superstar Lionel Messi. Victoria, meanwhile, continues to show her label during Fashion Month. Whether or not this resurgence in interest will shape their coming business endeavors, it’s clear there may never be another couple quite like them.
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