What Does figurehead Mean
Figurehead is a term derived from an Italian concept that can be translated as “iron head” . A figurehead is an individual who signs a contract or a document assuming responsibility or assuming ownership that, in reality, belongs to another person.
The figurehead, therefore, acts as a cover for another subject . What it does is lend its identity to emulate the social role of the one it represents. This allows the represented person to enjoy certain benefits by avoiding legal obligations.
Suppose that the law of a country states that a person cannot own more than three media. This measure is due to the need to guarantee the plurality of voices and speeches. An entrepreneur who already has two television channels and a newspaper, however, wants to buy a radio. In order to evade the law , he pays an individual to be his front man . In this way, the person hired lends his identity to make the purchase, although the real owner will be the entrepreneur.
A corrupt politician , for his part, can count on a front man since he is not in a position to use his name to carry out certain commercial or financial operations. Otherwise, you would have to justify how you accessed the illegally obtained funds .
The idea of a figurehead is also used in psychology to name subjects who are managed by others or who adopt, for convenience, an attitude or role that is not their own. Needless to say, this is not an acceptable attitude on a social level, and that is why there is the popular saying "Every figurehead has guts and an iron face . "
As mentioned in previous paragraphs, it is normal for the front man to lend himself to the execution of activities outside the law. The most recurrent example is tax evasion , a practice that in many countries is acquired as part of the family inheritance, as if it were a natural function of the adult human being to be able to survive against the injustices of his government.
Similarly, the front man can also serve for a person to make illegal purchases or sales of properties that are not in his name , in cases of death of family members, separations or divorces. As if this were not enough, many use this resource to speculate on the stock trade using capital outside, so look unblocked by a legal incapacitation.
Psychology recognizes certain common traits among individuals who offer themselves as front men. The most common is that they are very flexible and versatile people, capable of modifying their behavior and habits while they are on paper, to convince their environment that they are actually the characters they are playing . In fact, a very talented actor would be the ideal candidate for this task; however, for obvious reasons, a low profile is more suitable.
In the film " The figurehead ", by Woody Allen, you can see a clear example of this concept put into practice to overcome a legal imposition. The story goes back to the well-known "witch hunt" that took place in North America throughout the Second World War , which consisted of investigating various people in the artistic field to discover those who participated in subversive acts against the system .
Among the victims of such persecution were directors, actors and writers, many of whom lost their jobs, without neglecting those who took their own lives. In the film, the role of front man is assumed by a man with a gray life, whom some writers who are prohibited from working offer him the opportunity to represent them in order to publish their literary works.