Ceaușescu began to be portrayed by the Romanian media as a
communist theoretician of genius who made significant contributions to
Marxism-Leninism[5] and a political leader whose "thought" was the source of all national accomplishments.
[4][5] His collected works have been republished at regular intervals and translated into several languages. The works eventually numbered dozens of volumes and were omnipresent in Romanian bookstores.
[5] Elena was portrayed as the "Mother of the Nation." By all accounts, her vanity and her desire for honours exceeded that of her husband.
[2]
The media used the expression "golden era of Ceaușescu" and a plethora of fomulaic appellations such as "guarantor of the nation's progress and independence" and "visionary architect of the nation's future".
[4] Dan Ionescu, a writer for
Radio Free Europecompiled a list of epithets for Ceaușescu that were used by Romanian writers. They included "architect", "celestial body" (
Mihai Beniuc), "demiurge", "secular god" (
Corneliu Vadim Tudor), "fir tree", "Prince Charming" (
Ion Manole), "genius", "saint" (
Eugen Barbu), "miracle", "morning star" (
Vasile Andronache), "navigator" (
Victor Nistea), "saviour" (
Niculae Stoian), "sun" (
Alexandru Andriţoiu), "titan" (
Ion Potopin) and "visionary" (
Viorel Cozma).
[7][8] He was most commonly described as the
Conducător, or "the leader."
[2]
However, he was also described as being a man of humble origins, who had risen to the top through his own efforts, and was thus linked symbolically to common folk heroes in Romanian history, such as
Horea and
Avram Iancu.
[6]
Not surprisingly, the Ceaușescus were greatly concerned about their public image. Most photos of them showed them in their late 40s.
Romanian state television was under strict orders to portray them in the best possible light. For instance, producers had to take great care to ensure that Ceaușescu's 1.65 metres (5.4 ft) frame was never emphasized on screen. Elena was never seen in profile because of her large nose and overall homely appearance. Consequences for breaking these rules were severe; one producer showed footage of Ceaușescu blinking and stuttering, and was banned for three months.
[2]
At one time, the ubiquitous photographs of Ceaușescu were all representing one photo in which he was shown in half-profile, with just one ear showing. After a joke spread about this being the portrait "in one ear" (a Romanian idiom meaning "to be crazy"), the photographs from profile were considered improper and the portraits were replaced with new photographs in which both ears were clearly visible.
[9][10]