Kaja Silverman's Body Talk

In “Body Talk”, Kaja Silverman states, “The identification of the female voice with the female body thus returns us definitively to the scene of castration” (62). When the female voice and body are united, they pose a threat to both the masculine being and those structures in power. In the movie Singin in the Rain, Silverman marks what she calls the “remarriage” of the female body and voice as when Kathy is revealed to be the voice of Lina. However, I would argue that in this moment the female body and voice are not remarried, but instead a coexistence that serves to benefit the masculine power. Lina was a mannequin placed on the movie screen to sell beauty, glamour, and movie tickets. Kathy was but a puppet summoned to speak and sing as if

the words emitting from her mouth are truly hers. Therefore, the fear of castration in the masculine figures in Singin’ in the Rain prevents the female voice and body from remarrying in the film, leaving the portrayal of the female figures as mannequins and puppets.
The female characters in Singin’ in the Rain are perceived as mannequins. Mannequins are lifeless figures used to display and sell garments, accessories, or anything else dictated by the owner. Mannequins are only a body, with some mannequins existing without a face, without a voice. In the film, Lina is only ever complimented on her image. On the set the “Dueling Cavaliers”, the director discusses the semantics of the scene with Don, while with Lina, he states only how great she looked in the large garment. Of course, there is nothing wrong with complimenting someone on their appearance, but the issue emerges when that appearance becomes all someone is. Lina is positioned as a pretty face that looks great on camera, well received by the public, and can sell tickets. Women are literally portrayed as mannequins in the song “Beautiful Girls”, in which the camera spans over multiple women posed in elegant attire frozen in time. This moment in the video last for over a minute, which creates the illusion that both the clothes and the women were on display. The female body is depicted as a “hot” commodity item for interacting with masculine figures. Kathy’s voice would not have been heard, let alone have it remarried with her body, had it not been for the initial appeal of her body to Don. By limiting a woman to only her beauty, the fear of castration is reduced because the likelihood that a beautiful image would be threatening is low. Therefore, the perception of women as mannequins cripples the complete marriage of the female voice and body.
This dynamic between the female voice and body is further affirmed by the synonym for mannequin, which is dummy. Beauty and brains has always been depicted as existing on two distinct sides of a spectrum and the existence of both characteristics in a woman is seen as unfathomable. In Singin’ in the Rain, Lina is depicted as an “airhead”: she reads magazines to learn things about her own life and she believes that Don loves her, even though he tells her that her affection is unwanted. In one scene, Lina asks Cosmo, the producer, and the publicist if they believed that she was dumb, and they responded through silence and by moving in a way that suggest that the answer to that question is not a no. This appearance as a “dummy” creates an environment for which Lina’s words are not taken seriously and she is presented as comedic. In the song “Beautiful Girls” one of the characteristics that a beautiful woman is described to possess is intelligence. Yet, all the women seemed to only embody beauty; there were no women depicted with a book or anything indication that there was more than beauty at play. And this, in combination with the representation of Lina, dwindles the possibility of the marriage of the voice and body. Lina may be beautiful, but because of her assumed lack of knowledge, the audience nor the masculine powers will not find her voice worth listening to. As such, Silverman’s assumption that the voice brings unity is false in this instance, leaving just a body with a voice that is too low to be threatening to the masculine powers.
However, when the female voice and body are “remarried” in the film, the voice does not belong to the female character; she merely transforms from a mannequin to a puppet. Female characters in the movie are rarely ever in control of their body, let alone their voice. Regarding the scene where the man testing the sound-image technology states how perfect the synchronization between his lips and the sounds emitting from them, Silverman proclaims that this claim falls false for the female characters in the movie. Silverman goes on to elaborate on the layering that occurs with the female voice, specifically how Lina’s voice is voiced over by Kathy and Kathy’s postdubbing of Lina’s voice is at one point voiced over by a different actress (46). The mentioned act of layering creates a sense of separation and disembodiment, which creates the need for the “remarriage” of the voice and body. But the word remarriage implies that the voice and body were once united and were then pulled apart. In both the removal of Lina’s voice and the transferring of Kathy’s voice, the female voices were handled like a commodity by the male characters. Lina was willing to let her voice be heard, yet she was denied that opportunity. Throughout the movie, there was always something at play that mediated the speech of the female characters: the industry and the male figure. Like a puppet master, Don and Monumental Pictures mediated when both Lina and Kathy could speak. Even in the end scene where it appears that Kathy’s voice and body are being “remarried”, it only occurs at the expense of the male characters pulling the curtain back. And the voice is only truly acknowledged by the crowd once Don emerges as the hero and tells the audience that Kathy is the real voice they heard in the film. The crowd goes from the act of laughing to applauding at the emergence of Don’s voice and body, and not the presence and union of Kathy’s voice and body. Thus, it is seen that the only way the female voice and body are remarried and divorced is by the hands of an outside agent, as if she is a puppet used for the common good of the male powers at bay.
For the puppet master to control the puppet, the puppet master violates the puppet’s personal being as if it is just property.

This dynamic is seen in the film when Don makes unwarranted flirtatious advances towards Kathy while she in the car. When Kathy rejects Don’s advances, he begins to speak the following lines in a mockery tone: “Fear not sweet lady, I will not molest you. I am but a humble jester”. The deliverance of the previous lines makes its seem as if sexual harassment is so obscure, hard to fathom, and comedic. The use of the phrase “I will not” speaks both to the commonality of the exploitation of the female body, but also to the idea about how almost powerless women are in controlling the destiny of their body. The line could be interpreted as, “I have the power to molest you, but I won’t”, leaving the female body to be easily exploited at the will of a male character. This scene is reflective of the act of castration, but for women in a sense that her power is being taken from her. But one would have supposed that would be accepted if the female body is only but a puppet; a puppet that is property and can manipulated to the desires of the male audience. Here, not only is the body of the female character is being stripped away from her, but also her voice. When Don moves closer into Kathy’s personal space, Kathy yells “Stop. Keep away from me.” A voice that was filled with both strength and fear echoed on the dark night. A voice that was then mocked by Don’s imitation of the concerns echoed in her speech. It was as if Don dubbed over Kathy’s voice and re-expressed her words from his perspective of her, just like a puppet master. Puppet masters create voices that they believe to be suitable for the body of the puppet, and then they articulate from the perspective of the puppet. Therefore, although the female voice and body are at times “married” as Silverman states, they are mediated and controlled by the voice and body of the male powers, or puppet

master.
One distinguishing characteristic of both a puppet and a mannequin that aligns with perception of the female character is that they are disposable, especially when body and image unite and threaten the security of the masculine power. A mannequin is just plastic on a stick, while a puppet is just a wooden or cotton toy. Both objects are easy to make, find, and dispose. And these characteristics prevail in the treatment of women. In the song “Make Them Laugh”, Cosmo dances with a mannequin that has the figure of a female. Once the mannequin becomes of no use/ fails to cooperate, Cosmo tosses the mannequin to the side. Lina was the “it” woman adorn by fans and graced by beauty; one fan even commented during the first movie that “She’s so refined. I think I’ll kill myself.” Yet once Kathy was “discovered” by Don, they were ready to discard Lina, as if she was “a great work of art” that went out of style. And when we finally see the “remarriage” of the female body and voice, which in my opinion is not where Silverman suggests, but when Lina takes charge of her career, the fear of castration causes the speedily disposal of the union. When the female body and voice are united, they are presumed to be a threat to the male figure and power, and are therefore disposed like plastic, wood, or cotton.
Literally, I do agree with Silverman that Kathy’s voice and body are remarried at the end of Singin’ in the Rain, but figuratively the voice and body are not in union. They are mediated only at the will of the male figure. The fear of castration that Silverman mentions restrains the union of the female body and voice. The benefits of accessing the female body and voice in pieces for the masculine powers surpass the risk of marrying the two, which is why the female body and voice are portrayed as mannequins and puppets Therefore, in Singin’ in the Rain the female voice and body are not “remarried” because it is easier for masculine powers to control mannequins and puppets.