voiceover voiceovers and vocal cord surgery - cultural constraints and commodifications of sound

What makes some sounds/voices more appealing than others? I was surprised to read on page 46 of Silverman about the extra voiceovers in Singin’ in the Rain. It reminds me of Marni Nixon who sang for Natalie Wood as Maria in West Side Story and many other characters, like Audrey Hepburn’s Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady and Deborah Kerr’s Anna in The King and I. She even dubbed a few notes for Marilyn Monroe in her hit “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”.

If we’re matching voice with body, Marni Nixon’s voice manages to be a Puerto Rican teen, a British flower girl, a British teacher, and an American sex symbol. Why couldn’t Nixon just star in the films herself since she was doing all of the voice work? It reminds me of people recording voices for cartoon characters. These Hollywood films definitely represent the “linguistic constraint and physical confinement” that Silverman discusses (45). Hollywood gives us its “privileged mode of representation” of reality (44). Even though Nixon had the singing chops for the roles in the musicals I mentioned above, the other actresses had the look desired by the production company/director. Thinking of these circumstances makes me wonder how we’re cultured to judge if voices match up with bodies and vice versa. Sometimes we hear people speak, and for some reason, aren’t fond of their voice sound or don’t believe the voice matches up with the body. Although I haven’t really answered the question of what makes sounds appealing, I think the question can be even more specific – are sounds appealing because of biological reasons (how certain sounds affect our auditory system, like high-pitched screeches) and/or are sounds appealing based on cultural constructs? I’m inclined to say the answer is a mixture of both. Some sounds are physically difficult to listen to, but the sounds available to us and accepted as favorable are definitely restricted and represented by culture (including Hollywood film culture).

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During our class discussion, I also became interested in the topic of authenticity, which makes me question: How do we know what voices/sounds are authentic? Can they be? Why is authenticity so important? Is it? In terms of voice, we’re all influenced by region/dialect/language, etc. However, as some actors and actresses show, voices and accents can be impersonated. Recently, I read about people having vocal cord surgery simply because they want to regain the youthfulness of their voice after aging, or because they wish to have a different vocal tone. Ultimately, we can (try to) fake authenticity, and we’ll also pay to achieve a favorable sound (just like we do with plastic surgery for looks). To this end, vocal sound could be considered a commodity.