Dubbing in Favour of Distinction: Ghost Singer Marni Nixon and the (Un)Doing of Audiovisual Bodies

• Published in: Music, sound and the moving image sound and the moving image, 2024-07, Vol.18 (1), p.53-76
• Main Author: Lima, Daniel de Andrade
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1753-0768; 1753-0776
• DOI: 10.3828/msmi.2024.5

Dubbing has been employed to fabricate characters’ bodies onscreen since the inception of spoken and sung cinema. In Hollywood musicals, this technical device has given rise to various social problems, including uncredited singers, labour exploitation, and identity-related issues. In this context, this article explores how dubbing has been consistently used as a tool for constructing characters’ bodies onscreen, producing social differences in hierarchical ways. The discussion focuses on film scenes dubbed by the ghost singer Marni Nixon since, in the films on which she most famously worked, characters’ voices are important aspects of their racial, class, national, and gendered distinctions. Throughout the analysis, the essay also engages with other work on dubbed cases, such as Masha Siefert’s (1995), Merrie Snell’s (2020), and Jeff Smith’s (2003), to facilitate a broader discussion on the politics of dubbing in film musicals. In doing so, the paper frames various normative notions about body, voice, and identity highlighted by dubbing. Ultimately, it posits that dubbing constructs characters’ bodies onscreen by often aligning with normative ideals while also opening risks of exposing cinematic artifices in queer ways.