Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
8-24-2023
Abstract
"This paper proposes that sonic mapping of space, sensibility and power structures through cinematic representation of urban places has subsequently taken on imaginations that have become part of socio-cultural and socio-political experience. Sound and image have combined, establishing a spectoral environment that enables the viewer to engage both inner and outer worlds in embodied perception. Mary Beard notes, ‘when written evidence for Western culture starts, women’s voices are not being heard in the public sphere. … an integral part of growing up, as a man, is learning to take control of public utterance and to silence the female of the species.’1 Beard is of course not speaking of cinema, rather she is referring to the moment in Homer’s Odyssey, specifically Telemachus’ admonition of Penelope’s presence in conversation, something he sees as an intrusion and not part of ‘men’s business’ (muthos). Penelope’s voice is silenced in favor of her son’s male voice, and Beard uses this example to show how little has changed. Women’s voices continue to be hushed or framed as disruptive in political and public spaces, on and off-screen. The quieting or silencing of voices is the denial of possible sonic worlds, the foreclosure of being listened to. As Salomé Voegelin argues, the act of listening is a generated action; as we listen, we participate and construct the very spaces, the human geography we are a part of.2 If public listening to women’s voices is impeded due to the hushing of their sounds, what alternative exists?"
Recommended Citation
Kelli Fuery: "Choric Sounds: The Intervention of Women’s Soundscapes in the City and Cinema" in Parby, Jakob Ingemann (ed.): Conference Proceedings: Sound, Language and the Making of Urban Space, August 24-25, Copenhagen 2023. University of Copenhagen and Museum of Copenhagen, 2024
Copyright
The author
Included in
Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Comments
This article was originally published in Conference Proceedings: Sound, Language and the Making of Urban Space in 2023.