On "Voice"

An extract from my Celebrity Cultures Portfolio, a 250 word reflection written on a lecture about the concept of "Voice"

Opera is not my area of expertise. Which is why when the lecturer said we would be discussing ‘Divas’ this week I assumed I would be in for a 2 hour chat about the one and only Diana Ross. I wasn’t wholly incorrect, as Sylvester’s 1978 ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ was played. But despite being out of my depth, I was fascinated by the discussion of the female presence on the operatic stage. Particularly the idea that in opera women play what men imagine female characters to be like, that they act like a man thinks they should act, and talk as a man think they should talk. This was put down to most famous operas being written by men, and therefore ultimately encompass that particular viewpoint. In these operas women are given the allusion of power, and as the lecturer described it she gets ‘music’ but no ‘words’. That she stands on stage as a puppet to the patriarchy, so that they can claim she is an empowered, but still speak for her. One example was Salome and the section that particularly struck me was the difference between the authority of a male and female voice. In Salome, despite Salome being the main character, he voice is still not taken as seriously as her off stage counterpart, John the Baptist, who is never seen. Ultimately, Salome is there to be objectified, while John the Baptist’s character places emphasis on the male voice and mind.

Disco star Sylvester, 1975