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Scarlett Johansson's Body and the Materialization of Voice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2016

LAURA TUNBRIDGE
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Abstract

This article considers three science fiction films, released in 2013–14, featuring Scarlett Johansson: Her(dir. Spike Jonze), Lucy(dir. Luc Besson), and Under the Skin(dir. Jonathan Glazer). It suggests that to engage with the phenomenon of voice in imaginative and productive ways it is necessary to slide over a disciplinary divide and address more explicitly the musicality of speech. In my main example, Her, Johansson provides the voice of an operating system with which the film's protagonist falls in love. Central to their intimate connection is the establishment of what I call the ‘haptic voice’, which conveys a sense of physical proximity. A similar blurring of the boundaries between voice and body occur in the presentation of the alien characters Johansson plays in the other films.

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Articles
Information
Twentieth-Century Music , Volume 13 , Issue 1: Voice , March 2016 , pp. 139 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2016 

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Filmography

Besson, Luc, dir. Lucy. Written by Luc Besson. With performers Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman. Universal Pictures. DVD, region 2, 8301614, 2014.Google Scholar
Coppola, Sofia, dir. Lost in Translation. Written by Sofia Coppola. With performers Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. Momentum Pictures, Focus Features. DVD, Region 2, MP319D, 2003.Google Scholar
Glazer, Jonathan, dir. Under the Skin. Based on the novel by Michel Faber. Screenplay by Walter Campbell and Jonathan Glazer. With performer Scarlett Johansson. StudioCanal. DVD, Region 2, OPTD2549, 2014.Google Scholar
Webber, Peter, dir. Girl with a Pearl Earring. Based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier, screenplay by Olivia Hetreed. With performers Colin Firth, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Wilkinson. Pathe Pictures in association with UK Film Council. DVD, Region 2, P-SGB P9138DVD, 2003.Google Scholar