Singin in the Rain

Simpson 1 Shannon Simpson Instructor Todd Hendricks ENG 281-005 9 March 2012 Behind the Veil of Femininity in “Singin’ in the Rain” Silent film star, Lina Lamont, is handed the wig she will be wearing for an upcoming scene. She is shocked at its weight and says, “Gee, this thing weighs a ton! What dope’d wear a thing like this?” Rosco replies, “Everybody used to wear them, Lina.” She responds, “Well, then everybody was a dope” (Singin’ in the Rain, 2005). Loud and boisterous, center of attention, and the shining star of the silver screen, Lina Lamont effectively exemplifies the quintessential “dumb blond” stereotype with seemingly ridiculous remarks such as this. She portrays one of the three “female” stereotypes along with the “sweet, innocent, and gentile” Kathy Selden, and the “mysterious and erotic” woman credited only as “The Dancer.” The film consistently adheres to building these characters in accordance with the expectations associated with each stereotype, but the women are not quite what they seem to be; their stereotypical facades are flawless, but behind the veils lurk other faces stained with manipulation and greed and will stop at nothing to get what they want. At first glance, “Singin’ in the Rain” seems to be a fun and lighthearted film and when looking at the female roles of the movie, adjectives with negative connotations are not necessarily the first one might expect to recall. However, the three female leads exemplify manipulation and greed throughout the film and their respective stereotypes are twisted and bent to expose their true character.

Simpson 2 We first meet Lina and Don on the red carpet and her glamour and beauty are rejoiced by their adoring fans. She clings to Don’s arm and simpers when the interviewer mentions their alleged engagement. Lina is an actress, which, in itself, is pretending, but her actions in the film suggest she blurs the line between her roles and reality. She seems to have convinced herself that the tabloid story that she and Don are engaged is true, but he says there is nothing between them “but air”(Singin’ in the Rain, 2005). She is a star and she knows the power she possesses, but her security is threatened as “talkies” begin replacing the silent films of which she is queen. Lina’s whiny and high-pitched twang contrasts sharply with her perfectly manicured exterior and when her voice is dubbed on film with another woman’s, she begins to realize that her security is threatened and her grasp on fame is tenuous. Kathy Selden, the woman with whom Lina’s voice is replaced, is introduced as Don is fleeing a gleefully screaming pack of fans and jumps into the passenger seat of her car to escape. She pretends not to know who he is, and upon finding out, she ridicules his profession by stating that she is a real actress, acting on stage, and that he is a fake actor. She appears to be nonchalant and uninterested in him, which, in turn, piques his interest in her. Kathy is presented as a perky and cute “girl next door,” the epitome of “proper” femininity and is immediately quite likable. We feel the sting of her embarrassment when Don recognizes her as she leaps from the cake and we find ourselves siding with her, rooting her on, and wanting her to succeed—and that is precisely what the film guides us to do. However, sweet little Kathy is, by far, the most manipulative character in the film. From the moment we meet her, we are mislead. She pretends not to know Don and is allegedly not impressed by his stardom, but we learn from a deleted scene that she not only knows who he is—she is the president of his fan club! Another deleted scene shows her singing to his image pasted on a billboard—not singing to the “real” man, but to

Simpson 3 a representation of him and his stature. Kathy’s true nature is revealed little by little as she is given opportunities to beguile Don and reel him in. While playing “hard to get,” she manages to finagle her way into the film as a voiceover for Lina. As the movie progresses, she not only takes Lina’s voice, she also takes her man (Don, to whom Lina thinks she is engaged), her career, her fame, and eventually takes her spot next to Don on the billboard to which she sang. Kathy even manipulates the audience of the movie, “Singin’ in the Rain,” by leading the viewer to believe she is just an innocent girl trying to climb her way up in Hollywood by honest means. Kathy and Lina appear to be complete opposites—and they are—but not in the way we would expect. Lina’s crass voice and lack of proper grammar and pronunciation coupled with her overt attempts to use her stardom to get what she wants casts her in a negative light… especially when standing near the soft glow of Kathy’s. The ways in which each woman uses manipulation are not conducive to the stereotype they are “supposed” to embody. Lina’s manipulation is consistently overt: she uses her connections as a famous actress to get Kathy fired from her “cake popping” singing and dancing job after Kathy accidently throws a pie in her face that was intended for Don. As Lina’s jealousy of Kathy grows, her schemes grow more desperate. Like so many places in the film, Lina uses her “dumb blond” persona to obliquely elucidate certain truths (such as the wig conversation quoted in the first paragraph). R.F. Simpson is subjected to a particularly clever attack when the “dumb blond” comes in, throws around talk of lawyers and contracts, and gets precisely what she came for: Simpson is cornered and forced to do what she wants, allowing glorified statements to be published about her “wonderful acting” in his upcoming film and thus eliminating any chance of launching Kathy’s career by removing her name from the film credits. When the live crowd hears Lina’s speaking voice after the premier of the musical version of the film, they are astonished at the juxtaposition

Simpson 4 of the beautiful and perfect—but silent—star they have lauded for years and the figure of grating brassiness that stands before them. They jeer and urge her to essentially “shut up and sing,” so Lina coerces Kathy into singing in her place, obscured behind the curtain, while Lina mouths the words on stage in front of the audience. When Lina’s pretending is exposed, as the curtain comes up revealing Kathy (and Cosmo) in the background singing, Lina is humiliated as the audience roars with laughter. At this point, we are supposed to feel badly for “poor little Kathy” with her tears streaming as she flees the stage. She had just been bullied by the big famous star and thinks Don purposefully intended to embarrass her…but it turns out that Kathy’s covert manipulative skill was the very force that drove Don and Simpson to open the curtain, thus effectively replacing Lina with their sweet Kathy in future films. She won them over with her Pollyanna façade and utterly destroyed another woman’s life on her climb to the top—and Lina was rejected for being “real.” The audience wanted the façade and the lie. The third “female” stereotype is represented with the beguiling (and also silent) dancer as she conveys naughty improperness without uttering a single word. She exudes sex with her sultry looks, the flexibility and grace of her dance, and the introductory shot of her long leg poised with Don’s hat dangling from her high heeled shoe. Her exhalation of smoke further enhances the mystique and suggests a clouding of Don’s faculties. During the nameless dancer’s scenes, she is silent, yet she has Don eating out of her palm. She speaks fluently to him through dance as she suggestively wraps her body around Don and using her body as a form of bait. He literally crawls after her at several points suggesting she has effectively manipulated him to the point of being her pet. The dancer is also used to suggest that value is based on money and looks. After her initial “performance,” she is distracted by a shady looking man dangling a glistening diamond

Simpson 5 cuff and flipping a coin. She immediately drops Don and turns to lustily follow the man with more outward signs of wealth. Don is prevented from hypnotically following after her by the man’s by two coin flipping body guards. Lina and Kathy are also used as commentary on the power of money, beauty, and fame. Kathy’s hunger for the life of the rich and famous is the driving force behind her manipulation, yet she must maintain her carefully constructed “innocence” to make it look like every success she obtained was happenstance and that she was just the luckiest girl in the world. Lina is an obvious example of value being based on looks and money. She is Lina Lamont! She sells movies with her looks! The publicity fabrication to present Lina and Don as a couple serves to show their fans that the life of a star is all about perfection in beauty, blissfully happy relationships, and lots and lots of money. At one point, an admiring fan says, “She’s so refined I think I’ll kill myself” (Singin’ in the Rain, 2005). She is portrayed as living the perfect life based on her looks and position, but after Lina’s voice is exposed, her once adoring fans reject the reality and piece by piece her life falls apart around her, and she is replaced with Kathy, another pretty girl to adorn the arm of her man. On the whole, “Singin’ in the Rain” is a great, light-hearted, and entertaining film with great singing and dancing by a stellar cast. From behind the veil, however, the representation of women is depicted as being manipulative, fake, valued only on looks and money. Lina, Kathy, and the dancer, while vastly different stereotypes of women, each share the common thread of self-preservation and will go to any length to remain on top.

Simpson 6 Works Cited Singin’ in the Rain. Dir. Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly. Perf. Gene Kelly, Donald O’Conner, Debbie Reynolds. 1952. Warner Home Video, 2005. DVD.