Sound, Voice, and Identity in Sorry to Bother You

Sound as an Active Force in Film

Sound is an important element in any film, but especially in Sorry to Bother You (2018), where it plays a central role in the plot. Sound is an active force "which possesses the power to attack, invade, or manipulate, rather than just being a transitory aural whiff carried by the wind."¹ Nowhere is this more apparent than when Cassius Green applies his white voice in a scene that encapsulates his acceptance into the corporation, his own sense of pride, and simultaneously his own descent into selling out — as he and his manager Johnny celebrate with a montage of high-fiving while rock music plays in the background, reinforcing the feeling of acceleration into a new phase of life.

The scene combines sound, voice, and ear as well as the body in film, and it truly embodies the idea that Michel Chion develops in his assessment of sound usage in film: "Chion's examples highlight the dark side of sound's ability to embody agency, a fact also present in another practice, namely ventriloquism. A voice originates not in the face or the mouth but apparently in another part of the body."² The scene is an act of deliberate ventriloquism, as white voice is dubbed over the actual speaking voice of the actor playing Cassius Green, who mimes along with the voice but is not actually heard. The very act is surreal in and of itself and also reflects the surreal nature of film — how, with the introduction of sound, the experience of watching and hearing a film changed so that now it is "difficult to decide whether the cinematic experience takes place 'inside' or 'outside' the body."³

The White Voice Scene: Space, Connection, and Performance

The scene begins with Cassius attempting to land his first sale over the phone using his white voice. As the camera pans over to capture Cassius at his cubicle in the act, the viewer sees him engaged in the call with his headset on, using a pencil to make points in the air as though he were conducting a silent symphony inside his head. We hear the white voice, but then the film cuts to a surreal interplay between Cassius and the person on the other end of the line, who are suddenly together in a room. Cassius is still at a desk acting as a caller, but the white person is now in front of him — on a phone, to emphasize that he is receiving the call — and the fact that they are together emphasizes the overcoming of space that the white voice has enabled.

This is exactly what sound in film was able to do: play with space in such a way that we feel more connected to the images on the screen than we really are. Cassius has become an actor in the film of his own life by adopting white voice, and that voice, like sound in a film, has enabled him to reach out of the script or screen and into the life of his audience — the white consumer on the other end of the line. The white consumer is so pleased to have this space eliminated (made possible only by way of the white voice) that he shares his joint with the caller.

Body, Celebration, and the Corporate Union

The film then cuts back to Cassius in his cubicle closing out the sale as his manager watches from behind another cubicle, having somehow heard everything — as though he himself has magic ears and is hovering like an angel of corporate soullessness, waiting to devour and feed on the soul of the new corporate goon that Cassius has become. Yet Cassius has even deceived himself with white voice and does not see his manager Johnny as a threat but rather as a welcome friend. The two high-five repeatedly and engage in all sorts of silly dancing and even dry-humping, in a sort of pseudo-sexual symbolization of the union that has just been made between Cassius and the corporation.

Even the name "Cassius" represents the betrayal that is made here on multiple levels. Cassius was the seducer of Brutus and the plotter who worked to overthrow Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's play. Cassius was also the birth name of the famous boxer Cassius Clay before he became Muhammad Ali. The name therefore carries multiple meanings, but they all signify a double-sidedness: first, as a friend who is really a betrayer, and second, as a person who changes his identity. Cassius is morphing in this scene, and his physicality with the manager Johnny is a representation of that morphing. They are touching, slapping, hugging, and humping, then awkwardly disengaging and getting back to work once the euphoria has subsided.

The sell-out has been fun and exciting, but Cassius is really there to do a job: he is there to sell for the corporation, and he himself as a person does not really matter. The love-dance bro-celebration is just a way to make Cassius feel supported — but the reality is that he is being used. He knows this deep down yet is okay with the betrayal because he likes what he is receiving in return. He just does not realize the extent to which he will ultimately pay: that he will be turned into a literal workhorse — half human, half horse — by the end of the film.

Bibliography

Chapter 6: "Cinema as Ear — Acoustics and Space."

Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You. Focus Features, 2018.