The script of a short film from 1932 by the cabaret star Badīʿah Maṣābnī features the voice of a woman holding forth on the subject of women’s eyes and the effects they have on male onlookers. The characteristics of the text, a monologue entitled “Lughat al-ʿuyūn,” or “The Language of the Eyes,” are analysed in the light of speech act theory, with a view toward understanding the dynamics of gender and subjective agency that permeate it. Special attention is paid to the gaze, both the gaze emanating from the depicted women’s eyes and the gaze of the presumably male spectator. Structures of gender and agency as they apply to eyes in the film script are then compared to formulations of the beloved’s eyes in the classical Arabic poetic tradition, as well as to depictions of eyes in a contemporary colloquial poem by Bayram al-Tūnisī. The comparisons reveal the relatively subversive nature of the film. The piece concludes with reflections on the film’s feminist impulse.

中文翻译：

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“眼睛的语言”：Badīʿah Maṣābnī的独白中的言语行为和凝视

1932 年，歌舞表演明星 Badīʿah Maṣābnī 的一部短片剧本以女性的声音为主题，讲述女性的眼睛及其对男性旁观者的影响。文本的特征，即题为“Lughat al-ʿuyūn”或“眼睛的语言”的独白，根据言语行为理论进行分析，以期了解渗透其中的性别和主观能动性的动态. 特别注意凝视，既有来自描绘的女性眼睛的凝视，也有可能是男性观众的凝视。然后，将电影剧本中适用于眼睛的性别和能动性结构与古典阿拉伯诗歌传统中对爱人眼睛的表述以及拜拉姆·图尼西 (Bayram al-Tūnisī) 的当代口语诗中对眼睛的描绘进行了比较。这些比较揭示了这部电影相对颠覆性的本质。这篇文章以对电影女权主义冲动的反思结束。