Miss Americana: Celebrity Self-Reflection
It's you and me
That's my whole world
They whisper in the hallway, "she's a bad, bad girl" (okay!)
The whole school is rolling fake dice
You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes
It's you and me
There's nothing like this
Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince
Whether you’re a fan or not, Taylor Swift is an American icon. Every person who has grown up in this country over the past decade has memorized the lyrics of at least one of her songs. For me, it was “You Belong With Me,” her single which debuted when I was in middle school.
But she wears short skirts
I wear T-shirts
She's cheer captain
And I'm on the bleachers
Dreaming about the day when you wake up
And find that what you're looking for has been here the whole time
I watched the music video countless times. Swift plays both the awkward (but still gorgeous) girl-next-door and the popular girlfriend of her neighbor. She spends the video highlighting the differences between her and her counterpart, but they were meaningless to 7-year old me. To me, Taylor Swift was the American Dream girl I could never be, with golden hair, glassy blue eyes, and Southern roots that kept her relatable to her target demographic while still being an idol to people like me.
You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye
And I got that red lip, classic thing that you like
And when we go crashing down, we come back every time
'Cause we never go out of style, we never go out of style
When I was in middle school, Swift decided to change her music “style,” leaving the country scene for a more generic pop sound. In one of her first pop songs, “Style,” she compares herself to Marilyn Monroe and in a somewhat self-referential way, acknowledging that she will always be a cultural ideal. Straight, cisgender, white women will always be a beauty standard that everyone else aspires to. In today’s musical scene, Swift is the best representation of that everlasting ideal and owes much of her fame to her physical features.
Recently, Netflix released a documentary, Miss Americana, directed by Lana Wilson, detailing the rise of Taylor Swift and her eventual decision to abandon her unattainable image and become more politically active through real-time footage. At first, the very idea of focusing on a person who had the privilege of staying out of current events turned me off. Rich white artists (and people in general) can always maintain an aura of neutrality surrounding politics because they aren’t directly impacted by everyday decisions. However, I decided to watch the documentary anyway (maybe in the same way people watch Cats) and was sucked in. I realized that even if Taylor Swift is an ideal, understanding her struggle with her own iconization was necessary to break down the cultural values that put her on a pedestal in the first place.
Just close your eyes, the sun is going down
You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now
As Miss Americana reveals, “You Belong With Me” left a mark on Swift’s psyche as well. After accepting a Video Music Award for the video, rapper Kanye West infamously interrupted her speech, to passionately argue that Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” video should’ve won instead. In the documentary, Swift reflects on this moment, saying that it had damaged her self-image since she assumed that everyone agreed with him. Her insecurities fueled an eating disorder that went on for years, during which she constantly worried about fitting a certain body type.
That pain is touched upon more seriously towards the end of the film when Swift details the process of suing a man for sexual assault, a journey that proved especially difficult despite photographic evidence and witnesses. Swift acknowledges her own privilege on camera, understanding that if the system could be set up against her then it can just as easily destroy less fortunate women. In that one scene, my entire perception of Taylor Swift cracked: she wasn’t untouchable or immovable. She was just another person and just another woman.
You are somebody that we don't know
But you're comin' at my friends like a missile
Why are you mad?
When you could be GLAAD?
The film ends with Swift confronting her publicists about their decision to keep her politically neutral throughout her career and writing an Instagram post to support progressive candidates. The stakes don’t feel especially high since we’re watching her decision from the future and know that she’s as popular as ever, but her inner turmoil is intriguing, especially when she realizes that she can’t say “gay rights” without actually supporting them. Many white celebrities falsely support marginalized groups to expand their market but the documentary proves that fans are beginning to expect more.
But one of these things is not like the others
Like a rainbow with all of the colors
Baby doll, when it comes to a lover
I promise that you'll never find another like
Me-e-e
Ultimately, Miss Americana may not study an overlooked subject, but it studies one whose impact has been felt throughout our society. Even if Taylor Swift seems to meet every beauty standard, the pressure to be America’s best friend has taken a toll on her and left her unsatisfied with herself throughout her career. The standard of perfection that Americans have created can never actually be achieved, though, from a distance, Swift seems to get pretty darn close to it. The American Dream will always be out of reach and until we can let go of celebrity worship, our society will still be looking for something it can never find and young girls, especially ones who don’t fit standard definitions of femininity, will continue to believe that they fall short.
All that I wanted was to be wanted
Too young to wander London streets, alone and haunted
Born into nothing
At least you have something
Something to cling to
Visions of dazzling rooms I'll never get let into
(This is from the song she wrote for Cats. Taylor Swift wrote a song for Cats. With famed Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. I feel like the culture is going to forget this one day and we can’t let that happen).
by RIA BHANDARKAR