The Taylor Swift Redemption Arc
I’m sure that many readers can attest to the fact that, recently, Taylor Swift has experienced a startling shift in her media portrayal and general reputation. While it was once impossible to escape the endless cruel jokes surrounding Swift and her numerous failed relationships, the re-release of ‘Red’ and, specifically, ‘All Too Well: The Short Film’ saw #JakeGyllenhaal trending for weeks on twitter, and not in a good way. In preparation for–and celebration of–the Red re-release, it seemed that every Starbucks in my area was playing Taylor’s discography on loop; ‘Enchanted’, ‘Mine’, and ‘Nothing New’ are audios that I can’t escape on my Tiktok for-you page; even within the walls of Havergal, anti-Gyllenhaal sentiments at various levels of aggression have been cropping up on the Art Space windows. My question is: why now? Why, after years of being seen as a man-stealing psycho ex-girlfriend, has her narrative begun to portray a story of empowerment and self-assurance?
From the beginning of her career, Swift was criticized for ‘dating too much’ and using her romantic experiences as direct inspiration for her music. This treatment shows a glaring contrast in the ways in which women and men are treated differently by the entertainment industry–there are copious amounts of male artists who have built their reputations off of engaging in relationships with multiple women. When men do it, they’re seen as ‘heartthrobs’ or ‘players.’ Swift calls out this discrepancy directly by comparing herself to Leonardo DiCaprio in her song ‘The Man,’ singing: "And they would toast to me, oh, let the players play/I'd be just like Leo in Saint-Tropez." In the eyes of the media and the general public, DiCaprio, along with many other male stars, was looked upon with admiration and desire. Swift, however, was cast in a disdainful light for having an active love life, similar to her male counterparts.
Swift’s romantic exploits were painted in a sinister, deceitful way, as if she were a conniving seductress who lured unsuspecting men into her trap and then wrote songs about them. There was no thought given to the fact that most of her partners were worryingly older than herself–Jake Gyllenhal was 29 when he started dating a 20 year-old Swift, and John Mayor was 32 when he started dating Swift, who was still 20. Though she was a very young girl, having only been launched to stardom a year prior, she was portrayed as if she held all the power in these relationships with much older men. As if she, being the man-eating, femme-fatale seductress that the media portrayed her to be, was pulling the strings, and these men were helpless to stop her. This narrative that she was a crazy, unstable woman who couldn’t maintain a relationship and spent her time perpetually hunting for a new man is nothing new. Swift is just another victim in a long line-up of high-profile women who have been subjected to rampant and perpetual slut-shaming and degradation by the media. In an interview with Platt River Radio in 2019, Swift opened up about her opinions on why this is such a common phenomenon: “it’s figuring out how to completely minimize that skill (songwriting) by taking something that everyone in their darkest, darkest moments loves to do, which is just to slut-shame.” Women and female-presenting people publicly succeeding will always dredge up criticism simply because of the threat that such success poses to patriarchal institutions, such as the entertainment industry. Using slut-shaming, social ostracization, and mockery as weapons against these women is a productive way to silence them and force them into submission.
With all of this in mind, the question must be asked: what was it about the re-release of ‘Red’ that launched Swift so firmly into the good graces of the public? For one thing, re-recording her old albums from scratch is a way of reclaiming her songs from the clutches of the corporate producers who asserted ownership over all her old music. For another, these re-done songs feel like a love letter written from an older woman to her younger self, who was mocked and disregarded for her feelings, branded as ‘crazy’ and ‘too much’ for simply discussing heartbreak. ‘Red’ originally exemplified everything that Swift represented in the public imagination: a deranged, clingy ex-girlfriend, who got way too attached and then went mad with sorrow when her partners pulled away in alarm. It was uncool, cringe, obsessive, too much for her to wear her heart on her sleeve. In re-recording Red, she was able to put a new spin on these songs. ‘All Too Well,’ the beating heart of the album, got the 10-minute treatment, through which she was able to re-explore the heartbreak she underwent as a young girl from the lens of someone older and wiser.
The cruel dismissal of her feelings by the public always had a chauvinistic undertone, painting the picture of a hysterical woman who couldn’t take what she dished out. But many of her fans–young girls especially–felt the pain and heartbreak that she sang about. It’s why she grew so popular. Despite the narrative that the media and public attempted to push, Swift has made it clear to fans that these feelings are nothing to be ashamed of. The re-recording of ‘Red’ is a testament to the fact that we should treat our younger selves with empathy and love, even if a larger world showed us only derision. An assurance that universal feelings of heartbreak, hurt, and pain are not frivolous, but human and valid. By re-emerging as someone not chained by by corporate greed or public shaming, someone who seeks retribution for those who took advantage of her and chooses to stand in solidarity with her past self, she further invigorates and inspires young girls everywhere to be brave enough to love their past–and present–selves.
Sources:
Swift, Taylor. “The Man.” Spotify.
https://open.spotify.com/track/3RauEVgRgj1IuWdJ9fDs70?si=419f7e9f85ae4e68
Taylor Swift Opens up about Being ‘Slut-Shamed’ in Her Early 20’s. Platte River Radio, 31 Oct.
2019, https://platteriverradio.com/abc_music-adult-cont/taylor-swift-opens-up-about-bei
g-slutshamed-in-her-early-20s-that-was-a-bit-hard-abcid36232264/