Kearney would encourage us to focus on girls not just as consumers, but also as producers (286). Taylor Swift is certainly creating her own music and putting forth and constructing her own self-image. While it’s easy for us to assume more powerful forces, like music corporations, have had a hand in her image, she is a willful participant in that which she creates. Whether or not her weepy romanticism is her true self is secondary to the fact that this image is presented as truth (Brown, Self-representation).
In “Teardrops on My Guitar,” Taylor Swift pines over Drew, her friend and LOVE of her LIFE. Unfortunately for Swift’s heart and the paint on her guitar, Drew loves another and spends his time walking past Taylor Swift in slow motion. So at night she wears a beautiful ball gown in her best make-up and lies on the bed, holding her guitar. And then, she weeps.
I fake a smile so he won't see
What I want and I need
Not only is Drew what Swift desires, she claims that he is what she needs, perpetuating the idea that all a teenage girl needs is a boyfriend. Unlike riot grrl zines that supported counter-culture and female education (Kearney 287), Swift continues traditional ideas of female adolescence. Despite the publicity of the music video, Swift still acknowledges the bedroom as a private sphere, the only place where her true emotions can come out (and apparently, they come out as tears on her guitar). For Taylor Swift, being a teenage girl sounds really, really sad and lonely, focused exclusively on the boy that “keeps her wishing on a star.” Where are her friends?
I'll bet she's beautiful
That girl he talks about
And she's got everything
That I have to live without
So Swift’s only relief is to think endlessly about the other woman, letting her jealousy mount. When we finally see the girl he’s so in love with, we see she’s a sharp contrast to Swift: she’s a brunette with unimpressive clothes and little make-up. Meanwhile, Swift is dressed to the nines for a day at school. Even in the music video, there is the need to downplay the other girl. Women are constantly pitted against each other and are taught to view other women as competition in the marriage market. This video certainly doesn’t disappoint. It’s as if the only way she can console herself is through consumption: wear more make-up and more expensive clothes and keeping hoping, girls, that he’ll see you one day. This makes Swift palatable to the masses: she is sexually demure and the girl next door, mooning over boys instead of getting into rowdy trouble.
We’ve learned that it’s important to think about why certain representations are popular and constant (Brown, Self-Representation). Taylor Swift is a gorgeous, white, upper-middle class teen that has access to resources that others may not have (Brown, Self-representation). The result is that her narrative is the one presented: a white, middle class life where she can afford to only think about boys and her guitar because her parents had resources and were able to take her to every gig, practice, and label. (Creepily, her guitar almost becomes the consolation prize.) Why, despite traveling the world and playing concerts for the masses, does she still sing songs about how hard her love life in high school is? This message speaks to broad audiences and presents Taylor Swift as harmless, mousy, and safe. Even though parents might not want these qualities for their daughters, they are predictable and familiar narratives. Produced by Swift herself, they seem more authentic and give an almost pseudo sense of empowerment: look how great it is she can play the guitar and tell her story! But is her story really good for our daughters?
Worked Cited:
Brown, Adriane. “Self-representation.” Power Point. 2010.
Kearney, Mary C. “Producing Girls: Rethinking The Study of Female Youth Culture.” In Delinquents and Debutantes: Twentieth-Century American Girls' Culture. New York University Press. 1998.
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