Miss Americana
By: Lana Wilson
A Taylor Swift documentary? Of course I’m going to break my film slump for that one! Thank you Netflix 🙂
As a long-term fan of Taylor I got to admit…
I’ve seen a lot of it. The footage, the news clips good and bad, etc.
Her cats are adorable. Her mom’s dog is absolutely precious and her kitchen is total goals.
But what I was most interested in was the politics and the fact that after near to a decade of silence in that arena she broke and very much waded into the political fray for the first time last year.
And I wasn’t disappointed.
Taylor basically says she was raised to be a polite girl and make people happy and that she needed their applause in return. Hence she wasn’t about to antagonize people politically. She swallowed what is often said that people just wanted to hear her sing.
There’s a particularly cringy bit with a young Taylor telling David Letterman exactly that to a go, girl fist bump from him and applause from the audience. Also cringy to look back on is clips of the shit storm that rained down on the Dixie Chicks.
Those clips are also pretty shocking to think it really wasn’t that long ago. There’s one of Bill O’Reilly, incredibly popular at the time saying they ought to be slapped around. (It would take time but he got his in the end although his sexual harassment history coming out only makes it worse to look back and to think people were applauding that sort of thing.)
I appreciate her hang-up with reconciling these things in her head and also the desire to actually educate herself on the issues. I thought the clips of her talking about Tennessee politics in particular were very moving.
Especially as on the one hand they celebrated her possibly effecting youth voter registration for the better but in the end suffering the crushing blow of so much politics these days… that it didn’t matter in the end.
But I have listened to the new song Only the Young plenty over the past couple of days. So bright side I guess???
All that being said and my enjoyment/interest in this aside… it’s still pretty Taylor Swift in that its completely shiny, very packaged and controlled. I thought I saw a clip or read an article that we’d see a different side to her
(besides politics) with a picture of her swigging back some Aviation booze. I remember that cause I thought hey Ryan’s getting some product placement here. But I didn’t see it in the documentary.
At times it felt like an ad for Lover as much as anything else.
It’s pure Taylor for better and worse.
Recommend: Yes.
I watched it a couple of days ago and quite enjoyed it.
Great review! I haven’t seen it yet but was thinking about it. Its good to know its still very Taylor esque (for good or bad haha)
It is interesting to see how she has changed her approach, from avoiding politics to speaking up about political issues. She and her fans could make a big difference in that forum.
I really hope so.
Lovely review! I really enjoyed the documentary. I liked how it didn’t just focus on the Kanye situation, but recapped her career and why she’s always felt a need or pressure to not say anything. It made using her voice more a lot more powerful.
Thanks! I know I relate to her even in my life. Don’t start an argument just let it go is something I probably think entirely too much!
I’m not really a fan but I enjoyed it too.
i definitely think the best point of miss americana was the political discussion. i was anticipating more backstage footage, but i was familiarized with most of the stories there, such as the ones about the beginning of her career, and the 2009 vma’s and such, so i was a little bit disappointed by it. but i loved how she also shared a lot of new things, like the eating disorders talk, as this is a very relevant topic to me.
but i think the way it discussed her journey with being more vocal about politics was particularly moving. it made me really proud to be a fan of hers, because she’s really taking the time and putting an effort to educate herself and improve.
I agree. I really hope moving forward this year she keeps it going. I’m a very cynical person myself but she has the power to move people here!
What I’m getting is that she was basically raised to be a southern belle? I hope she continues to talk more about politics, she has immense potential to do good.
Although FYI, I’d be happy to see a doc on Megan Fox. Her history in the industry has been really sad, but Megan Fox herself seems bloody amazing.
Agreed. I hope she does an autobiography or something like that one day. She deserved better treatment!