Taylor Swift’s ‘Miss Americana’ Is Required Viewing Right Now
It’s no secret that Taylor Swift is one of the biggest pop stars in the world right now. She’s partway through her Ticket Master-breaking Eras Tour, and her name’s been splashed on the tabloids more than usual recently because of her alleged breakup with boyfriend Joe Alwyn. At a time when the public feels more comfortable than ever sharing their opinions on both Swift’s career and her private life, it’s the perfect time to listen to Taylor tell her own story in the 2020 documentary Miss Americana. Director Lana Wilson, who is no stranger to documentary filmmaking, having recently directed Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, follows Taylor as she writes her 2019 album Lover and tries to climb out of the controversy surrounding herself and Kanye West, which caused much of the world (and some of her fanbase) to turn their backs on her. While we wait not-so-patiently for Swift to announce international tour dates, there’s no better time to enjoy Miss Americana, which cuts through the incessant noise of celebrity gossip and gives us a surprisingly unᴀssuming documentary about one of the biggest names in music
Now, we all know that especially in the age of social media, being a celebrity means offering yourself to the public, for better or worse. When you’re making art that millions of people consume daily, suddenly your favorite place to eat or the way you style your bangs becomes exponentially more interesting. Fans are ravenous for any scrap of personal information on our favorite stars because it makes us feel like we know them. However, this also gives fans the impression that these people owe us something, which of course, they don’t.
Taylor Swift might be the queen of parasocial relationships. Because of her deeply personal lyrics and the intensely loyal fanbase she’s amᴀssed since 2006, there are millions of people worldwide who feel like they have a special connection to Swift. While this devotion is what keeps Taylor’s career going, it also means that her narrative is often controlled by others, as her every move is closely monitored and analyzed. In her documentary, Swift gives the fans the behind-the-scenes closeness they crave while also framing the narrative, giving us a backstage pᴀss to Miss Americana herself.
For starters, the тιтle of this documentary really says it all. Derived from Swift’s song “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince” off of the album Lover, the name Miss Americana embodies how Swift’s fame has made her a staple not only of American music, but of American culture. In just two words the тιтle hints at the dangers of making a person into more than a person, and holding them to impossible standards simply because they’re in the public eye. Whether she likes it or not, Taylor Swift has become a pillar of the cultural zeitgeist, personifying values of love, feminism, and hard work. The тιтular song also points to Taylor’s obsession with the need to be thought of as a good person, as the lyrics discuss her dealing with scrutiny as people “whisper in the hallways she’s a bad, bad, girl.”
While there’s been no shortage of great celebrity documentaries in recent years, one thing that makes Miss Americana stand out is its lack of outsider interviews. Most documentaries you watch are riddled with interviews featuring close friends, collaborators, cultural analysts, you name it. Miss Americana, however, doesn’t have a single moment of anyone else discussing Swift. There are candid moments between Taylor and those she cares about, like her mother, her lifelong friend Abigail, and her close collaborator Jack Antonoff, but they are never given the spotlight to talk about Taylor or her career. This feels like a deliberate choice on Lana Wilson’s part to ensure that Miss Americana is Taylor’s story in Taylor’s words. As Swift is someone who’s been the object of public scrutiny and slander for years, this documentary feels like a safe space where Taylor gets to tell us who she is and what she’s about without anyone else’s input
In ‘Miss Americana,’ Taylor Swift Gets Political and Talks Kanye West
One of the focal points of Miss Americana is when Swift delves into her motivations for becoming outwardly active in American politics for the first time. For most of her career, Swift was publicly apolitical and it was kind of hard to fault her for it, especially considering the army of keyboard warriors waiting to eviscerate her if she were to say the wrong thing. In her documentary, she discusses how as a young country artist especially, she didn’t want to ruffle feathers or alienate certain groups if her views didn’t align with theirs. She also highlights the infamous backlash that country trio The Chicks faced after speaking out against President Bush’s involvement in the Iraq War, and how she was always dissuaded from being outwardly political to avoid the same fate.
It’s important to acknowledge that Swift has more wealth and opportunities than most of us could conceive of in our wildest dreams. While she’s worked her ᴀss off to get where she is and is acutely aware of the luxuries afforded to her, it’s also impossible to live so long with that kind of privilege without acquiring some blind spots. As Taylor grew older and began to become more involved with, for example, the LGBTQ+ community, it was high time for her to acknowledge that simply preaching kindness wasn’t enough anymore. And so, fittingly enough, The Chicks—who have since had an impressive comeback — were featured in a track on Lover, and in one big “screw you” to the man, Swift spoke out about her political values in 2018 and encouraged her fans to vote. This was a significant moment to include in Miss Americana, as it showed Swift taking a stand for her beliefs even though it jeopardized her career and her safety.
As Miss Americana goes on, Swift also takes the opportunity to speak on issues that have been widely speculated on for years, and finally have the last word. The 2009 VMAs became a cornerstone of pop culture when Taylor Swift won Best Female Video and a certain rapper jumped on stage and ruined her moment (everybody loves Beyoncé, but if Obama calls you a jackᴀss, you know you went too far). This incident was a source of tension between Swift and West for ten years, until West defamed Swift in one of his songs, and a classic he-said-she-said ended with #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty trending on Twitter. As Taylor relays this experience to us, we not only get to see what Taylor was doing on her hiatus from the public eye, but she gets to share her perspective while never actively putting anybody else down
Taylor Swift Uses Her Platform To Let Her Fans Know They Aren’t Alone
Continuing to exercise her vulnerability in the 2020 documentary, Swift confides her devastation at her mother’s cancer diagnosis, and also her until-then private struggles with an eating disorder. Having had her body dissected in public forums for almost twenty years, Taylor uses the platform she was given through this documentary to tell her fans that it’s “f**king impossible” to have a perfect body, and that there are so many things that are more important than fitting into smaller clothes. She also shares how her mother’s illness helped her to reframe her priorities and focus on being healthy. While the stories she tells are incredibly personal, Swift chooses to share them with her legions of impressionable fans and lets them know that they are not alone
Long story short, Miss Americana allows Taylor Swift to reclaim her story and confide in the fans on her own terms. As she totes around a backpack full of cats and lets us witness her songwriting abilities in action, Swift proves once and for all that her dating life is far from the most interesting thing about her. At the end of the day, nobody knows when a career of super-stardom might suddenly come to an end. In an industry with the deranged belief that a woman’s worth has an expiration date, Swift knows all too well that nothing lasts forever. When the day comes that Taylor decides to put down her guitar and step out of the limelight, we’ll be left with Miss Americana, hundreds of our favorite songs, and the immense graтιтude that she chose to share her stories with us
