This last weekend, I watched the new Taylor Swift documentary, Miss Americana with my friend Cody McCracken. Honestly, it was objectively good. They told an interesting story about a girl who rose to the top and now questions the advice she was given that helped her rise to the top. The film highlighted how debilitating anorexia can be. And, through it all, it showed how interesting the songwriting process can be.
So, on paper, Miss Americana is a good film. And, if you care about Taylor Swift at all, you should check it out. I only had three problems with it. And, to all of the hardcore Swifties out there, I would like to emphasize that these are all personal problems.
I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan and an aspiring songwriter for a while. I grew up in a small town and could not get into country music. Then, I heard the album “Fearless” by Taylor Swift. I was in awe. Taylor Swift, with the help of some of the best songwriters in Nashville, wrote a brilliant album. I admired her abilities so much. One day, in the locker room at my high school, someone said I sounded like a male Taylor Swift, and that remains to this day one of my favorite compliments. I say this to emphasize the fact that I am a fan.
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The Minor Annoyance in Miss Americana
So, how Did T-Swift break my heart with this documentary? I’ll start with the annoying part. About a quarter of the documentary is focused on Taylor’s beef with Kanye West. That just disappoints me. In some of Kanye’s latest interviews, he talks about how terrible he feels about that incident. He says that his path to follow Jesus Christ has helped him to find forgiveness for those mistakes caused by his addictions. So, on one hand we have a man who is seeking forgiveness and cleansing. And, on the other we have a hero of mine harboring a grudge and drinking her own poison. Honestly, I’m tired of the whole fiasco. I wish we could all just pull a Frozen and “Let it Go”.
The Heartbreak
So, that’s not really a huge deal. This next part is more of the heartbreaking part. So, in the summer of 2015, I had an issue with eating food. I don’t want to say I was anorexic because I was never diagnosed. However, I was really sad all the time and consuming less than 800 calories a day. In fact, wrote a song about it called “We’ve Got Time,” feel free to check it out. So, why don’t I feel good about Miss Americana? Didn’t Taylor Swift talk about how she overcame a similar problem? She did, but throughout the documentary she talked about how men couldn’t understand.
And, that kind of messed with my brain. A personal hero kind of said that my suffering wasn’t real because I’m a man. I understand that women have different societal expectations than men. But, there are still expectations on us. And, I did fall prey to those. . . right?
Later, Taylor Swift talks about the sexual harassment lawsuit that she was a part of and how that influenced her politically. During that part of Miss Americana, she again said that men couldn’t understand. That kind of tore at my brain as well. Earlier that week, I had listened to this amazing interview where Kevin Ross, a champion MMA fighter, talked about how his Step-mom sexually abused him as a child. And, he mentioned that 1 in 6 men are sexually abused. His story really got to me and had me at the brink of tears.
So, when Taylor Swift says that men can’t understand, my heart doesn’t know how to feel. It affected me.
My Pet Peeve from Miss Americana
Finally, on a lighter note. What about the song “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince”? I was waiting to hear that song throughout the whole documentary. Didn’t they name the documentary after that song?
Anyway, what did you think of the documentary? I tried to be vulnerable in this article, so I would appreciate if we kept the negative comments to a minimum.
Enjoy!
Check out the film and let us know what you thought of it!
While you’re here, hop on over to Kevin’s author page and peruse the other articles he’s written.
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