G'day, mates! I've noticed lately that there is a lot of really negative press going on out there pertaining to this girl:
Now, I don't really have anything against Taylor Swift. Sometimes, I find it really creepy the way she writes songs about her exes and drops really obvious hints as to which ex the song is about (ex. Dear John was probably not about John Mayer. Nope). And sometimes, I feel that she victimizes herself to the point where you become convinced that that is just part of her image, the way she markets herself, and the way she sells her music. Which is fine. She is a business woman and a musician, after all. She knows her audience, she knows her persona, and she plays with it the best way that she can. But at the end of the day, I have to admit that I do enjoy her music and although she isn't the best singer in the world, her songwriting skills are quite good, and I do hope that she continues writing if not for herself then for different artists for the rest of her professional career.
Sometimes though, I feel that the media take things a little too far when it comes to focusing on her private life, calling her all the things we tell ourselves not to call women, and blaming her for things like breaking up One Direction. Which, let's be honest, is never going to happen.
This is true love.
Now, I understand that much of Taylor Swift's draw is the men that she dates and the songs that she ends up writing about them. Many people look to her personal life to make assumptions about her music, and many people look to her music to make assumptions about her personal life. What I find really surprising though is that despite our obsession with Taylor Swift's personal life, it seems like most of this lies in her relationships with men, and not so much her relationships with women, or rather, her life outside the Jake Gyllenhaals and Harry Styles and teenage Kennedys and what not. Although the mainstream media see her as this girl that's desperate for love and a serial dater, I think it's important to be aware of how it is that we criticize the things that Taylor Swift does. Her image and the way that she has been judged her entire career (for things other than her music) is something that I feel would be a very interesting study for those of us who pay attention to women in music. Her status as somewhat of a gay icon in queer girl culture is also something that I find intriguing. She isn't Lady Gaga or Nicky Minaj or Ke$ha in terms of how you normally view female musicians who are also gay icons, and her aura comes mostly from the fact that queer women view her as being ambiguous. While the whole world thinks that Taylor Swift is nothing but her personal life, many of us are convinced that her personal life as it truly is is completely different than what is put on gossip magazines and talked about on entertainment shows. There's still a mystery to her that makes her seem distant and unknown. I don't mean to say that Taylor Swift is lesbian or bisexual or asexual, like a lot of queer women are hoping/thinking. Frankly, Taylor Swift can be anyone she wants and she doesn't have to outright say what or which. But for the sake of combatting the press' obsession with her love life with men, I'm going to be a total anarchist dick right now and focus on Taylor Swift's relationship with women. Taylor Swift is a gay icon for me as well as many other women, and if you're wondering why, I will explain in a picture essay why:
THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF TAYLOR SWIFT'S POSSIBLE NON-HETEROSEXUALITY:
an essay in photographs
Taylor Swift with Emma Stone.
Taylor Swift wears green to go with Emma Stone's red hair. This was not done by accident.
Trying to be discrete. But we all know what's going on. Yes, we do.
Girls who buy candy together, do, uh, other things together, buy candy together.
GIRL SANDWICH!! Taylor Swift does not look surprised. Because she does this all the time.
I can't be the only one who thinks they purposefully try to complement one another in their clothes.
This is so cute I just can't. If I was that close to Emma Stone, I'd be doing exactly what Taylor Swift is trying to do right now. I mean, SCREW THAT TEEN CHOICE AWARD, EMMA STONE IS RIGHT THERE AND SHE IS BEAUTIFUL.
Taylor Swift with Hayley Williams.
Taylor Swift is a total upgrade from New Found Glory's Chad Gilbert. Hayley thinks so too.
Paramore's Jeremy Davis clearly approves of this relationship.
Taylor Swift doesn't care if you're a foot shorter than she is. She loves you anyway.
Taylor Swift with Dianna Agron.
You know you love a girl when you start dressing like her.
They made matching floral crowns as they declared their love for one another.
Taylor Swift with Selena Gomez.
Menchie's is a way to a girl's heart. And Taylor Swift knows it.
Taylor Swift models the proper way of charming women. Justin Bieber takes notes.
Taylor Swift wearing stripes, Selena Gomez wearing flannel. You know what that means? TOTALLY STRAIGHT.
Selena Gomez can't believe her luck.
Taylor Swift with various other women.
Taylor Swift smirking at the fact that she's tricked everyone in this world into thinking she is straight.
Some quiet time with Emma Roberts behind a trailer.
For Jennifer Lawrence, Taylor Swift beats getting a golden man statue.
Taylor Swift showing the world how's it's done.
Taylor Swift in red. Julianne Hough is hoping she dances with her later on in the evening.
Taylor Swift consoling a very flustered Lena Dunham. It's not her fault all the girls are obsessed with her.
Taylor Swift wearing Selena Gomez's plaid shirt while out with another girl. This player.
Breaking even Michelle Obama's heart.
Taylor Swift's engagement photos will probably look exactly like this.
Taylor Swift going home with Katy Perry. Crushing the dreams of all the boys in the process.
Rolling around in paint with girls. Just another day in the life of Taylor Swift.
Where has all the chivalry gone? To Taylor Swift, apparently.
They're all feeling 22. Amongst other things.
Hey girl, if you marry me, all of this will be yours.
Leonardo DiCaprio only wishes he could pick up blond supermodels the way Taylor Swift does.
Taylor Swift has no idea where these women came from. She's not complaining.
I think this picture speaks for itself.
Also, as an aside, Taylor Swift's style, at least in recent times, is pretty femme queer if you ask me:
And her new music video, which was just released today, is totally gay in my opinion:
That is all. If you swooned at all during this post, Taylor Swift says you're welcome.
Dang it. Now I want Menchie's.
No but seriously though, I think Taylor Swift is a good person who makes decent music and is more self-aware than we make her out to be. She seems to really appreciate her fans and she's super cute around her friends. Love her or hate her, she's probably not much different from the rest of us. I honestly think that a lot of what defines her public image, from her dating life to her queer symbol status, comes from how we interpret our own personal lives through her music. And that's the mark of a smart artist, I think. P.S. I'm re-reading this post and I've come to realize that it probably seems ridiculous and does not have a real point to it. I was on a caffeine high when I was writing this though, so forgive its illiterate nature. I think I was trying to make it funny and somewhat of a serious discussion at the same time, which made it fall a bit flat.
I just recently finished reading a book by Malinda Lo, entitled Ash. Naturally, when I finish a book, I automatically tend to cast the hypothetical movie for it. And this is basically a post where I hypothetically cast a movie that is probably never going to happen. At least with me as casting director calling the shots on who will get to play these beloved characters.
Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella by Annie Leibovitz
Cinderella is a story we’re all familiar with, right? Girl is taken advantage of by her stepmother upon the passing of her father, is made to be a slave, basically. One day, the Prince decides it’s about time he picked a wife so he decides to host a ball and invites all the eligible young ladies to it (because he obviously has no female friends or love interests to speak of). Cinderella’s stepsisters get to go but she doesn’t. In a twist of fate, she meets a fairy godmother who gives her all the princess perks, with the only condition being that the magic wanes at midnight. Cinderella goes to the ball, catches the eye of the Prince and they dance and fall in love exactly the way it happens in real life. Cinderella loses track of time and at midnight, rushes away, losing her glass slipper in the process. The Prince keeps it as souvenir and because he is totally blind, he has to try the slipper on every woman in the kingdom to find the Cinderella he fell in love with the night before. He finds her, marries her and because Cinderella is such a forgiving girl, she arranges for her two evil stepsisters to marry lords and they all live happily ever after.
Although the story of Cinderella is ancient, and has many names and different versions that exist across the world, the version that we are probably most familiar with is the Charles Perrault version. It has been adapted into every art form imaginable and even works that do not make direct reference to Cinderella still do contain elements of the story. There’s just something really alluring and fascinating about people who live terrible lives only to suddenly gain everything in the world. Here are some Cinderellas I grew up with:
Disney Cinderella. Despite living a horrible life and having a cruel and abusive family, this Cinderella seemed to still be happy enough to sing songs in the morning and sing songs while cleaning. She aided her family without a care in the world, and she made friends with mice and birds.
Julie Andrews Cinderella. Julie Andrews just wins at all things. She was my favourite person when I was younger and when I picture Cinderella in my head, she’s my default.
Brandy Norwood Cinderella. Where Whitney Houston played the fairy godmother. And Bernadette Peters played the stepmother. Need I say more? The cast itself screams epic. Amazing music adaptations, very quaint set design that was perfect for a live action fairytale. The music of Rodgers and Hammerstein never fails.
Drew Barrymore Cinderella. A modern version of Cinderella that finally made her seem more human. Drew Barrymore played her perfectly and one of the greatest things about this movie is that it at least tried to be historically accurate - from the costumes to the way people swam back in the day.
Anne Hathaway Cinderella. An adaptation of the Gail Carson Levine novel, which is a re-telling of the Cinderella tale, Ella Enchanted does not follow the story to a T plot point. The movie itself strays even further from the book, which was quite mature and deep for a children’s novel. I remember reading it at the end of grade seven and thinking that it was the cutest love story I had ever read. I had never really looked at love stories that way before, but Gail Carson Levine’s depth of writing pulled me into that world like nothing else. The movie, unfortunately, did not capture that, and instead turned the book into a cheesy musical movie, targeting an audience familiar with Cinderella but not necessarily with Ella Enchanted. Despite that, I still enjoyed the movie for what it was, and Anne Hathaway is adorable in it.
Hilary Duff Cinderella. I know this movie was meant to be cute fluff and catered to the Disney Channel generation but man, it was annoying. I have nothing against Hilary Duff but she isn't the best actress and this movie was like walking into a Claire's Accessories store and walking out having bought a bunch of ugly overpriced stuff that you're never going to wear.
Anyway, onto Ash, which, though not at all on the same level as the Gail Carson Levine novel, could be seen as the Ella Enchanted of the 21st Century.
Ash has connections with several different characters in the novel: Sidhean a.k.a. The Fairy Godmother; Prince Aidan a.k.a. Prince Charming and Kaisa a.k.a. The Huntress a.k.a. The Love of Ash’s Life. I kind of got the idea that maybe Ash was bisexual, as throughout the novel, especially in the first half, there are hints that she feels an unwanted attraction towards Sidhean, a male fairy. Although she is clearly more attracted to Kaisa, I never felt that there was any real chemistry between the two characters. There was nothing strong enough in the development of either girls throughout the story to indicate that they were passionately in love with one another. Now, I’m not asking for straight up erotic Fifty Shades of Lesbian fantasy here. But when I pick up a book solely based on the fact that it is about two girls falling in love (yes, guilty as charged), I EXPECT SOME SEX STUFF. Well, not literal sex stuff, but sexual tension AT LEAST. I want to feel, as a reader, that these two characters want nothing more than to get the other in bed at the end of the day. For romance to be romantic, it has to have that element of sacrifice, of apathy, of understanding, of commitment. It has to be about love, yes, but for it to be truly romantic it must also have that other aspect. The aspect of desire, of passion, of an almost animalistic need to have someone. You all remember that library scene in Atonement? YES, LIKE THAT. It doesn’t even need to be played out. I mean, the presence of sex is possible even at the absence of sex, if that makes any sense. Like that library scene in Becoming Jane, where he tells her that for her to become a proficient writer of fiction, her horizons must be widened. I mean, they are in a LIBRARY and there are books everywhere and the two characters are like 15 feet from one another and they are separated by a million bookshelves and they are talking about books and yet that one line....HOLY CRAP if we all didn’t want to jump that character’s bones right then and there in the middle of that library.
And yes, I understand that I just referenced two movies of James McAvoy’s involving characters played by James McAvoy and I will confirm right now that none of my strong feelings for either of those scenes has anything to do with James McAvoy.
But you get what I mean. I will say that Kaisa’s character was more intriguing for me than Ash’s. She was the King’s Huntress, a royal official who exuded confidence, strength, authority and sexual appeal. There were segments in the novel that indicated that she was desired by many and that even though she wasn’t necessarily engaging in many relationships, people around her always assumed that she was. I pictured her as this really hot girl, and I definitely understood Ash’s attraction to her, though I never really grasped why Kaisa felt the same way about Ash. I felt a lot of the time that I as a reader was trying to put the pieces together in the main relationship of the novel. Though I was somewhat invested more in Kaisa’s character than I was in Ash’s, I never felt that I was invested in their love, because I didn’t really believe it. There wasn’t enough in the novel in terms of emotional investment for me to truly think that this relationship was real, or could be real. They were the equivalent of that couple you see in 90 minute feature movies -- the ones who meet across the room 15 minutes in, fall in love 5 minutes afterwards for no reason whatsoever other than the fact that they happened to make eye contact for 2 seconds, then kiss victoriously at the end and you just have to accept the fact that they belong together and will live happily ever after.
I have to give Lo credit though, I really loved the fact that girls falling in love with one another was not presented as taboo in the fantasy world of the book. There is no homophobia or implying of the fact that heterosexual relationships are the norm in this society. It was refreshing to read a book with lesbian characters that didn’t concern itself with the fact that these girls were lesbians. Too often I feel that books and television and movies portray queer characters as being characterized solely by the fact that they’re non-heterosexual, and giving them very limited qualities beyond being gay. Ash did not do this. Of course, having it set in a fantasy world where anything was possible, including the normalization and acceptance of homosexual people, probably helped in avoiding the current political aspect of queer culture entirely.
ASH
I feel like for them to make a film adaptation that would hook you from the get-go, they need to make Ash more interesting and 3-dimensional than she was in the book. All of these actresses have great range, screen presence and the charisma to carry a feature film as its protagonist.
1. Melonie Diaz
2. Imogen Poots
3. Mia Wasikowska
4. Alia Shawkat
KAISA
Kaisa, like I described above, is someone who is part role model, part heartthrob. I would choose the following actresses based on their stature, the fact that they could kick ass and also their voices. I feel that a heartthrob’s heartthrob status is largely based on how they sound when they speak. A good speaking vice melts hearts and minds like nothing else could.
1. Jennifer Lawrence
2. Jamie Chung
3. Troian Bellisario
4. Lenora Crichlow
SIDHEAN
Sidhean is an enticing emo weirdo cursed fairy. I picked a handful of amazingly talented actors who are beautiful but in a way where you don’t really know why they’re beautiful.
1. Eddie Redmayne
2. Ezra Miller
3. Domhnall Gleeson
4. Ben Whishaw
So there is my dream casting. I really hope that whatever it is or however it goes, that this book does eventually get a film adaptation. Hollywood seems to be going through a phase of modern fairy tale adaptations, what with Beastly, Red Riding Hood, Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman, Jack the Giant Slayer, and so on. Not all of these movies have been any good, unfortunately, but a film like Ash would fit into this mold perfectly. And to be quite honest, there’s nothing keeping us back from putting more queer representation in mainstream movies, especially ones that aren’t in token, stereotypical or supporting roles.
I will end this post with a performance medley by the original cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, currently playing on Broadway.
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