Local Views: We React to ‘Miss Americana’
It’s you and me, Taylor Swift. That’s my whole world.
Netflix released their documentary centering on the one, the only, Miss Taylor Swift— or as the film would refer to her: Miss Americana, last week. If you think you already knew everything there is to know about the starlet…think again…maybe? There’s a lot to unpack in Miss Americana. Lana Wilson documents the making of two albums, Swift’s struggle with anorexia, fame, that Kanye moment again (ugh), and her finally speaking out about her political views.
Local’s team of editors banded together to revel in the madness, the sadness, and the glimmers of joy; what one could deem the life of Taylor Swift. Is this documentary calculated or is it strategic? Is it truly unveiling or just another facade? Local tried our best to reconcile the complications below.
What is your tweet-length review of Miss Americana?
John DiLillo, Co-EIC: Taylor Swift drinks wine with ICE?????
Sophie Grieser, Breaking News Editor: *gif of cat walking on the piano*
Andie Kanaras, Entertainment Editor: Taylor Swift reminds us of the intricacies of being a star from the young age of 16. Over a decade later, Swift proves why she’s worth paying attention to, while also respecting her need for privacy.
Maggie Chirdo, City Editor: The stars are just like us: Taylor drinks wine with ice and is fascinated with burritos *heart emoji* *heart eyes emoji*
What was your favorite part of the documentary?
John: I thought the segment on Swift’s reaction to the whole Kanye debacle was a genuinely illuminating look at the way we jump to conclusions about silly celebrity feuds based on our own preconceptions. The Entertainment Tonight clip where she’s being interviewed immediately afterward really made me feel for her in a way she didn’t expect. Here’s this seventeen-year-old kid who’s just been embarrassed on a massive scale by someone she really admires! It’s no wonder she’s never been able to quite escape that night.
Sophie: I had read articles here and there about the Kanye West feud (but mostly lots of angry tweets) but I never really understood what had happened. I thought that those scenes were the most interesting. Also… I didn’t realize how young she was when all this happened, which did really make me feel for her. Being a teenager was already the worst and then to have the whole country focused on you in this way must have been ridiculous to deal with.
Andie: Particularly the moments she’s alone. Lana Wilson and her team of editors did a phenomenal job choosing archival footage to truly demonstrate and reflect on a decade of growing up under the spotlight, when most of the time people always want something from her or have something to say about her. But the times we get to see her alone, awkward, secure, messy, and lonely are the ones her true self shines through.
Maggie: I appreciated the moments when she was in the studio, composing songs, vocalizing, and living out the joy of creating. Celebrities become so much more than their craft in the public eye thanks to our fascination with their private lives, and so it felt incredibly calming to see her in an environment she appears to love, working with people that generally support her vision, before all the analysis, and fan theories, and mean tweets that inevitably surge after each new song.
What was your least favorite part of the documentary?
John: All of the back-patting political stuff is deeply embarrassing. I’m sorry Taylor, but you’re not a hero for coming around two years too late and endorsing a milquetoast Democrat who didn’t even win his race. More power to you for finding your voice and escaping the weird apolitical country-music phantom zone, but I didn’t need to see you torture yourself over deciding whether to hit “Send” on an Instagram post.
Sophie: I got weird vibes when she said the line about wanting to be seen as a good person. I don’t like the implications of only being a good person for show. She probably didn’t mean it that way, but that phrase got stuck in my head.
Andie: All the politics stuff seemed like a bit much for me. I understood the meaning of it, but her decision to be politically active only two short years ago is not monumental and should not have been at the time either. Although, the complications of growing up in country music and having all these white men around you weaponize your political silence for monetary gain offered an interesting insight into an issue that may not be so cut and dry.
Also watching anyone be excited about the worst single ever: “Me!”
Maggie: Political stuff aside, using newspaper and magazine headlines as a story-setting tool to illustrate parts of her life fell flat for me. As a historian, I love context, but if the documentary was meant to be a glimpse into her personal life, so much of it felt like a response. Like, she was trying to answer to someone (her fans?) rather than just be herself. And yes, I realize how cheesy that sounds.
Do you feel like you learned something you didn’t already know about Swift?
John: I do not follow Swift’s personal life all that closely because I am busy listening to “London Boy” again and again and again, so I don’t know if the discussion of her complicated her body image was new information. It was very affecting. We probably shouldn’t let people be famous until they’re adults.
Sophie: Because most of her life is in the tabloids already, I knew most of what the doc showed. I didn’t know about her eating disorder, but I’m sad to say I wasn’t surprised. She’s had millions of eyes on her for the majority of her life. That’s a really tough spot to be put in.
Andie: Seeing her lyrical genius in action was phenomenal. While she receives a lot of credit for her work, especially from her older albums, Reputation was great (and bad) in its own right, just like Lover was. Getting to see someone at work in spite and in pursuit of something greater, and on top of all that, work harder than ever was fascinating and inspiring.
Maggie: Thanks to my best friend, who is a massive Taylor Swift fan, I felt pretty well-informed going into it. I’d say I learned that her mom got a massive dog when all her kids moved out, which made me tear up a little bit, since I just got back from seeing my parents over winter break.
Recently, a snippet went viral of Swift arguing in favor of being vocal about politics in 2018. Do you feel sympathetic towards her?
John: See above. I’m glad she’s come around to the right way of thinking and I understand why she was conflicted before, but I see no reason for her to extensively pat herself on the back for this barest minimum of bravery.
Sophie: I don’t know if I feel sympathetic, per se, seeing as she makes more money in a week than I will ever make in my whole life, so I think she’d be financially sound if her plan had backfired. But I’m glad she’s decided to be vocal about these things. She’s too influential of a person not to.
Andie: See above x2. A lot of the footage from the “You Need to Calm Down” music video and the American Music Awards showcased a type of privilege we don’t see often. For example, when she is talking to the cast of Queer Eye, she asks them if there’s anything she can do to help. She’s aware of her power, in a way that comes off simultaneously naive and condescending. Although, there’s also something about a woman finally getting to harness her political power. Once she was finally “free,” she seemed like a wide-eyed kid. Swift was so overwhelmed and excited about the possibilities and how she could get involved. I found it intriguing.
Maggie: We all have a certain amount of inwardness in how we view the world. I believe Swift is/was genuinely terrified of the consequences of being political. Anyone on the cusp of a big change deserves some sympathy. We can’t change the past or how fast she got political or how white and early 2000s some of her politics sound. And we definitely don’t have to make excuses for her in the future. But yeah, Taylor Swift can have a little sympathy, as a treat.
Where does this fall in the category of musician documentaries? Will it be memorable and pivotal in Swift’s career?
John: I could have used some more concert footage! It’s really more of a documentary about her relationship with fame than it is one about her music. [Editor’s Note: John is a fake fan who doesn’t know that there’s already a Reputation concert movie on Netflix.] It’s also pretty breezy; that 85-minute runtime probably could have been beefed up a little considering the length of her career. If that career continues, I think this will serve as a pretty effective introduction into the type of person Swift is, but the definitive Taylor Swift documentary has yet to be made. I will make it, and we will become best friends.
Sophie: I was sad when it was over — it was really short. Because I’m nosy, I wanted to see more of her day-to-day life. I really like watching the songwriting/producing process! I would’ve also loved to see the creative effort that goes into her concerts, because clearly they have some major production value. Basically, it was about Taylor Swift the Person, but I wanted to see a little more of the music too.
Andie: The trend of musician documentaries from Gaga to Swift to Eilish (coming soon) is a rabbit hole of voyeurism and narcissism. The documentarian is in collaboration with their subject, something that complicates the objectivity of such work. Such films allow us to get close enough to think we’re experiencing their world for what it is to then snap us right back out to remind us their goal: to relay their own experiences, create sympathy, and reinstate the narratives the subject wants. While I enjoyed hearing primarily for Swift herself, I would’ve loved to obtain more perspectives outside of her own. What does it mean to be Miss Americana? And who supports her? I think in fifteen/twenty years time we’ll have a bit more space from this Swiftian period to truly comprehend the scope of her career, cultural capital, and impact.
Maggie: In America, we’re fairly accustomed to watching documentaries about people after they die. As if that way, we know their whole story and can judge it holistically, in an unbiased manner. But we will never escape such things. PR people live on after their clients, fans after their heroes, critics after their subjects. This feels like a stepping stone or a “what was” about Taylor Swift. She’ll move on, and eventually so shall we.
Swift claims in the film that celebrities are frozen and remembered at the time they became successful. Do you agree?
John: To a certain extent. I certainly think every evolution of Swift’s career specifically will always be judged based on the early portions of it. But that may be more of a symptom of our modern short attention spans than it is of any larger trend in the way we process fame. Plenty of artists have gone through any number of artistic phases in their career and been remembered for different ones by different groups of people. I don’t know, Taylor Swift is probably more of an authority on this than I am.
Sophie: I do. Even though I’ve grown up and gotten older while her music has been coming out, I’ve almost always seen her as, like, this unchanging figure. Don’t get me wrong, she has evolved a lot, and obviously she looks a little older and whatnot, but I do think there’s an element of timelessness to so many celebrities who’ve had long careers.
Andie: It depends on the artist for sure, but I never saw Taylor Swift this way. Maybe it’s because I have followed her work and her personal life so closely since I was 12/13 years old that I have evolved with her and see her for her womanhood — not for her country girlishness. I see her for who she is now and I am glad that I do because she seems to be the healthiest version of herself right now.
Maggie: This theory may need some tweaking. A celebrity can get frozen and remembered at the time the viewer first saw them as successful. Robert Downey Jr. was surely successful (and then not) before Iron Man, but the Marvel film was the first time I saw him and still see him, with that terrible facial hair. But in Swift’s case, I’d like to say that I see her as she is now, especially thanks to social media invading all of our lives.
Have your thoughts changed about Taylor Swift?
John: I’m maybe a little bit more understanding of her inclinations towards privacy and why her public persona is so carefully constructed. But hey, I’ve always liked Taylor Swift and I will always like Taylor Swift. Speak Now fucks. I’m listening to “London Boy” again.
Sophie: Before watching this, I guess I was Switzerland on Taylor Swift — I liked her, listened to some of her music (special shout-out to Red!!) but I was never a super-fan. I definitely gained more understanding and respect for everything she’s been through in her career. She’s talented, good at what she does, and I think overall she is a nice person. I probably will end up watching this again, in all honesty.
Andie: Yes and no. I don’t know. I have such a complicated relationship with her because of her lack of political action and her victim complex, but I also relate to it. I always am secretly rooting for her because I felt this very special connection to her music and found solace in escaping the turmoil that is adolescence through her work. Somehow, her work felt like it was speaking directly to me at times when I needed it most. Overall, it reintroduced me to someone I do not know and will never fully know, but will continue to follow in hopes of hearing what’s next.
Maggie: Not really. Now excuse me, I have to go listen to “Christmas Tree Farm”…in February.
