Until recently, Taylor Swift was the sort of global celebrity who meticulously and effectively crafted her image while dodging questions about her personal life. Prior to watching the documentary I wondered how vulnerable Swift would allow herself to be on camera and how much the audience would learn about the ostensibly secretive artist.
Miss Americana turned out to be an intriguing and fascinating portrait of Swift. Throughout the film, she talks about her eating disorder, her psychiatric treatment, her decision to openly lean left, and her efforts to free her brain and body of ingrained societal misogyny. When she isn't critically evaluating her profession and psychology, we get to watch her in her element, making music so prolifically and with such ease that it's mind-blowing. Although the story omits key parts of Swift's life such as her relationship with her long-term partner Joe Alwyn and avoids talking about the messy situation with Scooter Braun, the director Lana Wilson purposely paints a compelling image of a thoughtful, brilliant, and hilarious young woman in the process of becoming herself.
Swift, who turned 30 in 2019, has spent the larger part of her life in the spotlight, and the documentary spends most of its opening act balancing the delights of creation with the annoyances of worldwide notoriety. Swift started out as a starry-eyed, innocent, lovelorn adolescent and this image has stuck with the media as continued to portray herself as the perfect American princess. After explaining this pattern in her life, she details the time when her image changed forever: the incident when Kanye West stormed the stage as Taylor accepted her first MTV award and basically declared that she didn't deserve it. This formative moment in her life, turned her into a workaholic and perfectionist. She cut off her blonde princess curls and abandoned the bright red lip for something sultrier to match the essence of her 2014 album "1989." Her music, on the other hand, remained the same as it was still heavily influenced by crushes and bullies.
The viewers also learn that Swift was afraid that speaking out about her personal views would alienate half of her fan base. Swift claimed she wondered why she hadn't spoken up sooner following her assault trial and was now ready to "take the masking tape from [her] mouth." Swift is seen arguing with a group of advisers (all white males, including her father) in the documentary, accompanied by Andrea (her mother), whether it's worth it to publicly oppose far-right Republican Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn. Her father, among other things, is afraid for her safety and reminds her that Bing Crosby and Bob Hope never discussed politics. Andrea and Taylor found this ridiculous and Swift went ahead and made her statement. She said, "Being on the right side of history is crucial to me." "I want to wear pink and tell you how I feel about politics” and she doesn’t think “those things have to cancel each other out."All of this supports the documentary's claim that her artistic and personal maturity have a cost. The most exciting news, though, is Swift's promise to pay it. Some of her new songs seek to promote her political ideas, and "The Man" does it in a catchy, funny, and pleasingly evident way.
Swift describes her personal development as "frozen" when she first became famous, with "a lot of growing up to do to catch up to 29." As viewers, we see the film "Miss Americana" as an attempt to resurrect the old Taylor, but with the intent of growth rather than death. Throughout her documentary, Taylor Swift illustrated not just why her name is so well-known, but also that she is far more complex than her public image portrays. After all, she is Miss Americana.
Images from Miss America Documentary
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