FEATURE:
Inside the Pop Documentary
IMAGE CREDIT: Netflix
Taylor Swift and Miss Americana
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IN an age where we do not have…
IN THIS PHOTO: Taylor Swift with the Miss Americana director, Lana Wilson
music television as such, I wonder whether we have lost out a lot. We stream music and have a lot at our fingertips, but there is a definite lack of great music documentaries and shows. I used to love the VH1 and MTV shows that spotlighted artists or albums. Now, in 2020, we have so much technology and viewing options, but there seems to be less reliance on music documentaries. From Madonna: Truth or Dare of 1991 to the patchy Katy Perry: Part of Me in 2012, there has been some great Pop documentaries. Maybe modern artists feel like they are exposed enough with social media, but a good Pop documentary can reveal so much, in a good way. I understand one can feel venerable and exposed on camera, and giving too much detail away can backfire or damage their career. Whether it is a tour documentary like Beyoncé’s Homecoming or a straight look into an artist’s life, I think a good documentary can reveal depths to an artist. I am not a massive fan of Taylor Swift’s music, but I think there is so much pressure on her shoulders. A star of that stature and fame is not going to have an ordinary life or be able to feel normal. Wherever she goes, there is going to be someone taking a picture or somebody trying to get a piece of her.
Miss Americana is directed by Lana Wilson, and he film covers a number of events in Swift's life and career, including the making of her seventh studio album, Lover; her past battle with an eating disorder, her sexual assault trial; her mother's cancer diagnosis, and Swift's decision to go public with her politics. There have been some incredible documentaries through the years, but there have been very few since streaming sites like Netflix came around – surely we should see quite a few in this day?! I think huge Pop artists like Taylor Swift can feel misrepresented in the media, or like they do not have a chance to be open and honest. Not only is Swift’s discussion about her politics and eating disorder brave and inspiring, it makes you feel more bonded to her, even if you are not a fan of her music. I have seen clips from the documentary and feel Swift comes across as articulate, brave and strong. I listen to her music now and then, but I rarely think about what inspired the song or the artist behind the words. I would like to see more documentaries from Pop artists. Whilst some might see documentaries as self-serving and a little egotistical, I think it is great to see an artist talking freely and letting you into their world. Miss Americana can be seen here, and it is a must-see for her fans, but also for those (like me) who respect and like her political stance and how inspiring she is to others.
Even if Miss Americana does miss out some things, there are some very raw and emotional scenes; different sides to a Pop artist. I think Miss Americana will open doors for other artists to produce documentaries. I think many people get the wrong impression about huge artists and what their lives consist. There was a lot of build-up regarding Miss Americana and, when it was released on Netflix, reviewers were keen to have their say. It is clear many expected Swift to be goody-goody and hold back but, clearly, here is an artist keen to have her say. This is what The Independent had to say when they viewed Miss Americana:
“Perhaps most compelling, though, are the arguments Swift has with music executives, as well as her own father, about why she feels compelled to speak about politics after years of silence. For younger viewers, and those who aren’t from the US, it’s difficult to grasp the scale of the backlash faced by The Dixie Chicks when they criticised then-president George W Bush in 2003. That is, until you see the footage of news hosts calling them “dumb bimbos” and claiming they “deserved to be slapped around”, and placards announcing they should “burn in hell”. Before then, The Dixie Chicks had been the reigning queens of country music, with more than 30 million records sold. But an off-the-cuff remark turned America’s sweethearts into the country’s most-hated. With that in mind, it isn’t all that shocking that Swift – a country-pop star in her early twenties appealing to stone-faced label executives demanding she stay quiet – was reluctant to follow that path.
By incorporating home videos, professionally shot backstage films and to-camera interviews, Miss Americana makes an admirable attempt at covering as much ground as possible. There are moments that feel too well-trodden – the Kanye West feud, or her support of the LBGT+ community. And elsewhere, you wish Swift and Wilson would delve a little deeper, such as when she references her former compulsion to appear “sweet” or “nice” all the time.
Before Miss Americana, I only really knew about Taylor Swift’s music and, from a few interviews, various bits and pieces. It could have been a gamble releasing a documentary but, actually, she comes across as this complex but very real woman who has garnered a lot of respect. Even though I am not going to listen to her music a lot more, I am definitely moved by Swift. She has so much passion and belief in what she does, and she is not someone who forgoes her independence – like so many of her Pop peers. In Miss Americana, Swift talked about motherhood and her relationship with Joe Alwyn:
“Swift spoke in the film about how she doesn't feel ready for motherhood yet, so tabloids, please quit it with any pregnancy rumors. “There’s part of me that feels like I’m 57 years old, but there’s part of me that’s definitely not ready to have kids and definitely not ready for all that grown up stuff,” Swift said at one point. “I kind of don’t really have the luxury of figuring stuff out, though, because my life is planned two years ahead of time. Literally, in two months, they’ll come at me with dates for the next tour.”
What she said—and what was shown—of her with Alwyn was pretty minimal. But she did discuss, without naming him explicitly, why she fell in love with him in the fall of 2016, after her Kim Kardashian Snapchat scandal tainted her, and the singer chose to take a step back from the spotlight for a bit. “I felt alone, I felt really bitter,” Swift said, via Hollywood Life. “I felt sort of like a wounded animal lashing out. I figured I had to reset everything. I had to reconstruct an entire belief system for my own personal sanity. I also was falling in love with someone who had a wonderfully normal, balanced life.”
She also addressed their choice to keep their relationship under the wraps. "We decided together we wanted our relationship to be private," she said. “Even though it [Swift's public image in 2016] was really horrible, I was happy. But I wasn’t happy in the way I was trained to be happy. It was happiness without anyone else’s input. We were just…happy”.
One of the most talked-about and revealing scenes of Miss Americana is when her album, Reputation, was overlooked at the Grammys in 2019. This review from The New York Times highlights that scene:
“On Grammy nomination day in the winter of 2018, a camera watches from a low angle as Swift sits in sweats alone on a sofa and hears from her publicist that her perturbed sixth album, “Reputation,” has been omitted from three of the big categories. She’s stoic. She’s almost palpably hurt. But Swift’s songwriting treats hurt as an elastic instrument, and she resolves in that moment of snubbing, “I just need to make a better record.” And the movie watches as she writes and records “Lover,” another album eventually rejected by the string-pullers at the Grammys”.
Along the way, Swift does a lot of ruminating and recounting, a lot of arguing and apologizing on her own behalf. She’s rueful about sitting out the 2016 presidential election and failing to mobilize her millions of fans and followers against Donald Trump’s candidacy. So “Miss Americana” is also about an apolitical star waking up to herself as a woman and a citizen. She wants to spend her “good girl” credit to decry the scorched-earth-conservative Senate campaign that Marsha Blackburn was running in Tennessee, Swift’s adopted home. Her management team deems this unwise. The team, at that symbolic point, is two slouchy, old white men who counter their client’s raging passion with financial and prehistoric umbrage. Bob Hope and Bing wouldn’t let their politics dent ticket sales 50 percent. It’s part of strong stretch of the movie that argues that Swift’s own experience with a handsy (and consequently litigious) radio personality helped push her off the fence — a passage that culminates with the most stressful sending of an Instagram post you’re likely to see from a star.
At the other extreme is a different trauma, normal only for the famous: Folks who camp outside of Swift’s Manhattan apartment building and shriek as she exits; who, upon seeing her backstage, tearfully come apart; who so adore her that they need her as an unwitting accessory to their surprise marriage proposal. We’re supposed to call these people fans. But the ones who turn up here tend toward the most disturbing adulation. She tells the singer Brendon Urie that a man broke into her apartment and slept in her bed”.
It is fascinating seeing Swift fully explored, and I do think it will ignite a new hunger for music documentaries. As I said at the start, there have been relatively few music documentaries recently; those that investigate current artists. I think modern Pop artists like Billie Eilish would be fascinating to watch in a documentary. I think documentaries, if balanced and open, can be hugely memorable – Lady Gaga’s excellent and memorable Gaga: Five Foot Two is a perfect example. Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana is an insightful documentary that provides rare access to one of the world’s…
BIGGEST artists.