I’m a high school student in AP Lang and yup my teacher just assigned this lol. Earlier in the year we also had to do a rhetorical analysis on Wildest Dreams so she’s keeping the same theme of Taylor Swift songs.
I thought you were going to point this out but you didn't so I will. "I'm dying to see how this one ends" references the idea that the media holds on taylor where they say that she only dates guys to write songs about that, so this could mean that instead of not wanting the relationship to end, like you usually do when you're really in love, she's dying to see their break up so she can have something to write about and make a song out of that because based on the media's representation of her that's all she cares about
When I heard that line I could almost picture Taylor Swift at the check out stand in a grocery store. She's picked up a tabloid about herself and thinks to herself "Huh. I didn't know I was dating that person now. I wonder how they're going to make that fake relationship end"
That line is also a foreshadowing of the hook like in the next few lyrics “Got a long list of ex-lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane. But I got a blank space baby, and I’ll write your name” This means that the person she is singing the song to is already known to be added to her statistic/list of ex lovers. She’s just dating him knowing how it would end. So in advance, she’s going to add his name to the list of those who call her insane for experiencing her (persona).
I can't believe no one caught the three black dogs on leashes Taylor's character and her man walk. They represent Cerberus, the three-headed dog in Greek mythology who lets you into hell but won't let you out. Each head represents the past, present, and future. You're welcome. Great job, by the way!
When she says "Nice to meet you, where you been?", I take it to be akin to saying "Where have you been all my life?" when meeting someone you feel like has been missing all your life and fits perfectly etc and so you are of course happy to finally meet them.
I think so long aa he’s good looking with money it doesn’t matter who he is, she reads him “like a magazine” and lives a fantasy for a month. He just has to be some template she made up in his head and then they use each other for thrills.
Fantastic analysis! I'm so glad people are understanding the true meaning to this song. It isn't just a catchy, overplayed radio song. It's such a witty piece of satire about Taylor's love life. I love how Taylor can poke fun at herself and write it cleverly, while also making it infectious and inescapable in our heads when it's not playing - it's like a big "f*ck you to the media and people who believe the fictional Taylor is real."
I guess had Taylor been just one of those small indie acts, people would appreciate her art more! her popularity might just be her curse since casual listeners seem to miss the art and just focus on who's she dating and what she's wearing!
10:53 I think this scene also illustrates the sudden "depth" of the man's character. During the first half of the video, he only exists through his car, money and the context. He is unreadable, an almost "flat" character, like a piece of furniture in her mansion. He seems caught up in a screenplay she wrote, as if he has no link with the rest of the world. Then the phone comes in, and it embodies his link with the world, as if he is slipping out of her web. We can assume, based on her expression, that she's already been through this situation, and the song takes an other direction, much more darker, as their "relationship" falls out. She knows it comes to an end because it already happened, and it will happen again. (Sorry for my English...) The reflection she puts in her music videos is astounding.
I taught a rhetorical analysis class a few times on this song. I have to say, you did an amazing job. The difference in the pedagogy was I spent time not on the visual, but solely on the textual rhetoric - through rhetorical device use. On that note, I would say that there is less paradox and more antithesis, and even parallelism. Though use of paradox has a connotation of more depth and higher quality lyrics, which is good for keeping students focused. Overall though, this was amazingly well done and I will be sure to (as great teachers do) copy your use of visual rhetoric explanations. Thanks!
Teaching my 10th grade summer school students rhetorical analysis and they LOVE this video! Incredibly insightful and helpful to teach rhetorical strategies. Thanks! :)
The main dialogue we get in this video is Media Taylors' rules to her own “love game” that she explains throughout the song. We don’t actually have dialogue from the dude himself. The blank space is like the starting line, and she wants to know if Mr. Shelby Cobra can make it. From what the analysis points out, I think the main rhetorical theme this lover is exposed to is pathos. In all of the “incredible things,” she’s offering him, she wants to see how he’ll respond to her. She leads him through the fictitious good feelings to figure him out, then switches to these “paradoxes” that have the good and the bad ie., “Magic, madness, heaven, sin”. She seems to break him at the end (literally with his car) and goes on to give her point that these paradoxes of heaven and hell that she has displayed, are all that boys want. Going off of the good and bad feelings mentioned above, one of the main lines of the song that stuck out to me was: “I can make the bad guys good for a weekend.” It was interesting how the commentator viewed this line as one of the key parts of the message of the song. From my understanding, this portrayed character of Media Taylor tells us that over a short time with her lover, she can bring out his true identity and motives by altering her own identity at first. We see the picture of Media Taylor at the very beginning of the video as someone who has high standards and with enough power to get what she wants. Then we learn as things move on, that all of her past relationships have ended with her being the one who’s “insane”. Is she insane? Or is this insanity a factor she wants to be in the equation? Amidst this emotional rollercoaster of pathos, we see it's actually a “perfect storm” controlled and led by her character. The analysis brings to light that Media Taylor is getting what she wants, and (going back to her message) her method of playing through this game to see if you’ll be her “forever” involves pain and pleasure. Lastly, the commentator points out one more element. From a different perspective, Real Taylor's hope is to show an image of herself (Media Taylor) that represents the image the media has made of her and ridicule the image -- proving it false. She hopes to not only present to her audience Media Taylor's message about boys, but also present this image of herself to be misjudged. The ethos that we see used by Media Taylor is that she has let a lot of “mistakes” play her game and that things will be this way for her audience if they don’t yield to her message of warning. But Real Taylor also uses ethos. We know Taylor Swift is a famous singer. With this fame and high regard, she uses ethos to make the point that we might have the wrong idea about her as a music artist. Media Taylor is famous, but Real Taylor is the one who writes the songs.
Plot-twist: everything was really just different illuminati symbols scattered randomly, across the room and we think it has a deeper meaning. Just imagine
This video of a genius is genius. I would suggest that maybe the horses in Taylor's room are symbols of her force of mastery over her nature; like statues on horses for heroes.
I found that the white decor and animals may symbolize purity and innocence because their contrast with Taylor’s dark attire indicates that her character is truly anything but sweet and innocent.
One thing worth pointing out, which is alluded to in the video argument, but not discussed in detail, is that the Taylor Swift song and video are also hilariously funny and intended to be so. The song is extremely dark in the nature of the character Ms Swift presents, who is not unlike a Cullen vampire from the 'Twilight' novels: beautiful and deadly and very alienated. As the exposition video explains, the song is full of paradoxes, and one of the main paradoxes is that the cruelty and danger and the predatory behaviour comes from Taylor Swift, who might superficially seem more likely to be the prey. Sean O'Pry at first sight does look like the Alpha-Male hunter prowling in search of his next conquest. But the reality is that we are seeing the hunting strategy of a pitcher plant, in which Ms Swift lures her victim in: almost I hear Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula saying "Welcome to my castle." Where is becomes deliciously and wickedly funny is when Taylor starts to break the fourth wall, speaking aside to us as her audience and flirting with us using those wonderful eyes of hers and smiling that arch, knowing smile. She is being evil and bad, and she is co-opting us into her disgraceful plot against Sean O'Pry, and it is huge fun. The actual scheme is colder than a razor blade soaked in liquid nitrogen; but the execution of the scheme is elaborate and packed full of lovely, quirky visuals such as the eccentric way in which Taylor has slashed Sean O'Pry's shirts and even caused his socks to fall around his ankles, adding a nice touch of absurdity to his predicament. When she sings "Boys only want love if it's torture" and shen she stands on the horse to sing "And you love the game!" for the second and final time, she is again breaking the fourth wall and singing directly to us to comment on the skulduggery. This is a song about the media version of Taylor Swift, showing what an extravagent parody of female villainy this version of her character and her life is, how extreme this would be if it were real. In her asides to us she is reinforcing that point by acting the stage-villain: this is pantomime. But it is also a very strong rendering of female cruelty and as a man I am strongly reminded of every reason why I have ever been frightened of women...
+Jeff Bowen It's kind of embarrassing to be interested language arts when I read overly outlandish interpretations. What is good about math is that there is no subjectivity.
Another esoteric layer is if you mess with her and break her heart, she'll perform a nasty sigil on you. That's the hook "I got a blank space baby, I'll write your name". looking at it from this context, the rest of the video starts to fall into place. Especially the Apple scene. The forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge, or kaballistic tree of life. She manipulates the Apple using vodoo with malicious intent and he reacts accordingly. I actually love how blatant she she was with this song/video. I'll stop there for now but could keep going with the horses, etc... Kudos Taylor, you song sorceress 😉!
This is amazing! I was wondering, was the apple signifying the fall of men? Adam and Eve? :) Just a thought. Also, I cannot wait to see the rhetorical analysis for Look What You Made Me Do.
I think it absolutely does especially considering she's wearing a snake ring. (I'm not sure if the fact that he was brought to him in a Cobra is a coincidence or not, maybe it is) At the beginning of the song she says "I could show you incredible things: magic, madness, heaven, sin" which could definitely be seen as a reference to the tree of good and evil, and the granting of sight from biting into its fruit. In order to recognize good and beauty "ex heaven" for what it is, you need to see it contrasted with evil/sin. Magic is often seen as an amazing concept in modern secular society, but in religious society it is seen as related to witchcraft and Satan. Aspiring to have magic, power and wealth is often something that is seen as being in exchange for making a deal with the devil, and a loss of freedom. The intoxicating brew that is allure of pleasure and power (heaven and magic) can drive one to madness, and pursuing those things is often seen as sinful. In Blank Space the sin seems to be sexual, and in religion sexual sin and the original sin are seen as closely related. The trickery that Taylor's character employs does give the impression of being a bit more like the snake/serpent than like Eve. The next interesting part is the apple seen of course. At this point Taylor is using some kind of voodoo to control the man (who is portrayed as much more innocent or naive in the video) and make him bite into the apple. Many religious people believe than biting into the fruit of Eden caused men to (partially?) lose free will. Finally there are the misogynistic attitudes that many men justify using the story of the Fall of Man. How women use their sexuality to tempt men just like Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit, and that this is why women should dress and act modestly, suffer the pain of childbirth, and obey men. Taylor probably felt like she was the victim of this kind of misogyny for the way she's been portrayed as a maneater.
Thank you so much for this, 1st year of speech class and my professor is All tall and Talk (That's the whole point of the class, lol I KNOW!!) He was not direct of what we were supposed to do for the first assignment of the class and did not imply the assignment itself , UNTIL the fourth day of class letting us know we have 7 weeks to make it! He talked a lot about himself and ignored that I wanted to know what the class was for (hurts when I'm trying to drop the class with full refund and the last day is the first day)instead I'm dealing with the biggest chance to procrastinate till week 8th, and rushing to know what RHETORICAL & and a Rhetorical Analysis is before i procrastinate and more due to indirect/traditional teaching!!
Poor Taylor Swift. The /I’ll find out what you want/ be that girl for a month/ is so deeply sad. And watching the part of the video where she acts “crazy” made it pretty clear to me (a crazy woman 🙋🏼♀️) that she’s not that comfortable with being destructive. The whole time she was taking the golf club to the car I was like, GET THE WINDSHIELD WHAT ARE YOU DOING She seems like a good person, it’s sad how women are hated in our society no matter what they choose to do/say/dress like/behave/create. I think the problem is the fact that they made a choice in the first place, although plenty of women are vilified for doing what they were told to do as well. WELP. 🤷🏼♀️
The care is more likely just a Cobra replica... they are pretty common kit car. You buy one if youw ant to look rich and go fast (if you can't drive a superbike) for not very much money, indicating he's "new money" and fronting.
The song implies: she purchased him the car and he is contracted as a stand in weekend boyfriend monthly magazine subscription, a make-believe roll-play scenario, a beard; but she looses the magical effectiveness of her persuaded pretend suitor's pursuant storytelling, when she catches him texting the tell-tell signs to tell the tale, to tattle her true worldly lusts to real world thusly braking the spell and breaching the contract as well.
Can you edit your captions for accuracy? If you can't, would you please enable the Community Contribution feature so, we can correct the captions for accessibility purposes.
My class wanted you to know that they really appreciated when you said the man is not a limo. They agree! Burke, the Banana King, mentioned that Taylor Swift is similar to a Dreamsicle, orange on the outside and white on the inside, ya know? Like a nightmare dressed like a daydream, ya know?
you should really look up schizophrenia. this is such a common misconception, but schizophrenia is NOT the same as multiple personality disorder. they are actually quite different.
Not gonna lie, this video sparked an interest in literary/rhetorical analysis and media literacy that has been ruining my ability to simply consume media for the last 8 years lol And I didn't even like Taylor Swift going into this, I just thought the concept of analyzing a pop song on this level was amusing
Hello! I would love to use this video in my Comp 2 class, but our college can only use accessible videos. The captions are not bad, but they do need some editing. Could you possibly open this up to allow collaborative captioning? I would be glad to edit the captions!
HAHA! Well done! One thing, at the end of all this a new guy with a new car! Ms. Swift is ready for this love game all over again! Just like the Media claims her to be!
indeed!! indeed!!! this is not my profile ATM but you are exactly right. aswell as a "cry" to the public eye. i am a teacher/guide, my name is Aurora, and what we see here is a woman who understands principles that govern the consciousness of a people, you or i and she is mocking ... lets say ... in sense she is teaching us to be O
You're so close. This isn't media Taylor vs Taylor this is the media pushing Taylor as an ideal. Pushing women towards harnessing the power of paradox in their dealings with men. This is an instruction manual for teen girls that will be totally missed by every man ever. It's not satire. It HAS BEEN built by the media. But real Taylor's message is the same message of pushing paradox.
theres a web side genius.com in which you can find some analysis for songs. it can help you making videos :) (cuz i want more videos) i dont say go and steal it, its a point of view maybe theyre wrong or maybe with the video you can make a complete analysis :)
He says, "I'll stop pointing them out [paradoxes], it's all you'll think about every time you hear the song." As if I have ever heard it before and plan to ever hear it again outside of being forced to listen to this garbage for English Comp 2...
Agreed. This is nonsense and does not do much for furthering an understanding of rhetorical analysis. If one of my students turned this in, it would be a C-
The intended effect of the song and video was to laugh with her 'maneater' image. She acted the 'stereotype psycho woman' that media made of her over the years. This means an obsessive/desperate/jealous/lovesick woman who just tries to seduce (and then dump) as many men as possible. This was her way to diss media: "That's what you think how I am, so who's most pathetic: the actual me... or you, who made this image?!" So, yes, Taylor wants to show us that this person is totally psycho. But Taylor herself actually wants to make clear that she isn't that horrible stereotype in real life. (She tells this in her behind the scenes video).
Being slightly anally retentive for a moment, the ambiguity comes from the reversal of normal sentence structure. Normally the structure would be be Subject - Verb - Object and modifier. "As a guy" is the modifier and in this location it seems to modify the Object ("Tsylor Swift"). But actually it modifies the Subject ("me"). This is not a faailure of grammar: it is an interesting sentence.
Another esoteric layer is if you mess with her and break her heart, she'll perform a nasty sigil on you. That's the hook "I got a blank space baby, I'll write your name". looking at it from this context, the rest of the video starts to fall into place. Especially the Apple scene. The forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge, or kaballistic tree of life. She manipulates the Apple using vodoo with malicious intent and he reacts accordingly. I actually love how blatant she she was with this song/video. I'll stop there for now but could keep going with the horses, etc... Kudos Taylor, you song sorceress 😉!
Who else here is a college student listening to this to help them with their own rhetorical analysis for English?
I’m a high school student in AP Lang and yup my teacher just assigned this lol. Earlier in the year we also had to do a rhetorical analysis on Wildest Dreams so she’s keeping the same theme of Taylor Swift songs.
Nah, I'm looking for techniques I could adapt to apply it to my own music video.
Although, that would also be my purpose if I watched this 1year ago like when this comment was written relative to this one.
No but now I am a year later
Yeah that why I'm watching this
I thought you were going to point this out but you didn't so I will.
"I'm dying to see how this one ends" references the idea that the media holds on taylor where they say that she only dates guys to write songs about that, so this could mean that instead of not wanting the relationship to end, like you usually do when you're really in love, she's dying to see their break up so she can have something to write about and make a song out of that because based on the media's representation of her that's all she cares about
strawberry milk stupid comment and sexist too. Lol
When I heard that line I could almost picture Taylor Swift at the check out stand in a grocery store. She's picked up a tabloid about herself and thinks to herself "Huh. I didn't know I was dating that person now. I wonder how they're going to make that fake relationship end"
That line is also a foreshadowing of the hook like in the next few lyrics “Got a long list of ex-lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane. But I got a blank space baby, and I’ll write your name”
This means that the person she is singing the song to is already known to be added to her statistic/list of ex lovers. She’s just dating him knowing how it would end. So in advance, she’s going to add his name to the list of those who call her insane for experiencing her (persona).
I can't believe no one caught the three black dogs on leashes Taylor's character and her man walk. They represent Cerberus, the three-headed dog in Greek mythology who lets you into hell but won't let you out. Each head represents the past, present, and future. You're welcome. Great job, by the way!
When she says "Nice to meet you, where you been?", I take it to be akin to saying "Where have you been all my life?" when meeting someone you feel like has been missing all your life and fits perfectly etc and so you are of course happy to finally meet them.
definitely
I think so long aa he’s good looking with money it doesn’t matter who he is, she reads him “like a magazine” and lives a fantasy for a month. He just has to be some template she made up in his head and then they use each other for thrills.
Fantastic analysis! I'm so glad people are understanding the true meaning to this song. It isn't just a catchy, overplayed radio song. It's such a witty piece of satire about Taylor's love life. I love how Taylor can poke fun at herself and write it cleverly, while also making it infectious and inescapable in our heads when it's not playing - it's like a big "f*ck you to the media and people who believe the fictional Taylor is real."
RSwift I read it at some depth as a self crit too. She might be mocking the idea but it is pretty thorough for a humorous dismissal.
I guess had Taylor been just one of those small indie acts, people would appreciate her art more! her popularity might just be her curse since casual listeners seem to miss the art and just focus on who's she dating and what she's wearing!
maha nadir I couldn't agree more.
You never knew how right you were gonna be.
10:53 I think this scene also illustrates the sudden "depth" of the man's character. During the first half of the video, he only exists through his car, money and the context. He is unreadable, an almost "flat" character, like a piece of furniture in her mansion. He seems caught up in a screenplay she wrote, as if he has no link with the rest of the world. Then the phone comes in, and it embodies his link with the world, as if he is slipping out of her web. We can assume, based on her expression, that she's already been through this situation, and the song takes an other direction, much more darker, as their "relationship" falls out. She knows it comes to an end because it already happened, and it will happen again. (Sorry for my English...)
The reflection she puts in her music videos is astounding.
Imagine watching a movie with this guy.
I taught a rhetorical analysis class a few times on this song. I have to say, you did an amazing job. The difference in the pedagogy was I spent time not on the visual, but solely on the textual rhetoric - through rhetorical device use. On that note, I would say that there is less paradox and more antithesis, and even parallelism. Though use of paradox has a connotation of more depth and higher quality lyrics, which is good for keeping students focused. Overall though, this was amazingly well done and I will be sure to (as great teachers do) copy your use of visual rhetoric explanations. Thanks!
Holy crap. This song is so freaking dark now that I've really heard the lyrics.
the part where blood comes out of the cake ...she was screaming at that guy after she killed him
This is so mind-f*cking me. I'm struggling with my English essay paper.
Thankyou for pointing out her amazing song writing skills. Thankyou
This is a great! I am sharing with my 102 Comp class because they struggle with thinking deeper about music and movies. And they all love Ms. Swift.
This is a very good example of linguistic research that uses multimodality as an approach.
Teaching my 10th grade summer school students rhetorical analysis and they LOVE this video! Incredibly insightful and helpful to teach rhetorical strategies. Thanks! :)
The main dialogue we get in this video is Media Taylors' rules to her own “love game” that she explains throughout the song. We don’t actually have dialogue from the dude himself. The blank space is like the starting line, and she wants to know if Mr. Shelby Cobra can make it.
From what the analysis points out, I think the main rhetorical theme this lover is exposed to is pathos. In all of the “incredible things,” she’s offering him, she wants to see how he’ll respond to her. She leads him through the fictitious good feelings to figure him out, then switches to these “paradoxes” that have the good and the bad ie., “Magic, madness, heaven, sin”. She seems to break him at the end (literally with his car) and goes on to give her point that these paradoxes of heaven and hell that she has displayed, are all that boys want.
Going off of the good and bad feelings mentioned above, one of the main lines of the song that stuck out to me was: “I can make the bad guys good for a weekend.” It was interesting how the commentator viewed this line as one of the key parts of the message of the song. From my understanding, this portrayed character of Media Taylor tells us that over a short time with her lover, she can bring out his true identity and motives by altering her own identity at first. We see the picture of Media Taylor at the very beginning of the video as someone who has high standards and with enough power to get what she wants. Then we learn as things move on, that all of her past relationships have ended with her being the one who’s “insane”. Is she insane? Or is this insanity a factor she wants to be in the equation?
Amidst this emotional rollercoaster of pathos, we see it's actually a “perfect storm” controlled and led by her character. The analysis brings to light that Media Taylor is getting what she wants, and (going back to her message) her method of playing through this game to see if you’ll be her “forever” involves pain and pleasure.
Lastly, the commentator points out one more element. From a different perspective, Real Taylor's hope is to show an image of herself (Media Taylor) that represents the image the media has made of her and ridicule the image -- proving it false. She hopes to not only present to her audience Media Taylor's message about boys, but also present this image of herself to be misjudged. The ethos that we see used by Media Taylor is that she has let a lot of “mistakes” play her game and that things will be this way for her audience if they don’t yield to her message of warning. But Real Taylor also uses ethos. We know Taylor Swift is a famous singer. With this fame and high regard, she uses ethos to make the point that we might have the wrong idea about her as a music artist.
Media Taylor is famous, but Real Taylor is the one who writes the songs.
Wow Professor! You have me looking at Taylor in a whole different way........
Thank you for analyzing this. I was hoping you can analyze more of Taylor Swift’s new albums - Lover. I really want to see what you think of it.
6 years ago (when this came out) they made you do this shit in collage. Now I have to do a presentation on this in 9th grade.
Take a shot every time he says paradox. Seriously through in some "metaphors, similes, ect. In there.
when he said about how she says “i can read you like a magazine” HIS MIND!!! bc it’s true he’s just for her entertainment 😳😳😳
Plot-twist: everything was really just different illuminati symbols scattered randomly, across the room and we think it has a deeper meaning. Just imagine
This video of a genius is genius. I would suggest that maybe the horses in Taylor's room are symbols of her force of mastery over her nature; like statues on horses for heroes.
I found that the white decor and animals may symbolize purity and innocence because their contrast with Taylor’s dark attire indicates that her character is truly anything but sweet and innocent.
One thing worth pointing out, which is alluded to in the video argument, but not discussed in detail, is that the Taylor Swift song and video are also hilariously funny and intended to be so. The song is extremely dark in the nature of the character Ms Swift presents, who is not unlike a Cullen vampire from the 'Twilight' novels: beautiful and deadly and very alienated.
As the exposition video explains, the song is full of paradoxes, and one of the main paradoxes is that the cruelty and danger and the predatory behaviour comes from Taylor Swift, who might superficially seem more likely to be the prey. Sean O'Pry at first sight does look like the Alpha-Male hunter prowling in search of his next conquest. But the reality is that we are seeing the hunting strategy of a pitcher plant, in which Ms Swift lures her victim in: almost I hear Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula saying "Welcome to my castle."
Where is becomes deliciously and wickedly funny is when Taylor starts to break the fourth wall, speaking aside to us as her audience and flirting with us using those wonderful eyes of hers and smiling that arch, knowing smile. She is being evil and bad, and she is co-opting us into her disgraceful plot against Sean O'Pry, and it is huge fun. The actual scheme is colder than a razor blade soaked in liquid nitrogen; but the execution of the scheme is elaborate and packed full of lovely, quirky visuals such as the eccentric way in which Taylor has slashed Sean O'Pry's shirts and even caused his socks to fall around his ankles, adding a nice touch of absurdity to his predicament. When she sings "Boys only want love if it's torture" and shen she stands on the horse to sing "And you love the game!" for the second and final time, she is again breaking the fourth wall and singing directly to us to comment on the skulduggery.
This is a song about the media version of Taylor Swift, showing what an extravagent parody of female villainy this version of her character and her life is, how extreme this would be if it were real. In her asides to us she is reinforcing that point by acting the stage-villain: this is pantomime. But it is also a very strong rendering of female cruelty and as a man I am strongly reminded of every reason why I have ever been frightened of women...
Chill
+Jeff Bowen It's kind of embarrassing to be interested language arts when I read overly outlandish interpretations. What is good about math is that there is no subjectivity.
lol very interesting analysis. make some videos of your own. lol
this helps me when doing RA on my essays
Another esoteric layer is if you mess with her and break her heart, she'll perform a nasty sigil on you.
That's the hook "I got a blank space baby, I'll write your name". looking at it from this context, the rest of the video starts to fall into place. Especially the Apple scene. The forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge, or kaballistic tree of life.
She manipulates the Apple using vodoo with malicious intent and he reacts accordingly.
I actually love how blatant she she was with this song/video.
I'll stop there for now but could keep going with the horses, etc...
Kudos Taylor, you song sorceress 😉!
please elaborate more on the horses!!
@@reinaldtan2361 The Knight is a progression of the minor arcana. 10, Page, Knight. The knight rided a horse.
@@ginob615 what is the minor arcana? i dont quite understand your comment..
Minor and Major Arcana are classes of Tarot Cards.
This is amazing! I was wondering, was the apple signifying the fall of men? Adam and Eve? :) Just a thought. Also, I cannot wait to see the rhetorical analysis for Look What You Made Me Do.
I think it absolutely does especially considering she's wearing a snake ring. (I'm not sure if the fact that he was brought to him in a Cobra is a coincidence or not, maybe it is)
At the beginning of the song she says "I could show you incredible things: magic, madness, heaven, sin" which could definitely be seen as a reference to the tree of good and evil, and the granting of sight from biting into its fruit. In order to recognize good and beauty "ex heaven" for what it is, you need to see it contrasted with evil/sin. Magic is often seen as an amazing concept in modern secular society, but in religious society it is seen as related to witchcraft and Satan. Aspiring to have magic, power and wealth is often something that is seen as being in exchange for making a deal with the devil, and a loss of freedom. The intoxicating brew that is allure of pleasure and power (heaven and magic) can drive one to madness, and pursuing those things is often seen as sinful. In Blank Space the sin seems to be sexual, and in religion sexual sin and the original sin are seen as closely related.
The trickery that Taylor's character employs does give the impression of being a bit more like the snake/serpent than like Eve.
The next interesting part is the apple seen of course. At this point Taylor is using some kind of voodoo to control the man (who is portrayed as much more innocent or naive in the video) and make him bite into the apple. Many religious people believe than biting into the fruit of Eden caused men to (partially?) lose free will.
Finally there are the misogynistic attitudes that many men justify using the story of the Fall of Man. How women use their sexuality to tempt men just like Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit, and that this is why women should dress and act modestly, suffer the pain of childbirth, and obey men. Taylor probably felt like she was the victim of this kind of misogyny for the way she's been portrayed as a maneater.
This channel needs to be active again
This is great. He seems to have put more thought into this than the director and Taylor swift did. :p But legit this is pretty genius.
Thank you so much for this, 1st year of speech class and my professor is All tall and Talk (That's the whole point of the class, lol I KNOW!!) He was not direct of what we were supposed to do for the first assignment of the class and did not imply the assignment itself , UNTIL the fourth day of class letting us know we have 7 weeks to make it! He talked a lot about himself and ignored that I wanted to know what the class was for (hurts when I'm trying to drop the class with full refund and the last day is the first day)instead I'm dealing with the biggest chance to procrastinate till week 8th, and rushing to know what RHETORICAL & and a Rhetorical Analysis is before i procrastinate and more due to indirect/traditional teaching!!
+evion223 and I knew the point of this music video and small details before I saw this or what Rhetorical Analysis was, which might help in my speech.
Anyone think there's a clear allusion to Eris and the Apple of Discord at 12:20ish?
Poor Taylor Swift. The /I’ll find out what you want/ be that girl for a month/ is so deeply sad. And watching the part of the video where she acts “crazy” made it pretty clear to me (a crazy woman 🙋🏼♀️) that she’s not that comfortable with being destructive. The whole time she was taking the golf club to the car I was like, GET THE WINDSHIELD WHAT ARE YOU DOING
She seems like a good person, it’s sad how women are hated in our society no matter what they choose to do/say/dress like/behave/create. I think the problem is the fact that they made a choice in the first place, although plenty of women are vilified for doing what they were told to do as well. WELP. 🤷🏼♀️
"cause you know I love the players, and you love the game"
The care is more likely just a Cobra replica... they are pretty common kit car. You buy one if youw ant to look rich and go fast (if you can't drive a superbike) for not very much money, indicating he's "new money" and fronting.
I really enjoyed this
It makes me mad that you use oxygen
The song implies: she purchased him the car and he is contracted as a stand in weekend boyfriend monthly magazine subscription, a make-believe roll-play scenario, a beard; but she looses the magical effectiveness of her persuaded pretend suitor's pursuant storytelling, when she catches him texting the tell-tell signs to tell the tale, to tattle her true worldly lusts to real world thusly braking the spell and breaching the contract as well.
Can you edit your captions for accuracy? If you can't, would you please enable the Community Contribution feature so, we can correct the captions for accessibility purposes.
My class wanted you to know that they really appreciated when you said the man is not a limo. They agree! Burke, the Banana King, mentioned that Taylor Swift is similar to a Dreamsicle, orange on the outside and white on the inside, ya know? Like a nightmare dressed like a daydream, ya know?
DEEEEEEEEZZZ NUTTZZ
deez nuts
Jason Hughes deez nuts
NotIncorrectly Whose nutz?
HA GOTHEEEM
you should really look up schizophrenia. this is such a common misconception, but schizophrenia is NOT the same as multiple personality disorder. they are actually quite different.
Not gonna lie, this video sparked an interest in literary/rhetorical analysis and media literacy that has been ruining my ability to simply consume media for the last 8 years lol
And I didn't even like Taylor Swift going into this, I just thought the concept of analyzing a pop song on this level was amusing
Thinking if she actually sees her song and video analysis and gets mindboggled.
Dammit RA, stop making me respect Taylor Swift as a nuanced and insightful writer!
This was brilliant!
Hello! I would love to use this video in my Comp 2 class, but our college can only use accessible videos. The captions are not bad, but they do need some editing. Could you possibly open this up to allow collaborative captioning? I would be glad to edit the captions!
what website did you use for this?
This is the story of her love life and of every other girl...presumably more likely of her adoring fans...!!!
Please do on Metal songs too
This is nice
how do I record myself commenting over the music video like this???
This music video has always creeped me out
im not shocked. thats her. Taylor.
That is so cute!
HAHA! Well done! One thing, at the end of all this a new guy with a new car! Ms. Swift is ready for this love game all over again! Just like the Media claims her to be!
LOL GUYS OUR TEACHER JUST ASSIGNED THIS
Hey, Mrs. Kelly. Have a good day.
I'm here after Mr. Perfectly Fine
I can tell you all, I'm done playing! I told Swift the new rules and don't fuck with them!
this song seemed like the pinnicle of her self awareness.
indeed!! indeed!!! this is not my profile ATM but you are exactly right. aswell as a "cry" to the public eye. i am a teacher/guide, my name is Aurora, and what we see here is a woman who understands principles that govern the consciousness of a people, you or i and she is mocking ... lets say ... in sense she is teaching us to be O
You're so close. This isn't media Taylor vs Taylor this is the media pushing Taylor as an ideal. Pushing women towards harnessing the power of paradox in their dealings with men. This is an instruction manual for teen girls that will be totally missed by every man ever. It's not satire. It HAS BEEN built by the media. But real Taylor's message is the same message of pushing paradox.
Lol chances are that cobra is not actual cobra... A real one is in the millions... Most likely a replica
Guys this is q, hi viv
Here for my English paper lol
That's her cat
theres a web side genius.com in which you can find some analysis for songs. it can help you making videos :) (cuz i want more videos) i dont say go and steal it, its a point of view maybe theyre wrong or maybe with the video you can make a complete analysis :)
That poor car...
Meee!!!
Clearly he has know idea what being schizophrenic means.
Also the word paradox.
You need to be Swiftie to understand the lyrics. So I not 100% satisfied with the explanation.
He says, "I'll stop pointing them out [paradoxes], it's all you'll think about every time you hear the song." As if I have ever heard it before and plan to ever hear it again outside of being forced to listen to this garbage for English Comp 2...
wrong ,not should
Deeeeeez nuts
An Insane girl is all the content of this b.s.
Why does this exist ughhhh
Thank you for reconfirming my hatred for Taylor swift.
wtf??! the parts u got correct were common sense and the rest was just plain bullshit. there's 16 min I'm never getting back...
+Glen DSouza obviously not an academic. It was a lesson not just a video/song. Geeshe.
Agreed. This is nonsense and does not do much for furthering an understanding of rhetorical analysis. If one of my students turned this in, it would be a C-
I bet you are a barrel of laughs :)
That video was so disturbing. It makes me intensely dislike Taylor as a guy.
Was that the intended effect?
Taylor is not a guy from what i know
*****
Whoa, I had no idea I accidentally called her a guy, until you responded. Oops!
I meant dislike her as a PERSON.
The intended effect of the song and video was to laugh with her 'maneater' image. She acted the 'stereotype psycho woman' that media made of her over the years. This means an obsessive/desperate/jealous/lovesick woman who just tries to seduce (and then dump) as many men as possible.
This was her way to diss media: "That's what you think how I am, so who's most pathetic: the actual me... or you, who made this image?!"
So, yes, Taylor wants to show us that this person is totally psycho. But Taylor herself actually wants to make clear that she isn't that horrible stereotype in real life. (She tells this in her behind the scenes video).
Being slightly anally retentive for a moment, the ambiguity comes from the reversal of normal sentence structure. Normally the structure would be be Subject - Verb - Object and modifier. "As a guy" is the modifier and in this location it seems to modify the Object ("Tsylor Swift"). But actually it modifies the Subject ("me"). This is not a faailure of grammar: it is an interesting sentence.
Wobdifurousness
You're absolutely right. I forgot the original sentence structure. Good observation.
I hate chai karak
me too
So a girl who enjoys the finer things in life is "High maintenance." Yet, the guy is.... so sexist
?
I hate that you uploaded this video. I am being forced to watch it for AP English. I hope you perisH
Another esoteric layer is if you mess with her and break her heart, she'll perform a nasty sigil on you.
That's the hook "I got a blank space baby, I'll write your name". looking at it from this context, the rest of the video starts to fall into place. Especially the Apple scene. The forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge, or kaballistic tree of life.
She manipulates the Apple using vodoo with malicious intent and he reacts accordingly.
I actually love how blatant she she was with this song/video.
I'll stop there for now but could keep going with the horses, etc...
Kudos Taylor, you song sorceress 😉!