Can this be a real thing? Can it?
Episode 7 - Show & Tell: Ecocritical Theory, out now!
You didn’t think the “AP” part of “AP Taylor Swift” was just for fun did you? That’s right, we are getting into critical theories now!
This week, your hosts dive into the world of ecocritical theory to explore how Taylor uses nature imagery and the relationship between humans and nature to create powerful metaphors that resonate with us all.
Check out E7: Show and Tell - Ecocritism Theory, available now!
If you know of a Swiftie (or non-Swiftie! We’re not exclusive) who may be interested, please consider sharing this email, the podcast, or our social channels.
And, if you’re looking to get a little more extra credit…keep reading for a closer look into what ecocriticism is (and why critical theory is actually really accessible).
This Week’s Extra Credit - Brought to You by Jenn
Surprise surprise - the English teacher pitched the idea for ecocriticism as a theme 😅. When Jodi first asked me if I was interested in starting a Taylor Swift literary analysis podcast with her and Maansi, I was excited for many reasons (obviously), but I was the MOST excited about the chance to be part of the movement that is breaking down the barrier between pop culture and “intellectual things” (whatever that even means).
Historically, there has been a fair amount of gatekeeping in academia as the people in charge have determined what is and isn’t worth studying. However, I have found that the skills I used to analyze Moby Dick in grad school are the same skills that help me appreciate the wide range of media in my life now. (Also, FWIW Herman Melville was originally a travel writer - think more Eat, Pray, Love and less No Country for Old Men - and I personally enjoyed his travel writing books the most…) Fortunately, as English departments have become more diverse over the last few decades, more and more academics are pushing to widen those definitions and expand the literary canon. I like to think that this podcast is playing a small role in that cultural shift.
Why Ecocriticism?
Ecocriticism was the perfect place for us to start dipping our toes into this particular type of analysis. Taylor has always embraced nature imagery, so we had plenty of songs to choose from. It’s also an area where I knew her experiences as a female artist would overlap significantly with quite a bit of the theory.
One of the best ways to understand ecocriticism, and eco-feminism in particular, is through the lens of dualistic contrasts and the necessity to rethink those divisions. In “Gender, Eco-Feminism, and the Environment,” Val Plumwood points out that “human/nature dualism is a key, linking part of the network of culture/nature, spirit/matter, mind/body and reason/emotion, and humanity/animality that have shaped Western culture” (44).
Essentially, eco-feminism explores the historical precedent and modern issues of associating the “male” with culture, mind, and reason and the “female” with nature, body, and emotion. We all know that Taylor has been combatting accusations of being too “emotional” and “overhyped” whereas her male counterparts (looking at you, Ed Sheeran) are creating music with similar themes and are heralded as “brilliant.”
Ecocriticism is a lens that helps us focus on these dualisms in Taylor’s lyrics to explore how she rejects, embraces, or questions these various associations with nature.
Ecocriticism & Taylor Swift’s Music
What is so fun about Taylor’s music is that she plays with these dualities in different ways according to what she wants to communicate through her lyrics. She isn’t handcuffed to one association, but rather she relies on the complexity of the relationship between humans and nature to create powerful, meaningful metaphors that increase the impact of her music for her listeners.
Out of the Woods
In “Out of the Woods,” we see Taylor playing with the duality of wild vs. civilized. At the beginning of the song, we see that the domestic, modern life is what at first seems to be the safe place — “Looking at it now / It all seems so simple / We were lying on your couch / I remember” — but the chorus of the song is “are we out of the woods yet,” which places the “woods” as the scary, uncivilized place that needs to be escaped.
However, as is common in the works of Taylor Swift, this dualism flips in the bridge. In their analysis of the 1989 album as a whole, Isa et. al. notice that in the bridge, “‘but the monsters turned out to be just trees,’ ‘monsters’ is a symbol for something frightening, scary, and cruel even, while ‘trees’ depicts tranquility and calmness” (32). Suddenly the trees are no longer a place of fear, but a place of respite.
By using “woods” as a metaphor, Taylor uses what we all understand, nature is out of our control but it’s also beautiful, to describe the duality of beauty and pain in a turbulent relationship.
the lakes
The folklore bonus track, “the lakes,” is worth much more space than I can give here (but check out next week’s Deep Dive!); however, the way that Taylor embraces the feminine association with nature deserves a quick review.
The connection between the feminine and nature has been around for a while, but it was amplified and popularized even more during “the Scientific Revolution, spanning the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, [which is] is taken by many ecofeminists as the time in western history when both women and nature were conceptually devalued” (Leach 347). The popularization of science meant that humans felt like they could categorize, study, and ultimately control nature. Unsurprisingly, ecofeminists see this mentality mirrored in the gender dynamics.
In “the lakes,” Taylor accepts this feminine association with nature. While nature may be uncontrollable, for Taylor it is also beautiful and peaceful — “I want auroras and sad prose / I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet / 'Cause I haven't moved in years.” She quite literally wants to be embraced by nature, to become consumed by it. She also specifically calls out technology (which I would argue is our modern “Scientific Revolution”) with a reference to Twitter — “A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground / With no one around to tweet it.”
Instead of rejecting the binary of women/nature vs men/science, Taylor embraces nature and, in fact, argues it is the preferred option. For her, the solution isn’t to try to be more “masculine,” but to step away and welcome the mess and beauty of the “feminine.”
Snow on the Beach
Yet again, Taylor takes our assumptions about nature (specifically from a Western point of view) and plays with them to make her point with “Snow on the Beach.” In this song, she uses the imagery of snow on a beach to describe how unbelievable it is that someone would want her — “You wanting me tonight feels impossible / But it's comin' down, no sound, it's all around / Like snow on the beach.”
What’s interesting about this song from an ecocritical viewpoint is that she is leaning into the idea of nature being associated with the wild, unexpected, and emotional, but is also describing a well-understood phenomenon that happens every day. While in “the lakes" she displays a sense of self-awareness and confidence in herself and nature, in “Snow on the Beach,” she uses nature to challenge the assumptions she has about how no one would want her. Just like snow on the beach feels rare but is actually common, so should the speaker of this song realize that someone wanting them is absolutely possible, and is actually quite likely.
Perhaps in this more mystical-feeling song, the final message of Taylor’s nature imagery is the ultimate rejection of the traditional binaries. Just because something can be explained by science doesn’t make it any less magical. Instead of dividing, categorizing, and explaining everything, maybe we should all take a hint from Taylor and embrace the beauty and the chaos a bit more.
Sources:
Isa, et. al. "Are We Out of the Woods Yet? An Analysis of Figurative Expressions Utilized in Taylor Swift’s 1989 album." Journal of Humanities, Language, Culture and Business, 1, 1, 2017, 22-34.
Leach, Melissa; Green, Cathy. “Gender and Environmental History: From Representation of Women and Nature to Gender Analysis of Ecology and Politics.” Environment and History, 3, 3, 1997, 343-370.
Plumwood, Val. "Gender, Eco-Feminism and the Environment." Controversies in Environmental Sociality, edited by Robert White, Cambridge UP, 2004, 43-59.
Swift, Taylor. “the lakes.” folklore, Republic Records, 2020.
Swift, Taylor. “Out of the Woods.” 1989, Big Machine Records, 2014.
Swift, Taylor. “Snow on the Beach.” Midnights, Republic Records, 2022.