I'm the Problem, It's Me
New AP Taylor Swift podcast episode alert! Show & Tell - Psychoanalytic Theory available now
This week we return to our regularly scheduled programming with a Show and Tell episode. But to really get you in the back-to-school spirit, we went all in with Psychoanalytic Theory! Whether you want to discuss personality types, dream sequences, or even death, this episode covers it all!
Click above to tune in to our full conversation, and keep scrolling for this week’s extra credit from Jenn on Carl Jung’s ideas of the unconscious and what in the world that has to do with Taylor.
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🎒This Week’s Extra Credit - Brought to You by Jenn
Psychoanalysis was certainly not a light topic to kick off the fall, but the more we got into it the more I realized that psychoanalytic theory is already incredibly familiar to most of us, due to the sheer impact that it’s had on artists and culture over the years. One of the things we didn’t get too into during this episode though was the idea of the unconscious, and to go even further, the idea of the collective unconscious and the monomyth, or the hero’s journey.
What does any of that mean? Long story short, Joseph Campbell wrote a book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces, where he took Carl Jung’s ideas about the unconscious and applied them to storytelling. Campbell argued that the great epics have such a similar pattern in their narratives that they are proof of the idea that humans have a collective unconscious, a.k.a. the idea that there are some universal concepts that humans innately understand. (For the record, this is a very high summary so if you are an expert and are thinking “She’s oversimplifying,” I totally am. Sorry!).
So what is the hero’s journey and what does it have to do with Taylor? Let’s get into it.
The Hero’s Journey
Think of any of the major epic films we’ve seen in the last few decades: Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings. If you take those stories and look at the chart above, you will see they are all actually quite similar.
There’s a hero who is called to action. The hero crosses a threshold (going to Hogwarts, leaving the Shire, etc.). The hero makes friends, goes through trials, has some sort of death/rebirth, and then is returned back home changed forever. Sometimes this is a bit more heavy-handed in some stories compared to others. Harry Potter literally dies and is reborn. Luke engages with the Death Star. Frodo goes into Mount Doom. You get the idea.
Joseph Campbell and others have pointed out that this narrative pattern has been found in every culture in the world throughout history. From the psychoanalytic point of view, one could argue that this universal pattern represents something true to the core of what it means to be human.
The Hero’s Journey & Taylor Swift
Taylor is absolutely a storyteller, but a lot of her songs capture moments of a story rather than serve as a full epic narrative. However, there are exceptions to that rule as well. Whether she’s pulling from a particular element of the hero’s journey or representing it in its entirety, I would argue that Taylor has been effectively leveraging the universal experience of the hero’s journey in her lyrics for a long time.
I’ll admit right now that as a reputation girlie myself, I may be leaning heavily on reputation songs for these examples. But as we go on if you can think of other examples you would like to point out, please leave a comment! I would truly love that!
A Call to Action
But if we are talking about a call to adventure, I think it’s hard to beat “…Ready For It…?” when it comes to Taylor’s discography. Not only is it calling you to an adventure when you first listen to the reputation album, but it’s how she kicked off the reputation tour and the reputation portion of the Eras Tour. (Spoiler alert: we will actually be talking about this song more in an upcoming episode this fall.) However, what this question, and the song as a whole, does so well is it draws on the anticipation of excitement. Calls to adventure are such an exciting part of a narrative. Think about when Hagrid says “yer a wizard Harry” or when Shrek and Donkey set off to save the princess. Those are the moments in a story when you feel that tingle of anticipation. The action has started, and you know the best is yet to come. “…Ready For It…?” gives you that exact same feeling.
Death and Rebirth
Again, it’s reputation time! On this album, we get lyrics like “I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time” and “The old Taylor can’t come to the phone. Why? Cause she’s dead!” In many ways, the reputation album was Taylor’s professional death and rebirth.
In the hero’s journey, the idea of death and rebirth is that something has fundamentally shifted forever. In Harry Potter, it is through accepting his death that Harry becomes the master of the deathly hallows and can ultimately survive and ensure that good triumphs over evil. The whole wizarding world is changed forever because of Harry’s death and rebirth.
Taylor Swift’s career was forever changed after reputation as well. She broke her two-year album release pattern with the timing of reputation’s release (admittedly COVID probably further cemented that change for a while). She cleared her social media profiles and no longer posts as regularly, or with as much personal touch as she used to. Her public persona has changed. She changed record labels and launched a period of work to reclaim her own songs.
In my personal opinion that I have done zero research on - death/rebirth is such a compelling narrative point because we all want a fresh start sometimes. New year’s resolutions and birthdays create a similar feeling. It’s the idea that there can be a pivotal moment where everything changes forever and you get to be someone new or the person you always wanted to be. The reason why this is so compelling in stories is that “death” isn’t fun. To actually have your reputation moment in real life is usually the result of overcoming a lot of truly difficult things, and that sucks. But watching a movie, reading a book, or following along with your favorite pop star who is going through a death/rebirth? Well, now that’s much easier and still pretty inspiring.
The Full Hero’s Journey
I would be remiss to write about the hero’s journey and Taylor Swift and not bring up “the last great american dynasty.” Rebekah definitely crossed a threshold via the afternoon train. She faced plenty of trials and challenges with things such as people blaming her for her husband’s death.
On her journey in this song, Rebekah also finds friends, such as Dali. She “dies” to society in many ways, as it is clear she was only “seen on occasion.” Then she does actually pass away and Holiday House is left empty for fifty years.
What I love about looking at this song through this lens is that it aligns so well with the idea that Taylor is essentially a reincarnation of Rebekah (which was further displayed through the choreography on the Eras Tour), or even simply carrying on the narrative. By “coming back” as Taylor, Rebekah finds herself iconified in this song. What has changed forever from this “rebirth” is that Rebekah is seen as the hero now, not the villain or the outcast. I’ve always loved the reclaiming that is happening in this song, but comparing it to the hero’s journey amplifies that so much.
Taylor’s Career as a Hero’s Journey
Like I mentioned above reputation as a whole was the death/rebirth for Taylor Swift’s career. It’s a clear moment where we can divide her career as before rep compared to after, and the differences are notable. It also came at a time of a cultural reset in many ways.
In 2017, the same year that reputation was released, the #metoo movement went viral after numerous actresses came forward and shed light on the actions of Harvey Weinstein. It’s also the same year that Taylor Swift personally won her sexual assault lawsuit against a former radio host - a moment that is also celebrated by the dollar bill in the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video. Taylor famously only wanted a single dollar in damages because she didn’t need money, she needed to make a point.
On our podcast, we tend not to talk about Taylor’s personal life because we don’t really care who a song is about, we care about what the song is saying and how it’s creating an impact. But if we step back professionally and look at Taylor’s career overall, it’s hard to deny that she has professionally created a narrative that places her smack dab in the middle of the most recognizable and universal narrative we have.
The best heroes are also deeply flawed (is Harry Potter the most unaware protagonist of all time? Probably), and Taylor’s willingness to channel her vulnerability into her music is a large part of what makes her so relatable and enduring. With each “baby step” she took, fans saw more and more of themselves in her. I’m not saying she’s perfect, but I’m saying perhaps she isn’t as much of an anti-hero as she worries she may be.