Taylor Swift, a titan of pop music, started her Eras Tour this summer. It is anticipated to become the highest-earning tour ever as it makes its way into a second and third leg next year. Women and teenage girls, as well as some males, I’m sure, flocked to the movies to see Barbie in the meantime. It is currently the most popular movie of the year and ranks among the top ten most popular movies of all time. It would be a good idea for Hollywood and record labels to pay attention now since Swift and Barbie, despite the movie’s flaws, fill a void in the market. What is it then?
We could reflect on the Barbie movie, which explores the paradoxes of gender, men’s unquenchable need to dominate women, and the struggles and pressures of puberty for women. We can also hear Swift sing about getting even with the guys who hurt her, exploited her, and held her back. If we take all of these factors into consideration, we can jump to the conclusion that the market needs more in-depth analysis of the complexities of 21st-century feminism, more information on the challenges women confront that is directly reflected back to them, and further entrenched gender warfare.
That may well be the main lesson Hollywood takes away from this summer. To do so would be incorrect. Barbie and Swift are actually selling us something much more straightforward: girl power is back in style. Teenagers exchange friendship bracelets, travel in large packs, and carefully coordinate their costumes for Swift concerts.
They observe Swift gliding across the stage in dazzling boots and glittery body suits, with no hint of androgyny. In the world of Barbie, all of the dolls come together as one large girl gang, complete with pink plastic homes and flawlessly styled hair. They have dance moves that are similar to the Spice Girls. It is poptimism at its most basic.
Girliness has long been mocked, portrayed as superficial and frivolous characteristics that can only be found in teenage girls. Although this has never been fair, teenage females often face injustice on account of society. They are not the only ones affected by the occurrence, though. The celebration of simple, plain femininity is a response to the dominant cultural standards of the 2010s, when feminism metamorphosed into something fairly unrecognisable and any idea of female unity vanished into something outmoded and uncool.
Due to a public fight with rapper Kanye West, Swift—who has long been a useful prism to watch our sentiments toward women generally—dominated headlines in 2016. She was offended by the rapper’s use of the word “b*tch” in his song “Famous,” which has since brought him shame for his anti-Semitic tirades. How Taylor Swift played the victim for a decade and made her entire career was the title of a famous and enormously popular post that Buzzfeed published in response to the scandal. According to the essay, Swift weaponized “sexual innocence” and “adhered to the markers of white feminine fragility” all for the sake of record sales. This was deemed a just punishment for Swift’s offense of refusing to be called a “b*tch” in jest. I’m not certain what That essay was designed to be a part of the current of feminism. However, I am relieved to put it behind me.
Swift or Barbie could never have achieved such a dominant position in the popular culture in such an environment. But it is clear now that a situation like that was not offering women what they desired. Why else would such a robust industry emerge around the uncomplicated, poptimist world presented by Barbie and Swift? It is a huge comfort to realize that girliness was never evil and that modern feminism was never intended to turn into intramural conflict.