One of the perils of radio stations playing the same song over and over again is that you might actually pay attention to the lyrics. Taylor Swift's "Love Story" has been all over the airwaves lately. The 19 year old country singer has scored a major cross-over hit with her song about a modern day Romeo & Juliet. The song is a sugary confection sung by a woman with a passionate voice. However, the Juliet in this song sits around passively waiting for the men in her life to take charge.
In the song, her daddy tells Romeo to stay away and she reacts by crying and begging him not to go. In each chorus, Juliet cries out "Romeo save me." Finally, in the end Romeo says: "marry me Juliet/You'll never have to be alone/I love you and that's all I really know/I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress/It's a love story, baby just say yes."
The strong characters here are the dad who gives commands about who can see his daughter and Romeo who summons up the courage to talk to him so that he can protect Juliet from having to be alone. Meanwhile, Juliet sits around crying and waiting to be saved.
It's probably a bit silly to pick on a romantic song with a happy ending. However, as the father of two daughters, I would hate for them to get the message that their role in life is to passively wait around to be saved. There is a great scene in Shrek the Third where the princesses are captured by the villains. When asked what they are going to do about it, they sigh and wait to be rescued. Not willing to take captivity sitting down, the queen head-butts her way through a stone wall and leads the princesses out to kick bad guy butt. Watching Snow White and Cinderella fight back is not only entertaining, but it sends a good message about strong women. I hope that my daughters learn that there is more to life than waiting to be rescued by a guy.
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