Taylor Swift is America's sweetheart. The 19 year old country crossover singer has gathered a lot of attention from being upstaged by Kanye West to dating the Werewolf from Twilight (also named Taylor) to hosting Saturday Night Live. Her songs are really catchy and hard not to love. However, her first single, "Love Story," really bothered me. It was about a girl who passively waits to be rescued like a Disney princess, while the men in her life sort things out.
Her latest song, "You Belong With Me" also features a girl who passively pines away about her situation. However, this is a passivity born of wisdom rather than weakness. "You Belong With Me" is about a girl who wants to move up from being the best friend to the girlfriend. Unfortunately, her buddy has a flashy cheerleader girlfriend and she's not sure that she can compete. Taylor sings, "She wears short skirts/I wear tshirts/She's cheer captain/And I'm on the bleachers."
However, this is not merely a case of jealousy. The best friend has to sit back and watch as the other girl rips into her guy about everything from his sense of humor to his choice of music. So what's a girl to do? She could go confront the cheerleader and have a cat fight. She could tell her guy friend why this girl is poison. Or she could retire to her room and sing, "Why can't you see-e-e?/You belong with me-e-e."
However, I think the message of this song is markedly different from "Love Story." In this song, the girl dutifully plays the role of best friend, being there to support her guy even when he makes poor choices. Rather than force a confrontation and risk losing the friendship, she continues to hang out with the guy and be supportive. Being a friend is hard when you hope to be more. However, in this case, it is what the guy needs. So, in a passive sort of a way, Taylor's character is the one doing the saving instead of being saved this time around.
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