Think what you want about Taylor Swift, she’s written some bops, changed her image time and time again, grown up navigating intense public scrutiny, and really embraced her cat-mom persona. Most recently, she’s come under fire for co-producing a music video to her newest song “You Need To Calm Down” that some say is problematic. It’s a hot topic on Twitter, got picked up quickly by Vox and The Atlantic, and is still gaining momentum – so I thought I would lay it out for you all as I see it.
First off, if you haven’t seen it – but want to – click here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkk9gvTmCXY
“You Need To Calm Down” is basically a song telling people to shut up and let everyone just live their life. The lyrics reference Taylor’s own life and relationship with media and the public. The vibe of the opening line “You are somebody that I don’t know / But you’re takin’ shots at me like it’s Patrón” carries through the whole thing. (Link to full lyrics at the end of the paragraph). The song and the video are both bubbly and a little catty, the former a definite earworm, and the latter a technicolor explosion of cameos from famous LGBTQ+ celebrities. (https://genius.com/Taylor-swift-you-need-to-calm-down-lyrics)
The initial push-back on the video accused it of basically appropriating gayness for attention and money. As someone who has never publicly identified as gay, many people are raising eyebrows at Taylor’s decision to lean so so so hard into the gay anthem/gay pride idea. That’s definitely a conversation worth having, and if you’re interested you should Google “does Taylor Swift’s video appropriate gayness?” and I promise you will find lots to read. The secondary complaint about Taylor’s video is that it’s really classist. That’s the complaint we’re going to explore in this piece.
Taylor’s video is set in a glittery, neon, sterile trailer park. It features an above ground pool, plastic curlers, pink lawn flamingos, bathrobes. . . Pretty conventional trailer park stereotypes. It also features glittering beautiful people, neon hair, full drag, flawless nails, high heels. . . the kind of hollywood perfection you expect to see in a music video with a Taylor Swift budget. Already, this video feels a little weird. The sanitation of the trailer park feels off, so far removed from reality that I questioned why they even set it there. Without any reference to trailer park reality, it seemed unnecessary. So why set it in a trailer park specifically and not a neighborhood or an apartment?
Why? Because of stereotypes, of course. See, this video also features some protesters. Anti-gay protesters. White, dirty, cut-off flannel wearing, angry. . . “Trailer trash” people. This is where the video takes a negative turn for me. I could have ignored the weird trailer park setting, until they introduced “real trailer park people”. Because just as the hair curlers and the margaritas for breakfast were stereotypes, the angry, flannel wearing, gay hating, “trailer trash” white dude is too. It forces a comparison on the viewer, like “see our clean glittery trailer park full of happy dancing people? Well remember, in the real world trailer parks are full of dirty angry people like this… If only they could accept us for who we are, maybe their lives could be happy and sparkly too!” Obviously, I’m not condoning hating gay people, but I am condemning hating and stereotyping trailer park residents.
Cuz here’s the sitch – people don’t live in trailer parks because they want to be near their gay-hating buddies, people live in trailer parks because they’re poor. (In the same way that stereotyping immigrants or “inner city youth” (aka black children) is dangerous, demonizing poor people is similarly damaging. While underprivileged white people do still benefit from their whiteness, they are not exempt from the challenges and prejudices of poverty. Terms like “trailer trash” or “white trash” are literally referring to people as trash – worthless.
So yes, I have some issues with this video. Assuming that people who live in trailer parks are uneducated, white, homophobic, angry people is just honestly ignorant. Implying that being more open minded and accepting of other people could make your life materially better is seriously insulting. Poverty is a systemic problem that affects people of all races, genders and political affiliations. There are plenty of people living in trailer parks who are at least as open minded as Taylor Swift, and (shocker) their life is not a glittery fantasy.
My final question? Why trailer park residents? This was a political song and a political video, why not set this video in a courtroom, legislative hall, or the White House? Powerful people are pushing the same hateful message in the real world as the “trailer trash” in this Taylor Swift fantasy world, so it seems to me like she took the easy way out. And I know, it’s just a music video, but it’s a music video that has already been watched by 27,591,120 people on YouTube at the time I’m writing this (like a single day after it came out).
Pushing this negative stereotype of poor people goes directly against the inclusive message of Pride and the Equality Act which she urges people to support at the end of the video. I appreciate Taylor’s drive to get people politically motivated and fight for equality, but I cannot support an advertising message that comes at the expense of people who are already suffering under this unequal system. Trailer park residents deserve to be advocated for and supported, not mocked and belittled in the name of progress.
