Miss Americana vs. The Patriarchy: Feminist Humor in Taylor Swift’s Satirical Music Videos

From introduction: 'On November 10, 2014, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift released the music video for “Blank Space,” the second single off of her fifth studio album, 1989. Since its debut, the music video has racked up over 2.7 billion views on YouTube and has been met with great critical acclaim (1). Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times praised Swift’s delivery of an “Oscar-worthy” performance as she played the role of a clingy, obsessive, and crazy girlfriend whose relationships always seem to go down in flames (2). Billboard magazine lauded Swift’s self-referential portrayal, as well as the music video’s gorgeous mise-en-scène and high-quality production (3). But “Blank Space” is not just an award-winning music video with an earworm of a chorus. The music video also offers a critique of the media who labeled Swift as a “crazy, desperate, serial dater” who cycles through countless boyfriends (4). Swift accomplishes this critique by solely relying on humor to convey her message, constituting a form of feminist satire. Following her success with “Blank Space,” Swift went on to employ feminist satire in other music videos, including “The Man” in 2020, to deride her critics’ sexist remarks regarding her persona and to mock the double standards women face in contemporary society. By now, Taylor Swift has mastered the skill of utilizing satire in her music videos, but how exactly does her use of humor function as a promoter of feminism? Further analysis of Swift’s music videos will illuminate the significance of humor and the very serious role it plays in advocating for gender equality.'