IF YOU’VE BEEN on Twitter today, you might have seen Taylor Swift’s name mentioned in the same breath as the phrase “Nazi Barbie”.
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So what’s the deal?
Feminist writer Camille Paglia, noted for her controversial opinions, has penned an op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter in which she describes Swift as an “obnoxious Nazi Barbie” and criticised her, ahem, squad.
Swift herself should retire that obnoxious Nazi Barbie routine of wheeling out friends and celebrities as performance props, an exhibitionistic overkill that Lara Marie Schoenhals brilliantly parodied in her scathing viral video “Please Welcome to the Stage.”
She also didn’t look too kindly on the “tittering, tongues-out mugging of Swift’s bear-hugging posse”.
She even went to far as to describe the experience of writing about Swift as “a horrific ordeal”.
Writing about Taylor Swift is a horrific ordeal for me because her twinkly persona is such a scary flashback to the fascist blondes who ruled the social scene during my youth.
Don’t mince your words whatever you do.
Some people were totally with Paglia.
While others thought Paglia’s sentiments were slightly over-the-top.
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Writing for The Guardian, Rhiannon Lucy Coslett described Paglia’s critique as “somewhat unfair”.
Swift’s girl squad of real-life friends and associates is, of course, something of a marketing gimmick (a pop star who engages in gimmicks – who would have thought it?) But to hold her stage production up as a totemic symbol of the hollow nature of modern female relationships seems somewhat unfair.
She also pointed out that Swift is subjected to an awful lot of criticism and venom, not all of it just.
Even those who are not fans of her music should feel for Swift. In many ways, she cannot win. Her confessional brand of songwriting has seen her frequently portrayed as the “crazy ex-girlfriend”: manipulative, calculating, and obsessive; now the “fascist blonde” is doing female bonding wrong as well.
*sigh*
For her part, Taylor has neither confirmed nor denied that she is a “Nazi Barbie”.
In fact, she seems to be having a nice time touring Australia at the moment. (No word on whether she’s welcomed anyone to to the stage.)
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
