Taylor Swift- “Picture to Burn”
In one of Swift’s past works, she sings about an ex-boyfriend who according to the music video is now going out with someone else. Within her lyrics, she describes how she is planning her revenge. I argue that Swift is creating a female revenge fantasy in which she doesn’t wish to fight him physically as a man typically would, but she wants to burn his pictures and have her family and friends dislike him.
The Female Revenge
Swift is clearly upset with the break up in her lyrics, but by the end, her sadness turns in anger as she states, “you’re just another picture to burn.” While men want to get into actual fistfights, Swift says she wants to burn his pictures, convince her friends he is gay, and make him regret everything. She says, “There’s no time for tears, I’m just sitting here planning my revenge.” In her song, she has created a form of revenge known by many other country stars, such as when Carrie Underwood describes how she destroys her boyfriend’s car in her song “Before He Cheats.” Females plan out their revenge and most of the time it doesn’t involve physical harm, but as in Swift’s song, the revenge involves matches and rumors causing the guy to feel more humiliated than anything else. Now who know whether Swift actually did any of the actions, but that is the fantasy of her song. She is planning and dreaming of everything she would do to the guy.
Savannah Flynn 