I was at a medical centre recently and sitting next to me was a young lady who was waiting to get her GP’s report from her oncologist. There she was with a brightly coloured tee- shirt and printed on the front, in huge letters, was the name Taylor Swift and on the back were all the impending venues she was singing at.
There in a prominent position were our two cities Melbourne and Sydney. Crowds up to 95,000 attended the 7 shows she performed at. Fans came from as far away as Singapore, The Philippines, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. This even bettered the phenomenon in my time in the 1960’s with the arrival The Beatles and their subsequent sellout concerts.
I asked the lady what was it that made Taylor so appealing and why she felt so fortunate to have attended one of the concerts. In a few words she gave her reason. “She speaks for me and my generation. When I listened to the lyrics, I come alive” I asked was there any song that she identified with, and she said it was “Anti-Hero.”
That young lady, who incidentally was so proud that she was the same age as Swift,” could in some way identify in Swift’s exploration of publicity, fame, and personal issues.
I needed to take a step back and view our world from this young lady’s lens. Our two worlds in one sense are the same and yet at the same time they are miles apart. Why is Swift given a status that in many ways the most powerful of persons in our fractured and troubled world are not? A world where Climate Change, the pogrom in Gaza and the senseless devastation in Ukraine are the realities. It is in a world where despair, depression, alienation, and ennui display their ugly faces.
That same world has been conditioned to look beyond imperfection believing only in perfection. The idea that beauty exists in imperfection is seen as absurd because flaws and fractures must always be hidden and totally covered up. But deep down we know that what is imperfect and that has been mended so that the cracks to be seen, highlights true beauty.
That is why the inner demons in our psyche are exacerbated by the continual bombardment of societal expectations of the perfect and how the media is allowed to define what is success and attractiveness. We in turn seem to fail the test, so we explore for a haven for our shared experiences and the viewpoints that go with it.
The problem is though when we retreat to the safe places, we carve out for ourselves, we can all too readily reinforce and even radicalize the distorted skewed up worldview we may have been nurturing, where perfection is the only norm.
There is that battle we can all face, the ingrained feeling of inadequacy and the portrayal of machismo. This so readily leads to mental anguish and a very warped understanding of the expectations of society. It can make us cynical about life itself and we must need peel back the scabs of that cynicism from our eyes if we are to find in ourselves and in our world the truly beautiful.
The internet is full of information, and it can become a haven for searchers, but it can promote unrealistic standards and exacerbate beliefs that are harmful. We see pictures of perfect lives, flawless bodies, and lavish vacations. This comes at a cost because it reinforces divisive and toxic ideologies that so easily pit us against them. It become the insurmountable binary where we have an enemy to duel with.
And it is here that the problem shows its true face, when masculinity, misogyny, and the glorification of ‘White is right ‘and ‘White lives matter’ surface so readily, it is then that violence and extremist views come to the surface.
This is clearly observed in the dangerous individual, willing to carry out evil acts in the name of his twisted beliefs, in getting his cult followers to storm the Washington Capital in early January 2020. All this was built up with the total support of a pathological liar who would make America great again for his second run as President.
Misery loves company. For it is when there is that mutual experience of rejection and alienation that a deep-seated bond is formed. It is that false sense of camaraderie where in shared despair they offer each other comfort in their common misery.
I come back to our present-day celebrity, the world’s superstar Taylor Swift who stands as a symbol of unattainable success, untouchable beauty, and irresistible romantic allure. She may be the most influential person alive today. This may seem an absurdity, but it is not.
And here rests the paradox between idolisation and resentment. She is adored from afar and yet the resentment is there for the broader society which has been denied the same level of adoration and success. She becomes the perfect example of all they believe they have been denied. She becomes that mythical, archetypal, larger than life figure that is yearned for but will ultimately never be able to be possessed. It is when we hold firmly to this mythical figure the broken and repaired parts of our lives can never be acknowledged.
My heart goes out to the young lady next to me waiting for results which she hopes are good news. She has put her trust in another to be a support in distressing times, both for herself and for her our world appraisal. I listen to her, and if I had another time with her, I could offer other alternatives where ideology and certainties go out the door and she might just find the stranger, who was in fact her very self, and who has loved her all along and who she had ignored for another.
I do believe it possible that she will peel off the image created by social media, the internet, technology or whatever and explore ever so tenderly the mystery of who she truly is, a person so lovable that she will become, by what she has gone through, a gift to our fragile world. Taylor Swift is not the solution but rather it is in the discovery of the real me that the lady will find her true home. That is what rests inside this lady who, with apprehension, waits for the result of the scan to determine the direction she is to take. Hopefully she will learn to walk the pilgrim path where she will find awareness of the many hidden wonders woven into the tapestry of her life.
She will not need Taylor Swift as her support but will find her true support in that fractured part of her that has been mended and where the cracks are highlighted instead of hidden. It will be there that she will possess the true beauty no longer hidden but instead exposed for all to see. That will turn out to be her major support.
John Hill
1st March 2024
