Are We Allowed To Critique Art?
We are allowed to like and dislike things. We are allowed to critique things.
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I came of age in the 90s. When we first got the internet, I used it to frequent message boards for The Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer (my older brother’s musical influence). I read as strangers on the internet debated what Rivers Cuomo was sorry for in the song, “Butterfly,” or more broadly, what did Billy Corgan mean in any of his songs? My friends and I spent hours writing Weezer fanfiction (we weren’t weird, you’re weird) and matching the harmonies of the band, That Dog. My brother was the one who introduced me to Riot Grrrl bands like Bikini Kill, Hole, and Sleater-Kinney. I felt I had found my kin. I felt some semblance of belonging. For better or worse, I idolized Kathleen Hanna. I was aware of celebrity, but not immersed in it. There wasn’t a way to interact with celebrities at the time, aside from writing fan letters. I didn’t write any, but I would talk to Shirley Manson in my head.
These days, celebrities interact with their fans in online spaces. Celebrities’ interaction is often passive (just posting on Instagram, for example), but their followers/fans feel a closeness to them. It’s not necessarily a good thing.
Taylor Swift released her latest album last week. The reviews have been mixed, but mostly positive. I listened to the complete thing—31 songs. I like three of them. I’m not a Swiftie nor am I a hater. I’m just a girl who listens to a lot of music.
Swift has been disproportionately critiqued unfairly and analyzed for most of her career. There are countless examples of these critiques being misogynist and sexist. There are countless examples of writers reviewing not only Swift, but her loyal and enthusiastic (and mostly young) fan base as well. Her art and her fans are both often critiqued for being “cringe” and “unserious.” We can’t ignore the fact that a majority of people (not just men) critique women with harsher and broader strokes. When (some) men are doing the critiquing, you can tell they’re reveling in disposing of anything made by women simply because other women enjoy it. “Girl Culture” is often mocked and shamed, even by adult women. In her 2007 book, Digitizing Race, Dr. Lisa Nakamura writes (found via):
It is all the more important that we pay attention to girls' labor on the Internet, since there is a covert identity politics regarding race, class, and gender at work in much of the scholarly discourse regarding digital production and its implications for media that acknowledges their marginal position in light of digital media, despite a narrowing digital divide in terms of use. In short, girls are envisioned as avid users but not producers, as consumers but not creators.
I don’t think the critiques of Swift’s work as simplistic and immature are warranted. She primarily gets flack for writing about breakups, which is interesting since most humans tend to ruminate about relationships that have ended. Many of us either write, talk or think about these things obsessively—at least for a time. Musicians and poets consistently write about these things. Swift’s thoughts are publicized to billions of people. That being said, writing about your breakups is not, in itself, revolutionary or unique, but it doesn’t need to be. There are plenty of things to critique Swift about from being a billionaire and flying all over in her private jet to choosing to align with activist endeavors when and if it suits her. In my own tiny “review” that I posted, I called out her latest (weird) obsession with romanticizing mental health asylum imagery and prisons (and some other stuff):
The latest TSwift album sucks. Like others have already said: romanticizing asylums and prisons is gross and fucked up. Also, if I had been THAT in love with Matty Healy, I simply would hide it better in my public-facing writing because YUCK and YIKES. And tho I enjoyed the fact that she made a diss track about Kim K, l'm also just like... grrrl, let it go. Jfc.
I was immediately accused of being “unfeminist” and not supporting women. I was told I was “clearly not a ‘girls’ girl.’” FYI: Taylor’s not either. Swifties began attacking me under my posts and in my dms. The response to my lil critique was oversized, and frankly, ridiculous. But that has been a typical thing for anyone who dares to critique Swift and her art (and some other artists, too). Do you know how many times I have stood up for a celebrity online? ZERO TIMES because I’m not a goddamn attack dog.
The other comment I received more than once was that I clearly didn’t understand metaphors and symbolism. Not that it should matter, but my undergraduate degree is in Creative Writing. In fact, I was awarded a fine arts grant in poetry to attend college. Even if I didn’t have this background, even if I was just someone sharing my opinion online, it’s still okay!
We are allowed to like and dislike things. We are allowed to critique things. Critiquing women or women’s art is not “unfeminist.” Feminism is not inherently about supporting all women all of the time. For example, I do not support women oppressors nor do I support women billionaires. I am not interested in being “equal” to cis men. I’m interested in equity and liberation.
The internet allows any and everyone to make their opinions known in real time. I have been brutally critiqued and harassed online for over a decade. I’m not even famous nor am I a billionaire. I don’t have the luxury of having a “team” that reads through and deletes the offending (and sometimes abusive) comments. The problem I have with Swift is that she hardly ever tells her fans to stop. Her fans are the ones who do the most harassment. Paste Magazine didn’t name the writer of the most recently reviewed album due to death threats this person received the last time they reviewed a Swift album. That is fucked up.
Many of us live in echo chambers and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, however, if you don’t personally like what someone else said outside of your echo chamber, then why harass them? Why send them death threats? Why pick apart their appearance? Why back a billionaire who doesn’t even know who you are?
I believe many fanbases are unhealthy. If you obsess over someone or something to the point of online abusing others, you have a serious problem. When you put people and/or their art on a pedestal, you have already lost yourself in the parasocial relationship.
Taylor Swift is not going to save you when the revolution comes.
She will be hiding.
Like what you like
Dislike what you dislike
Comment on whatever.
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