Fame Higher Swiftrank for Surreality
Posted by Brody on December 17, 2009Fame is elusive, but everyone looks for it. Or for fortune. Either one is never everything that people claim, and they still go looking, and sometimes it’s as easy to find as time. Taylor Swift at 20 probably isn’t concerned with running out of time, and doesn’t seem to have much trouble with fame either, and fortune has definitely been a by-product of all of her good luck. If pressed about which is more surreal, however, fame gets the higher Swiftrank every time. And it probably should, because it seems as though everyone who’s been where she is has the same feeling about it.
Andy Warhol said interesting things about fame, is perhaps the most observant philosopher of fame for the 20th century (for the 19th, it would have to be Stendhal, whose cocktail party ramblings about the good life, and being draped in velvet still influence our definition of celebrity-dom). He understood all to well that it was an illusion that everyone pursues, and also understood that when it does come, it never stays for very long. These are difficult lessons for anyone who spends a lifetime looking for it, so in the case of Taylor Swift, it’s not so much of a heartbreak if it does go, because she seems to be concerned with keeping an eye on the larger picture.
It might be difficult, however, at this point in the 21st century, to pinpoint exactly what the larger picture might be. As her songs suggest, we are a construction of texts, of various texts, and they don’t always fit together neatly. Some of these texts are images, and image becomes a new language in the 21st century. Some of the texts are spoken, and some, of course, are songs, and quotations of songs. Her ability to revamp and remix a tradition, with a very personal and introspective touch, is a remarkable feature of her talent, which speaks to the way fame can and should work when things are out of joint. It might be velvet, or it might be denim, but it hints at a revolution that tries to open a road where things like fame no longer matter.
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