This award season has turned up pretty dry in my opinion. Long gone are the days of Lady GaGa’s exquisite and shocking outfits, and instead are the days of 24/7 accessible news. So there’s no wonder why I didn’t even bother figuring out what channel the Billboard Music Awards were on. All of my friends kept me updated, of course, live tweeting/blogging/texting about it. Were it not for them, I probably wouldn’t have known about Taylor Swift’s new music video for “Bad Blood,” and boy am I glad I saw it.
Being a feminist, I got more from this video than others might. The video follows the members of Catastrophe’s (Swift’s) army as they train. The cast of the music video consists of 18 women in the media industry, all of whom have been linked to Taylor Swift. All of these women range in ages, jobs, and races, which is so important in this day and age. Whether she was aware of it or not, by casting her friends as warriors in her own music video, Taylor single-handedly slapped patriarchy and the media in the face.
The cast includes: super models Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Karlie Kloss, Lily Aldridge, Martha Hunt, and Gigi Hadid; actresses Hailee Steinfeld, Serayah, Lena Dunham, Jessica Alba, Ellen Pompeo, and Mariska Hargitay; music artists Zendaya, Ellie Goulding, Selena Gomez, and Hayley Williams.
This all just goes to show that there is still friendship amongst females in the media industry, despite how society is constantly pitting females against each other. Taylor Swift, who is also a known feminist, did this for a reason. She’s been constantly beaten down by the media for her number of boyfriends — being called names that attack her sexuality and private life (“slut,” “whore,” etc.) — so she probably didn’t want to also be pitted against her friends.
If you are a female in the entertainment industry, the media will try to turn you against another female at one point in your career — Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie as well as Katy Perry and Taylor Swift for example. Even Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton were put against each other, not because of their political views during the 2008 presidential election, but for their looks. No matter who you are or where you stand in the media, someone somewhere will try and demonize you and start a war between you and someone you may have only met in passing.
By Swift hiring her friends for this music video, casting them as warriors, and putting them in a place of power, she has made yet another step toward the goal of equality for all sexes. Look at it this way: If a male artist did this, I wouldn’t have to bring attention to it because it wouldn’t be anything new. You go, T-Swizzle!