"Blank Space", performed by American pop singer Taylor Swift and released on November 10th 2014, is a music video that follows and mocks stereotypes of Swifts lifestyle and relationships that are created by the media.
Swift is often portrayed negatively due to her numerous relationships with men, and this video is her response, made to mock these representations of her being a "man-eater" and "serial dater", labels given to the pop-star by New York Post in 2013, in their article 'Taylor Swift is the ultimate player'.
The lyrics 'love's a game, want to play?' in "Blank Space" - a song part of '1989', her fifth studio album which sold 1,287 million copies worldwide - could be perceived as a reference to this, as it purposefully insinuates that Swift is a 'player', and enjoys making a game out her relationships.
Originally a country artist, Swift moved to the pop genre in 2010, however there still remains debate among fans over her true genre and at what point in her career it developed.
In 2013, 'Abercrombie and Fitch', an American retail company, released a new t-shirt, the slogan 'more boyfriends than t.s', referencing Swifts relationships. After many complaints and accusations of slut-shaming, the company stopped selling the shirt as to not lose their main demographic. This, along with various other condemnations and judgements on Swifts personal life, led to the singer choosing to fight back, her response in the form of the song "Blank Space" designed to show the ridiculousness of the allegations against her that portray her to be "insane", as the lyrics of the song suggest.
In conclusion, Taylor Swifts use of glamorous mise-en-scene shown through the large and grand locations, elaborate costume and further props such as white horses or vintage cars, all create an exaggeration of her life, this embellishment mocking the way she is represented by the media due to the ridiculousness of it.
The narrative also embellishes real-life events that are exaggerated to be like this by the media, the use of the conventionally attractive male, and the idea shown through the lyrics of their relationship being a game until he finds out she's "crazy", and the visuals of this all being a cycle that happens with many men all used to create a ridiculous idea of her life and mock the media for attempting to show this as a reality.
This exaggerated image of Swifts life also shows a theme of a fairytale, the use of white horses, red apples, grand mansions and overall perfection and innocence combined with an image of insanity and evil are often tropes used within fairy-tales, which could be showing the view the media has of her having an idealistic life, and mocking this by challenging use of the fairytale narrative which is knowingly false in its idealism and "happy ending" trope and instead creating an unhappy ending and the "princess" character (played by Swift) also being the evil force that threatens happiness, an image also put forward by the media.
Overall this video is used to dramatise the representations of Swift and her life, and ridicule anyone who may try to attempt to act as if this truth.
