LITEPOP Taylor Swift's _Folkmore_ PDF Analysis

Converging Storylines in “Folkmore” Intended Learning Outcomes At the end of the module, you should be able to analyze the narrative structure of the selected Taylor Swift songs. Topic Outline folklore 1. august 2. betty 3. cardigan Evermore 1. dorothea 2. ‘tis the damn season Background Taylor...

Converging Storylines in “Folkmore” Intended Learning Outcomes At the end of the module, you should be able to analyze the narrative structure of the selected Taylor Swift songs. Topic Outline folklore 1. august 2. betty 3. cardigan Evermore 1. dorothea 2. ‘tis the damn season Background Taylor Swift interlinks songs on folklore and evermore which her fans call as “folkmore” as the combination of the two albums. Background The “stories exist in relation to” mode can be found in cardigan, august, and betty. Dramatic situation: the story of three teenagers (Betty, James, and Augustine) in a love triangle. The storyline is nonlinear. Background Song Time Point of view august past and present Augustine betty Past and present James cardigan Years later Betty Background Taylor Swift wrote a love triangle from the perspective of each track that links to what Burt and Harris calls as “everything’s [folklore and evermore] a return to something, a rewrite, a re-take, a retraction” (Burt and Harris, 2020). The story arcs give the listeners each person’s feelings on the situation and their story. Source: Harris, S. B. a. J., & Harris, S. B. a. J. (2021, May 30). Growing sideways, gazing back - Post45. Post45 - American literature and culture since 1945. https://post45.org/2020/12/growing-sideways-gazing-back/ Background august The beginning of the love triangle. Augustine’s view. The view of ‘the other woman’ due to Betty and James’ existing relationship. The chorus used a past tense verbs “slipped” and “was”. The first verse gives the audience a look into Augustine’s character, with the use of “whispers” and “I’ve never needed anything more”. The lines indicate that the speaker is in love and feels content in her relationship. Background august “August slipped away into a moment in time” holding a double meaning: ○ The relationship taking in the months of summer; the month of August ended, as did the relationship. ○ Augustine just became a memory to her partner, James. The relationship was also presented as very intimate, with “whispers,” and the two lovers being “twisted in bedsheets”. Their age is implied in “will you call when you’re back at school?” However, August states when “you’re” back at school, not “we’re,” showing that Augustine may be older. Background august Augustine states “living for the hope of it all, cancel plans just in case you’d call, and say “meet me behind the mall”. Augustine becoming a reclusive character whose day hinges on if James calls for secret meeting, going out of his way to hide his relationship with her, shows an unhealthy relationship. Background betty James’s viewpoint. Just as august briefly mentions things that give away the characters’ age, such as school, James repeatedly mentions things that make them young, “homeroom” and “riding on my skateboard”. However, James uses age-related references, for excusing his behavior due to his age. ○ “I am only seventeen, I don’t know anything”. It implies blaming his action on his age. James tries to control Betty into resuming their relationship. Background betty James is portrayed as a “villain” in the story by attempting to shift the blame onto Betty and Augustine. ○ He states of Betty “I saw you dance with him”. This hints that his actions were caused by her dancing with another man. ○ He states of Augustine “just thinking of you when she pulled up, like a figment of my worst intentions”; Augustine says “James, get in, let’s drive”. ○ His blaming of the female characters is James attempting to deflect blame for his actions, hinting he was forced to do it because of how the girls acted. Background betty James is portrayed as a “villain” in the story by attempting to shift the blame onto Betty and Augustine. ○ This further highlights the characters’ young age and also contrasts to Augustine, who spent august mourning the lost of her relationship singing “I never needed anything more” while James states he “slept next to her [Augustine] but I dreamt of you [Betty] all summer long” showing James’ duplicitous nature. ○ Betty and Augustine never blame each other for the infidelity they experienced. Background cardigan The viewpoint is Betty’s--decades after the love triangle with James and Augustine. As an adult, Betty states “when you are young, they assume you know nothing,” referencing the clear age references on august and betty. Betty refuses to excuse James’s behavior on his age as he clearly knew what he was doing despite being “only seventeen”. The first two choruses address things James did with Augustine and what he did with Betty. Background cardigan The first two choruses address things James did with Augustine and what he did with Betty. ○ “Dancing in your Levi’s, drunk under a streetlight” referencing James’s walk home in betty “I was walking home on broken cobblestones”. ○ This is contrasted by more intimate accounts of James and Betty’s relationship such as “hand under my sweatshirt, baby kiss it better”. This shows Betty, when reflecting upon her past, views her relationship with James as loving and intimate, whereas James’s relationship with Augustine is viewed as a few encounters. Background cardigan Betty references James “playing hide-and-seek,” likely referring to when James told Augustine to “meet me behind the mall,” as he was hiding from Betty and the view of others. The metaphor of the chorus “and when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite” represents James choosing Betty over Augustine. The cardigan reference is also seen in betty when James states of Betty “standing in your cardigan”. Background cardigan Age is referenced again with the line “I knew you tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy” ○ Peter Pan lets Wendy leave Neverland as he refused to grow up, which gives the audience an insight into the fate of Betty and James’ relationship, with James perhaps cheating on Betty again. By attempting to change the ending, James was attempting to keep Betty without fully committing to her, but she recognized this, again leading to an unhealthy relationship. This is supported by the line with the bridge of “you drew stars around my scars, but now I’m bleeding” Background cardigan Betty trusted James with her deepest secrets, her “scars” and he helped her heal them, however, he has now opened them right back up again. Background cardigan As Betty reflects upon her relationship with James, it is clear it is a bittersweet memory for her as the story is told in past tense. Betty and James did not stay together long after their potential reunion at the end of betty. Betty explains that their relationship as “marked me like a bloodstain” showing that no matter how much she tries to move on, she is often reminded of their relationship as it “marked” her internally, hurting her deeply. The past tense of the “I knew you” implies that Betty did know him at one time but did not keep contact. Background dorothea dorothea is the preface of ‘tis the damn season. It tells the story of two lovers, Dorothea and an unnamed character, and the consequences of Dorothea leaving her hometown to pursue a career in acting. “Dorothea, the girl who left her small town to chase her Hollywood dreams--and what happens when she comes back for the holidays and discovers an old flame”, thus giving the set chronological order of events. Background dorothea and ‘tis the damn season “I want to stay in the forest” (Lowe, 2020) represents her willingness to keep writing stories of fictional characters. Although there is no direct continuation of the Betty/James/August storyline, thematically the songs are very similar with the storyline--a lost love and the consequences of returning. Dorothea and ‘tis the damn season’ mirrors Augustine and Betty’s stories in cardigan and august. Background dorothea dorothea is the preface of ‘tis the damn season’. dorothea establishes the relationship between Dorothea and the narrator, with Dorothea leaving the narrator longing for her, portrayed by “you’ll always know Dorothea” and “it’s never too late to come back to my side” highlighting the narrator is still interested in Dorothea despite her leaving to pursue her acting dreams. In the folklore: long pond studio sessions, Swift explains “in folklore there are a lot of songs that reference each other or lyrical parallels” which is something that continues to evermore as the narrator of dorothea is left pining for Dorothea in a similar way Augustine was pining for James when he left her, highlighting a lyrical parallel in the two interlinked stories. Background ‘tis the damn season The story is told in Dorothea’s perspective. First verse ○ Dorothea states “if I wanted to know, who you were hanging with while I was gone, I would’ve asked you” acting as a parallel for the narrator in dorothea’s concern of her friends using for “who she knows” and insinuating that they are fake. This highlights a difference in character, with Dorothea initially acting closed off to the narrator while, in dorothea, he pines for her. Background ‘tis the damn season Dorothea states “if it’s all the same to you, it’s the same to me” with the narrator in dorothea explaining “this place is the same as it ever was”. Dorothea wishes to mirror the narrator’s feelings in order to connect to him, offering both a connection for the characters and the story. Background ‘tis the damn season Dorothea’s behavior as a character mimics the child-like behavior of James in the long triangle on folklore ○ Dorothea stating “you could call me ’babe’ for the weekend” The narrator in dorothea pleads for her to come home and be with him. ○ However, Dorothea returns, she is only staying temporarily, thus offering a parallel between Dorothea and the narrator and James’s treatment of Augustine, despite it appearing Dorothea does care for the narrator. This is further developed with the verse “you can run, but only so far”in dorothea, being comparable to Betty’s statement of James in cardigan “I knew you leaving like a further, running like water.” Background ‘tis the damn season Dorothea’s behavior as a character mimics the child-like behavior of James in the long triangle on folklore ○ Dorothea and James attempt to escape from the people they say they love, but they are duplicitous. Dorothea left him to chase her dreams. James cheated on Betty. They don't really love the other characters but are using them for their own gain. Background ‘tis the damn season Dorothea confesses at the end of the track that she will “go back to LA, and the so-called friends who’ll write books about me”. Although the narrator of Dorothea draws attention to her “so-called friends” (“you got shiny friends…if you’re ever tired of being known for who you know” in dorothea), it adds to the selfishness of Dorothea’s character that she would rather return to chase her dreams and be surrounded by false friends than stay in the town with someone who loves her. Dorothea focuses on herself and not love, similar to James on folklore.