The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - 5A I'll admit it: I like T-Swift By EMMA GASE Taylor Swift's songs bring back Daily Arts Writer memories of another time. One song, and I'm transported back Last month, I was finally forced to my mid-teens, when the most to face a surprising and unchar- important problems (getting my acteristic truth - a truth that had license, passing algebra) now " been slowly bubbling to the surface seem trivial in the harsher world for months. I've tried tofight it, but of college papers and exams. Life like a pesky cold, it kept coming revolved around AP classes, Fri- back. I'm done trying to shield the day-night plans and drama with screen of my iPod when I'm listen- my friends and my high school ing to her in the library. I'm sick of boyfriend - everything was just keeping my face impassive when simpler. I'm driving with friends and one of Taylor Swift sings about what her singles plays on the radio. This every teen girl wants to hear (boys stealth fandom is becoming tire- suck, we are better than them, let's some. When her latest album was move on, girl power!). We can revel released in October, I could hide it in her pain and anger, because no longer: I like Taylor Swift. what girl hasn't experienced some So, why all the secrecy in the form of boy-related anguish? first place? Besides, listening to Taylor is much One reason stems from my DNA. less depressing than wallowing, As the child of two thoroughly elit- post-breakup, to Elliott Smith. But ist music connoisseurs, the greater T-Swift is not a Negative Nancy part of my 19 years has been dedi- all the time. No, half of her songs cated to a rigorous music snob edu- are all the other things girls want cation. My parents would certainly to hear (we are special, boys are shudder at the thought of my being great, Itam a princess, life is smiley a TaylorSwiftfan. Myreluctance is faces and butterflies). at least in part due to their sure dis- In essence, Taylor Swift is just an approval and my intensive musical upper-echelon, sequin- and cow- conditioning. boy boot-wearing, bubble-gum pop artist. She lives and breathes easy- to-like sing-alongs with four chords S gthat center on the follies of love 99 She s legit flOw', percent of the time. Her lyrics are T esimple, the instrumentation and ~ swear- production could be described as country-lite. But isn't that the true purpose of bubble-gum pop? And then there's Taylor Swift's Speak Now was the last push overly girly demeanor. Let's just that allowed Swift to fully win sayI've neverbeen muchofa girly- me over. Her musical prowess is girl. I'm better versed in football obviously maturing; the tracks are than what happened on last week's much longer, more atmospheric, "Gossip Girl." My makeup skills but still manage to be radio-friend- are less advanced than a seventh ly in a big way. She's a truly likable grader's; I don't watch chick flicks pop star, and everybody knows it. and I hate Jodi Piccoultnovels.Sci- Kanye West has been an asshole entifically, I should not like Taylor since 2004, but it was really only Swift. She embodies everything I when he slighted Taylor Swift at used to find irritating about femi- the VMAs that the world united ninity (melodrama, idyllic naivete, against him. And then she even narcissism), but lo and behold, Ilam wrote an entire song absolving defying my own nature. Kanye of any wrongdoing. Is this Haughty tastes aside, what's girl some kind of saint? not to love? Jangly Taylor guitars Sure, Taylor Swift can be cheesy. (no pun intended), cute banjos, She overuses cliches about love, well placed fiddles and story lyrics it is inexplicably pouring rain in make for some good, wholesome two-thirds of her songs and her listening. Her albums tend to reach live voice is shoddy at best. But quadruple platinum status within indie-worshipping Taylor-haters, two minutes of their release, no back off. I am sick of being snob- doubt thanks to millions of teen bish. Taylor has taught me not to girls waiting at the ready on their get caught up in the image I have parents' iTunes accounts. I used to of my own taste and myself. It's so deride my best friends for listening easy to get bogged down by your to her music, calling it mindless own views of what is high qual- drivel. ity and what is considered "main- So what changed? Perhaps by stream," as if that label alone strips some strange process of osmosis, the music of any value. my sheer exposure to her music I am a Taylor Swift convert. I'm has infiltrated my brain, eventually listening to her in the library as I confusing familiarity with actual write this, and I am not ashamed fondness. But it's more than that. anymore. COURTESY OF BIG MACHINE Gesundheit. TRADITIONS FESTIVAL M11 . 11 December 2 FREE * Stamps Auditorium HOLIDAY tAsy:p ,:;'WI\I IA'' DINNER 6:30 PM SHARP f' A Last Disney princess? 'Tangled' adds girl power to traditional fairytale story By EMILY BOUDREAU Daily Arts Writer Once upon a time, there was a movie about a princess named Snow White and seven dwarfs. Then there was another about Cinderella and a glass slipper. Tangled Following that were "Sleeping At Quality16 Beauty," "The and Rave Little Mermaid" Disney and "Beauty and the Beast." And perhaps the final installment in Disney's fairytale canon is the story of the princess Rapunzel: "Tangled." The story starts out tradition- ally enough - Rapunzel (Mandy Moore, "A Walk to Remember") is a beautiful princess is kidnapped as a little girl by an old hag who wants to use the princess's magic hair to restore her youth. She locks Rapunzel away in a tower and forbids her to leave. However, the story diverges from the tra- ditional princess plotline. Rather than wait around for a handsome prince to rescue her, she uses a fry- ing pan to knock out a handsome thief named Eugene Fitzherbert, a.k.a. Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi, TV's "Chuck"). The two embark on an adventure complete with tough thugs who aspire to be Broadway stars and many medio- cre songs, none as catchy as those in older Disney movies. Last week, the Los Angeles Times reported that "Tangled," depending on how much money it brings in, could potentially be the last Disney fairytale movie ever. Saddening for those who remem- ber them fondly, but it has to be said that the old storylines of mov- ies like "Cinderella" and "Snow White" might need a little more magic than a fairy godmother can provide if they are to survive in the modern world. Perhaps part of the problem is that, while the old-style Disney fairytale was geared toward a female audience, the female char- acters never provided any action. It was always the wisecracking animal sidekicks, the feisty fairy godmother or the evil sorceress who drove the plot. Fortunately, that's not the case with "Tangled." For once, the heroine dreams of something that doesn't involvea handsome prince stepping in to save the day and, armed with her trusty frying pan and longlocks, Rapunzel certainly isn't helpless. The dashing prince isn't just someone who rides in at the last minute with a kiss that will save the day. But while Fitzherbert is quite funny, in some ways, he detracts from Rapunzel's role. Still, it is a fairy tale - and it couldn't be without handsome men and happily-ever-after. The Pixar-inspired animation also helps the film's case. In a world where children are used to movies in the style of "Cars" and "Toy Story," it's nice to see that same charm brought to a storyline generally restricted to the two- dimensional animation style of previous decades. If this is indeed the last Dis- ney princess to appear on the big screen, then it sure seems as though the magic ingredients of Disney princess stories haven't been working. And if little girls don't want to be princesses any- more, what exactly do they want to be?