Taylor Swift Uses Her Powerful Voice in a Netflix Documentary: Miss Americana

Yuying Wang ‘23

An inspirational figure to many young viewers out there, Taylor Swift has rose among popularity in the last several years, establishing her own mark on the song production industry. On January 23, 2020, a newly released documentary, exclusively shown on Netflix takes the audience on the journey that Swift has gone through during her career. Not only does the film include moments onstage, it also entails backstage footstage that are rarely shown on an occasional basis.

 

Prior to this narrative, Swift was just commonly known as “A nice girl smiles and waves and says thank you. A nice girl doesn’t make people feel uncomfortable with her views” This idealistic thought was actually one of the reasons why she made the executive decision to star in this documentary; she wanted her voice to be heard by everyone. For herself, Swift has also gone into depth about how she has grown to embrace herself and have a strong inner self. 

 

More interestingly, Laura Wilson, the director of the documentary shares her experience while on set. Specifically, while shooting, her team only included two male members while the rest of them were composed of female members. She emphasizes how “girls in our society are taught that other people’s approval is of paramount importance to their self-worth,” and after Taylor Swift talked about those same kinds of things, Wilson instantly made the connection and decided that it was extremely important for someone who has gone through tremendous success, and still doubted themselves multiple times along the way. 

 

Most people have never thought that celebrities could relate on any aspect to people who lived normal lives. But after watching this documentary, it’s clear that we were all wrong. The important thing to takeaway from the film, is that insecurities about oneself is completely ordinary to have, but like Taylor Swift, there is always a way to maneuver yourself out so you are in a better place. “Miss Americana” is a documentary worth the watch, not only will it shock you how famous people go about living, but it will also boost your self-esteem. 

 

[1] https://www.netflix.com/title/81028336

[2] https://screenrant.com/taylor-swift-miss-americana-best-quotes/

[3] https://variety.com/2020/music/features/taylor-swift-politics-sundance-documentary-miss-americana-1203471910/

[4] https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/taylor-swift-miss-americana-lana-wilson-director-945678/