There was a time when I would prioritize seeing the biggest concert film of the year. Today, I can't remember the last time I've seen a concert film in the year in which it was released (and pretty rarely go back to watch one, either).
I don't think something like Summer of Soul counts, because that's old footage and therefore fits clearly into the category of documentary. I guess with new concert films, I think of them more as arms of the artist's promotional apparatus than "real" films with something to say beyond selling the music.
(I just thought of the last concert film I watched at the time it was released, which was Beyonce's Homecoming. I liked it.)
Taylor Swift presents sort of a different case than the typical concert movie made for PR reasons. She is almost indisputably the biggest music star working today, though I should be careful how I throw that word "indisputably" around. On a podcast I was listening to this week, one of the podcasters said that Swift was "indisputably" more famous than Madonna ever was. I dispute that.
But because she's such a big star, she crosses over into "general interest topic about which I should know more," not just "musical artist." Not unlike Beyonce. Or Madonna. (Madonna's Truth or Dare may have been one of the first concert films I ever saw, if you want to call it that.)
I don't think I could bring myself to see this 168-minute film in the theater. In fact, I'm sure I couldn't. There would be 'splaining to do with the wife -- why am I going and sitting among teenagers to watch a movie about Taylor Swift? -- and at least at home it clears the lower bar of "movie you watch at home."
Probably part of the reason I think there would be 'splaining to do is that I know I am attracted to Taylor Swift, and I think my wife would suspect that's more the reason I'm watching the movie than being a fan of her music. I actually am a fan of her music, to the extent that a person who would never actually buy any of her music can be a fan of it. But I can't deny that she sort of makes my toes curl too.
And I can't deny that this movie poster is openly trying to titillate me.
To put it bluntly: In this poster, Swift is wearing the same expression that they used to put on the faces of women on billboards for strip clubs around Los Angeles.
Yes this is a picture of Taylor Swift singing. Yes it is also supposed to look like a picture of Taylor Swift being pleasured.
It's another reminder of a not-very-hot take: Even the artists who cultivate a pure image become sexualized, if they are women and if there is a covert opportunity to do so.
This poster does fall into the category of covert, I'd say. It's a dog whistle for men (and women) who covet her rather than wanting to be her. For everyone else, like the parents of the young children who like her, it's just a woman singing.
And so I don't know at this point if Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour will make it onto my year-end list. My guilty conscience might force me to try to watch the whole two hours and 48 minutes at a time when my wife isn't around, which is a rare window to get. And that's if it's even available on video before the middle of January. The movie has some sort of exclusivity deal and I could see it being a theater-only event.
However -- and this really could give me the excuse I need to watch it, even if I'm only making that excuse to my own brain -- Wikipedia says that it "received widespread acclaim from critics, most of whom praised the camerawork, editing and sound for capturing the show's spectacle and energy."
It doesn't say "And the rest of whom just liked looking at Taylor Swift."
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