The passing of time turned Romeo and Juliet into a beautiful love story. In many adaptations, the political aspects of the play were put aside, so that the romance could flourish. Scholars E. B. Viveiros de Castro and Ricardo Benzaquen de Araújo touched on this matter in their article ―Romeu e Julieta e a Origem do Estado‖: ―Through a love story (which has, in fact, suffered a process of banalization and neglect – although one of the most well- known – Romeo and Juliet is not seen as ‗one of the best‘ plays Shakespeare has written), Romeo and Juliet points out to broader phenomena.‖ (DE CASTRO, ARAÚJO, 1977, p.
142).50
The same has happened to a popular dystopian franchise entitled The Hunger Games (2008-2010). The idea of the trilogy came to the author, Suzanne Collins, as she was zapping
50 My translation of: ―Através de uma história de amor (que sofreu inclusive um processo de banalização e descaso – embora uma das mais conhecidas – Romeu e Julieta não é tida como ―das melhores‖ peças de Shakespeare), Romeu e Julieta aponta para fenômenos mais amplos.‖ (DE CASTRO, ARAÚJO: 1977, p. 142).
television channels between reality shows and news reports about wars. Her books are filled with political discourse about injustice and social inequality. Nonetheless, when the movies (2012-2015) were released, the media could only focus on the love triangle between the protagonist and the two boys she likes. Amongst war, loss, and trauma, the focus lay on the romance. Why so?
Capitalistically speaking, romance sells way more than politics. Henceforth, the romance in the Shakespearean play tends to survive more than its political side. This is the case of Taylor Swift‘s song Love Story, from the studio album Fearless (2008). The renowned North American singer earned, in 2019, the title of Artist of the Decade from the American Music Awards; previous winners include Elvis Presley (1950‘s), The Beatles (1960‘s), and Michael Jackson (1980‘s). Her adaptation of the star-crossed lovers‘ tale as a song, Love Story, which was also made into a music video, was an instant success. The hit song remained on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 49 weeks in 2009, was featured in the movie Letters to Juliet (2010), inspired by the Veronese Club di Giulietta, and earned Swift commercial and critical praise.
More than ten years later, the song rose again in the charts due to a TikTok dance trend, which consists of dancing when the beat drops and the lyrics say, ―Marry me, Juliet / You never have to be alone / I love you and that‘s all I really know‖ (SWIFT, 2008), entitled
#lovestorychallenge, which, in May 2022, counts with 1.5 billion views. This social media gained enormous popularity in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic caused lockdowns around the world, and totally transformed the music industry. Less than seven months after the start of the trend, in 2021, due to a lawsuit with her former label, Taylor Swift re-released the song, entitled Love Story (Taylor’s Version), which gained 10 million streams on online platforms in its debut week.
The success of the artist and her song are undeniable. The music video of the song, resembling a fairy tale version of Romeo and Juliet, begins at college, where young Taylor sights her love interest and has a flashback from a past life in which they were a couple. As the scene changes, so does the scenery and their clothes. The singer, dressed in a party gown clearly from another century, proceeds to describe how she, now in the role of Juliet, met Romeo:
We were both young when I first saw you I close my eyes and the flashback starts I‘m standing there
On a balcony in summer air
See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns
See you make your way through the crowd And say, ‗Hello‘
(SWIFT, 2008)
The Romeo from the music video is dressed not as a man from the end of the sixteenth century, but more as a man from the eighteenth century. He resembles the Mr. Darcy from the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, one that appealed a lot to straight young girls.
Romeo and Juliet proceed to dance at the ball in a way that resembles scenes from the play as well as from the movie based on Jane Austen‘s beloved novel. In fact, the director of the music video, Trey Fanjoy, stated in an interview that she aimed for the video to be a timeless period piece, influenced by the Medieval, Renaissance and Regency eras.
As the song continues, Taylor/Juliet sings ―you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles, and my daddy said, ‗stay away from Juliet‘‖. (SWIFT, 2008). Although in Shakespeare‘s play, the old Capulet only knew of his daughter‘s affair with the son of his enemy when they were both already stone dead, in Swift‘s version, the father of the girl prohibits her daughter‘s romance, a widely used trope in media due to it being relatable for young girls who undergo the same situation. The reason behind Juliet‘s father‘s disapproval of their romance is not mentioned, hence it is not clear what keeps Romeo and Juliet apart.
Nonetheless, Swift explained, in a conversation with her record label, the inspiration behind the song:
‗Love Story‘ is a song that I wrote when I was 17 and I think it involved some teenage angst. I think I was mad at my parents for not letting me go on a date or something, and it also is a good example of what a hopeless romantic I was – and still am! (SWIFT, 2021).
The following verses confirm the idea that the song is truly meant to be a fairy tale:
Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone I‘ll be waiting. All there‘s left to do is run You‘ll be the prince and I‘ll be the princess It‘s a love story, baby, just say, ―Yes‖
(SWIFT, 2008)
Swift‘s Juliet imagines herself as a princess whose prince will save her from her strict father. After the ball, the couple meets in Juliet‘s garden. The verse ―We keep quiet
‗cause we‘re dead if they knew‖ (SWIFT, 2008) could have been inspired by the Shakespearean verses ―[…] And the place death, considering who thou art, / If any of my kinsmen find thee here.‖ (R&J, 2.2.64-65) and ―If they do see thee, they will murder thee.‖
(R&J, 2.2.70). Swift also makes another literary reference in her song, to Nathaniel Hawthorne‘s The Scarlet Letter (1850): ―‗Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter.‖
(SWIFT, 2008). Considering Hawthorne‘s novel‘s protagonist, Hester Prynne, who is forced
to wear a scarlet letter ‗A‘ in her chest, which stands for ―adulterous‖, there is no apparent correlation between the two characters, unless Swift‘s Juliet feels like an outcast just as Hester was.
The most stereotyped verse of the song is, without a doubt: ―Romeo, save me.‖
(SWIFT, 2008). Shakespeare‘s Juliet, a woman from the sixteenth century, did not act as a damsel in distress – which is a fairy tale trope. On the contrary, the Bard‘s Juliet has the ability to save herself by taking actions when needed, such as going against her father‘s will and faking her own death and assuming the consequences of this dangerous act. Therefore, Swift‘s inspiration for her Juliet came from elsewhere. The singer and songwriter has already stated in interviews, such as in the previously mentioned one, how much of a hopeless romantic she is. In the music video of the song, we see elements of the transformation of the tragic story into a fairy tale, such as Juliet locked alone in a castle, the typical man‘s white horse, the prince that saves the princess, and the happy ending. This characteristic of Swift can also be noticed through an analysis of her discography, especially her earlier eras, for instance, the single White Horse (2008), released three months after Love Story, somehow contradicts all that was said about fairy tales in Swift‘s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet:
Stupid girl, I should‘ve known, I should‘ve known That I am not a princess, this ain‘t a fairy tale I‘m not the one you‘ll sweep off her feet Lead her up the stairwell
This ain‘t Hollywood, this is a small town I was a dreamer before you went and let me down Now it‘s too late for you and your white horse To come around
(SWIFT, 2008)
Another song from the same studio album even has the word on its title, Today Was A Fairytale (2008): ―Today was a fairytale / You were the prince / I used to be a damsel in distress‖ (SWIFT, 2008). In conclusion, the theme of fairy tales is often used in Swift‘s music; therefore, it is present in her idea of what Romeo and Juliet should have been. She stated her dissatisfaction with the couple‘s tragic ending in an interview with the Los Angeles Times about the song:
I was really inspired by that story. Except for the ending. I feel like they had such promise and they were so crazy for each other. And if that had gone a little bit differently, it could have been the best love story ever told. And it is one of the best love stories ever told, but it‘s a tragedy. I thought, why can‘t you… make it a happy ending and put a key change in the song and turn it into a marriage proposal? (SWIFT, 2008).
The marriage proposal mentioned by Swift comes from Romeo in her song, and is also romanticized:
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring And said, ―Marry me, Juliet
You never have to be alone
I love you and that‘s all I really know I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress It‘s a love story, baby, just say ‗Yes‘‖
(SWIFT, 2008)
In the music video, Romeo comes running towards Juliet dressed in a white linen open V-collar shirt, a scene that resembles one from the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice, in which Mr. Darcy is walking on an open field towards Elizabeth Bennet to declare his love and propose marriage to her. Concerning the marriage proposal, in the Shakespearean play, it is actually Juliet that proposes marriage without the permission of old Capulet. In a time where women belonged to their fathers until belonging to their husbands, Juliet took decisions on her own as the owner of her destiny. In the balcony scene, in Act 2, it is possible to see how Juliet is quick to rationalize matters whilst Romeo is led by feelings. Coppélia Kahn pointed this out in her essay: ―[…] she [Juliet] pledges her love, discourages Romeo from stereotyped love-vows, and spurs him to make arrangements for their wedding.‖ (KAHN: 1983, p. 184).
Juliet addresses the topic in a direct way, very differently from what is stereotypically thought about young women:
If that thy bent of love be honourable,
Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow, By one that I‘ll procure to come to thee,
Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite.
(R&J, 2.2.143-146)
Juliet also asks Romeo if he is being true to her, otherwise he should already tell her, so she could grieve and spare herself from getting involved: ―But if thou meanest not well, / I do beseech thee – / To cease thy strife, and leave me to my grief.‖ (R&J, 2.2.150-152). This behavior is very mature and reasonable, characteristics the general public probably wouldn‘t use to describe Juliet. In Swift‘s version, Romeo asked Juliet‘s father for her hand in marriage – a typical experience for young women in the twentieth century, when she was born. Since Taylor Swift came from a country music background – an inherently hetero-normative music genre –, it is understandable that she would also make use of more outdated gender roles in her songs.
The lightness of the song earned it a space in the soundtrack of the feel-good movie Letters to Juliet (2010), directed by Gary Winick, which was inspired by the book Letters to
Juliet: Celebrating Shakespeare’s Greatest Heroine, the Magical City of Verona and the Power of Love, by Lise & Ceil Friedmann. The movie‘s protagonist is a fact checker from New York City who travels to Verona in a pre-honeymoon with her fiancé and has it change her life. While strolling the Italian city alone, she stumbles upon the Secretaries of Juliet, a club of women who reply to letters addressed to Juliet Capulet. After finding a letter written fifty years previously, she decides to answer it. The outcome is a lovely and cheerful romantic comedy-drama, set in the beautiful Italian countryside. Although featuring allusions to William Shakespeare, the movie is considered by some critics as ―tacky‖, ―cliché‖ and
―cringy‖, such as critic Felicia Feaster, who described the movie as predictable and with a paper-thin plot, amongst other negative comments: ―Letters to Juliet affirms the stereotype of the chick flick as a conventional, short-on-story-and-long-on-romance piffle that insults women‘s intelligence as much as men‘s.‖ (FEASTER, 2010).
Nevertheless, the success of Swift‘s song did help bring the famous Shakespearean story to light among the younger public. However, the Bard‘s representation of Juliet is much more ―feminist‖ and contemporary to the twenty first century reality than the singer‘s 2008 hit song. Perhaps the best way to listen to Love Story is to ignore its connection with Romeo and Juliet and let it live on its own, as Walter Benjamin pointed out, concerning adaptations as autonomous works that should be valued as such: ―This is one reason why an adaptation has its own aura, its own ‗presence in time and space‘, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.‖ (Benjamin apud Hutcheon, 2006, p. 6). Linda Hutcheon also wrote about what can be considered a successful adaptation in the twenty first century:
The success of an adaptation today, in the age of transmedia, can no longer be determined in relation to its proximity to any single ―original‖, for none may even exist. Perhaps it is time to look instead to such things as popularity, persistence, or even the diversity and extent of dissemination for criteria of success. (HUTCHEON, 2006, p. XXVI).
Although Taylor Swift‘s Juliet suffered a process of domestication and became a homelier character who fits into the expectations of what a good young woman should be, in terms of popularity and persistence, her song Love Story is an undeniable success, even more than ten years after its original release. Its persistence can be recognized through the TikTok trend, mentioned in the opening of this section, which inspired a response from another singer, in the form of a song, which will be explained and analyzed in the following section.
Hereafter I will analyze the song (Self) Love Story (Taylor Swift Response) (2021), by English singer and songwriter Beth McCarthy (1997-), which defies the ideals presented in Swift‘s song.
3.4 (Self) Love Story (Taylor Swift Response) (2021), by Beth McCarthy
After the rediscovery of Taylor Swift‘s Love Story due to a TikTok trend in 2020 and its re-release in early 2021, another trend mentioning Juliet rose to fame on the short-videos social media in March 2021. The new trend consisted of promoting self-sufficiency and independence in women by using a snippet from English singer and songwriter Beth McCarthy‘s song (Self) Love Story) (Taylor Swift Response) (2021):
Juliet, trust me, you‘ll be better off alone Stop waiting for somebody else‘s love
Who needs a prince when you‘re already a queen?
Write your own story ‗cause, baby, you are the lead
(MCCARTHY, 2021)
The song quickly became viral on the app and counted with 1.5 million views on TikTok and 1.8 million on YouTube, in May 2022. Since TikTok is a place where many creators and users unite to discuss topics of self-love and self-care, a new version of a beloved song that focuses on one‘s journey towards self-love was bound to become a success on the app. Concerning the rewriting, McCarthy wrote the following on the description of the music video published on her YouTube channel: ―Taylor Swift‘s ‗Love Story‘ was the soundtrack to a 13 year old me. Here‘s a version a little more suited to 23 year old me. Ps. T Swift is a queen and an incredible songwriter – this is just a different narrative of her already incredible and timeless song.‖ (MCCARTHY, 2021).
The plot of the song consists in a girl named Juliet facing a breakup and hearing pieces of advice from her father, who tells her she should be self-sufficient and not depend on anyone to be happy. This wish for independence and rejection of commitment is, in fact, a trend in our contemporary society, especially among Generation Z, McCarthy‘s generation.
Statistics prove that marriage rates have been declining for the past fifty years, such as these from the scientific online publication Our World Data, maintained by the University of Oxford:
In recent decades there has been a decline in global marriage rates, and at the same time there has been an increase in cohabitation. […] There are differences between regions. In East Asia the share of women who are married or in a cohabitating union increased, in South America the share is flat, and in North America and North Europe it has declined.
(ORTIZ-OSPINA, ROSER, 2020).
Beth McCarthy‘s region‘s – Northern Europe – marriage rates has declined from 70%
in 1970 to 50% in 2020.
McCarthy‘s song references Taylor Swift‘s lyrics and melody, and begins by mentioning the reality of fairy tales: ―We‘re so young when we first hear stories / Of falling in love and happy endings / Unaware that fairytales ain‘t always fair.‖ (MCCARTHY, 2021). In the sequence, the listener learns that the character from the song is facing love problems:
―You‘re someone who stands out in the crowd / Yet here you are, with another broken heart.‖
(MCCARTHY, 2021). This characteristic of standing out is, in fact, a trend in contemporary media, for instance, in Disney animated movies from the last decade (2012-2021). The protagonists of Brave (2012), Frozen (2013), Moana (2017), and Encanto (2021) are all young women from prominent families, who do not identify with the crowd. These movies portray princesses and important women, who, nonetheless, are not in search of a prince, but rather focus on family, freedom, and being different from the majority. Various articles have been written about this change in the world‘s largest entertainment company‘s recent movies, such as ―How Disney & Pixar fixed the oldest Disney princess problem‖, by Ruth Coolidge:
Disney and Pixar‘s shift to portraying all kinds of relationships instead of just romance is an important step in children‘s content that should continue in the future. […] Because children‘s stories help lay the foundation for social development, they have a responsibility to guide kids through a broad range of scenarios and relationship types, in order to prepare them for the world. This means going way beyond the stereotypical fairytale-style romance.‖ (COOLIDGE, 2021).
This rejection of fairy tales comes, however, from the excessive importance placed by media on romance, since fairy tales and fables have always taught children important lessons, such as Cinderella‘s resilience, Little Red Riding Hood‘s mistake in conversing with strangers, and Snow White‘s discussion on society‘s danger of laying too much importance on beauty.
McCarthy‘s song continues with a piece of advice given by the character‘s father:
―And my dad always said to me that there‘s no point in / Crying over someone willing to let you go.‖ (MCCARTHY, 2021). These verses are followed by the chorus – presented in the opening of this section –, which suffered minor changes from the original audio on TikTok to the release of the full song. The mention of Juliet being ―the lead‖ is a reference to yet another trend from this social media, that mentions we must all live our lives as if we were the main character in a movie. McCarthy is certainly aware of this trend not only due to her strong presence in the social media, but also due to the caption of her original TikTok post, in which