i know the pr industry is working overtime right now
'The Bachelorette' finale, Taylor Swift, and Blake Lively
I’ve been having a hard time figuring out what I want to write about recently. My schedule has become much busier as of late, and my list of ideas for blog posts has dwindled down. Some things are being talked about a lot and I don’t feel like contributing, and others just seem so exhausting that I don’t feel like exerting the energy to contribute. A couple of things have popped up though that I wouldn’t mind sharing my thoughts on. The first of which is The Bachelorette finale.
To be honest, I didn’t watch. I knew Jenn was going to pick Devin and, at that point, it became clear that both Devin and Marcus, her runner up, were questionable human beings outside of the show, and I was no longer rooting for either of them. I had no idea that the finale would turn into the shit show that it did. Basically, Devin broke off their engagement after he had become distant following the wrap of the season. He followed Maria (a cast member from Joey’s season, who was a likely pick for The Bachelorette) on Instagram after he broke off his engagement, and then, during the After the Final Rose, the producers had Jenn and Devin watch back their proposal (in which Jenn proposes to Devin) while Jenn is literally sobbing.
I get that it’s a show and it’s meant to bring in viewers and ratings, but I have seen nothing but negative audience reactions in response to that ATFR segment. Not only did people think Jenn got the short end of the stick in terms of the cast of men this season, but it seems like a lot of the men she had whittled the cast down to wanted Daisy or Maria to be The Bachelorette. I can’t necessarily blame them because they were the most likely options (the fan favorite in Maria and the runner up in Daisy) and they likely signed up for the show before Jenn was announced as the lead. But to tell Jenn to her face that they expected it to be one of those women instead of her is insane (I’m looking at you, Sam M.).
Jenn became the victim of a very flawed system during her time on the show. She was announced as the first Asian American Bachelorette, frustrating both the racist viewers as well as the ones who were rooting for a person who was more present in Joey’s season, and surprising a lot of the guys who had signed up expecting someone else. (This then, it’s been speculated, prompted production to announce Grant as the next Bachelor without any fanfare, out of haste, to make sure the same thing didn’t happen again – meaning they also knew they messed up.)
To be the first and only Asian American Bachelorette and to have, on more than one occasion, someone you’re interested in tell you that they actually were hoping for a white girl is quite painful. Worst nightmare unlocked, actually. And on top of all of that, the man you picked and proposed to decided “nevermind,” because he may have just been on the show for publicity sake anyway. Like damn (double homicide). I hope that Jenn can move on from the franchise and not give them any more thought than she is contractually obligated to give them, because they failed her miserably and she didn’t deserve that.
The second thing I want to briefly touch upon is the whole Taylor Swift Kamala Harris endorsement (which is tangentially related to the Blake Lively press mess). Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for President after the latter’s first debate with Donald Trump. Good for her, I guess. So many people have been talking about this, and on the one hand, it feels a little ridiculous because why is Taylor Swift’s vote such a big story, but on the other hand, her opinion and influence has become so immense that who she votes for and endorses can actually make a difference.
This is where the whole “she doesn’t have to say anything. she didn’t sign up to be a politician” thing loses steam because, yes, she didn’t sign up to be a politician or a political pundit and she doesn’t actually have to say anything, but she already set a precedent that she would. In her Netflix documentary, she has an entire scene of her arguing with her dad over whether or not she should speak up about the Senate race in Tennessee (she did; she endorsed two Democrats over Republican Marsha Blackburn). She felt the need to use her power for good and she did. Precedent set.
It’s one thing to be a famous artist and never speak out on anything. Your fans never hear from you unless you drop an album or release a movie or whatever. They never hear about politics from you, even when it’s as serious of a situation as it is now. It’s a choice, and perhaps a bad one, but at least no one can claim that you’re always public and talking about things right up until shit gets serious. It’s an entirely different thing to be out here touting feminism when it benefits you and endorsing candidates for more local elections and then to say boo when things get heavier. Again, I’m an advocate for always using your platform for good, but if you never use your platform at all and we don’t hear from you even when the world is on fire, at least our expectations aren’t completely slashed.
The bottom line is that Taylor Swift seems to really only care about her bottom line. When you wield the power to boost a country’s economy just by touring there, you’ve reached another level of influence. And to ignore that power simply because you don’t want to lose your racist fans (or your zionist fans) is cowardly, especially because the revenue from a couple million fans is literally a blip on the radar for a billionaire. It’s like taking a bucket of water out of the ocean.
I give credit to Taylor Swift for speaking up and using her platform for good––it does make a difference––however, I also think it’s the bare minimum. I guess at this point, the bare minimum is better than nothing.
And lastly, Blake Lively is Taylor Swift’s best friend, so when all that stuff started coming out about her being a mean girl and being out of touch, even as someone who doesn’t pay any attention to her, I had a hunch that the smoke is indeed indicating a fire. You cannot be running in the same circles as a billionaire and claim to be entirely in touch. Maybe a little bit in touch, but not entirely! And besides, she got married on a plantation so the out of touch-ness is clearly not new.
I just know The Bachelor franchise is scrambling, Taylor Swift’s publicist was working late nights crafting that endorsement and making it perfect, and Blake Lively’s team is trying to find a way to pin some more shit on Justin Baldoni. Celebrity culture has been losing quite a bit of its shine lately.