The Era of the Crazy Girl

Anne Bader's 2004 study "Media Myths in Popular Love Songs" discusses the media effects of unrealistic depictions of lyrics in love songs. She analyzed many of the biggest hits of our parent's era, and what she found was that many of the common idealized media myths about love were present, such as eternal love and love at first sight. 

Bryan Adams, 1991: "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" 

Celine Dion, 1994: "The Power of Love"

Whitney Houston, 2003: "I Will Always Love You"

Okay Anne, I see your point.

Swerve. Let's take a look at the biggest pop hits today.

Taylor Swift, 2014: "Blank Space"

So it's gonna be forever, or it's gonna go down in flames/

You can tell me when it's over, if the high was worth the pain/

Got a long list of ex-lovers, they'll tell you I'm insane/

This was belted at the top of just about every girl's lungs around the world upon its release in late 2014. Every girl had that "one guy" who broke their heart and whose life they wanted to destroy. Let's actually look at the lyrics in "Blank Space:" It'll leave you breathless, or with a nasty scar. Taylor Swift is essentially threatening her suitor that if he doesn't love her how she wants to be loved, then she will both figuratively and literally hurt him. Girl power or psychotic? You be the judge. 

Iggy Azalea, 2014: "Black Widow"

I'm gonna love ya

Until you hate me

I'm gonna show you

What's really crazy

You shoulda known better

Then to mess with me honey

I'm gonna love ya, I'm gonna love ya

I'm gonna love ya, like a black widow baby

Iggy Azalea and Rita Ora promise to love somebody "till it hurts," claiming "this is a fatal attraction, so I take it all or I don't want shit." Again, promising to love someone like a black widow, which carries connotations of being fearsome and deadly is borderline insane. This pop hit reached huge success and was repeatedly played on every radio station in America. 

Katy Perry, 2013: "Dark Horse"

Make me your Aphrodite

Make me your one and only

But don't make me your enemy, your enemy, your enemy

(Juicy J):

She's as sweet as pie but if you break her heart 

She'll turn cold as a freezer

Katy Perry warns her potential love interests not to get on her bad side, and Juicy J warns the listener "She eats your heart out like Jeffrey Dahmer." All is well if you love Katy like she wants to be loved, but beware if you do not. 

The same can be applied for cinema as well. 

Gone Girl, 2014

SPOILER ALERT. In the screenplay of the New York Times Bestselling novel Gone Girl, Amy Dunne frames her own husband through a complex, slowly building plan for her own "murder" after discovering him leaving a bar with another woman. She justifies attempting to send her own husband to Death Row when she says, "You think I'd let him destroy me and end up happier than ever? No fucking way. He doesn't get to win." 

Why is there such a trend in the "crazy ex-girlfriend" script in the media? Are women really this crazy, and is it okay? The idea of "love me, or else" is everywhere in the mass media and is becoming more and more prevalent. It without a doubt makes girls everywhere able to justify emotional and borderline psychotic behavior while singing lyrics from Taylor Swift's "Blank Space."

Works Cited:

Bader, Anne. "Love Will Steer The Stars and Other Improbable Feats: Media Myths in Popular Love Songs." Critical Thinking About Sex, Love, and Romance In The Mass Media. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007. Print.