TEXT CHOSEN:
I have chosen as a text to read for my midterm: All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)
DESCRIPTION/SUMMARY:
Here is what this text means to me: The 10 minute version “All Too Well” has been my most listened to song since it came out. I have always been one to listen to the how music sounds instead of focusing on what the words mean, but Taylor’s music is one of the few exceptions. I like how the short film in “All Too Well” highlights the almost immediate jump from Taylor’s ex yelling at her to hugging her and repeating, “I’m sorry” over and over again. I’m looking forward to exploring this, as well as the remainder of the kitchen argument in the short film.
AUDIENCE SPECULATION:
The intended audience I am imagining for my close-reading essay is: I envision my close reading essay being relevant to anyone who has been in a relationship or engaged with someone who manipulated them in such a way that made them reconsider what they knew to be true. I hope this paper can communicate signs and behavior that are inexcusable but often overlooked.
FORMAL AND GENERIC CONVENTIONS:
The 2-3 formally/generically similar texts I have discovered through research are: “The Very First Night” by Taylor Swift is a song from the same album as “All Too Well.” Here, Taylor is talking about how she wishes she could go back in time to when her relationship was healthy, even though she admits that she and her ex-boyfriend were not compatible. A second text comparable to Taylor’s “All Too Well” is “Hot n Cold” by Katy Perry. In this song, Katy talks about her boyfriend’s unpredictable behavior and how he doesn’t know if he wants to stay with her or leave her. This is very similar to “All Too Well” in that both songs deal with a boyfriend who struggles with regulating their mood and who can’t decide if they want to continue their relationship.
The Very First Night [Taylor’s Version (From The Vault)] Lyrics. (n.d.). Lyrics.com. Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/39101684/Taylor+Swift/The+Very+First+Night+%5BTaylor%27s+Version+%28From+The+Vault%29%5D.
Hot N Cold Lyrics. (n.d.). Lyrics.com. Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/15467502/Katy+Perry/Hot+N+Cold.
CONTENT:
I intend to talk about my object in relation to: I intend to pull in background information of what was going on at the time Taylor wrote All Too Well to identify events she may have been referencing in her lyrics. Additionally, I will look at other songs in her album, Red, and identity connections between the two.
COURSE THEMATICS:
I think that my object intersects/overlaps with class in these ways: Identity. Taylor writes a lot about her struggles being so much younger than her ex and his friends and how that impacted her comfort in public settings and how it was one of the reasons her ex broke up with her.
QUESTIONS:
I am struggling with/ cannot seem to figure out/ do not know how to approach knowing how much time to spend on the selected passage and how much time to spend relating the passage to the text at large. I would like more clarification knowing if we need to address every question in the instructions and how to do so without exceeding the word limit.