scrunchie-face - Tumblr blog

[scrunchie-face]

shoutout to don bluth for creating almost half of this list. also sorry if your favorite isn't on here but also i don't really care because it's my poll. <333

[scrunchie-face]

there’s so much pathologizing over why enemies to lovers is a popular trope (something something the normalization of abuse something something) when the simplest and less moronic answer is that narratives thrive on irony and reversals, and there’s no greater irony than characters going from hating each other’s guts to loving each other unconditionally. raw thesis-antithesis-synthesis.

[scrunchie-face]

[scrunchie-face]

[scrunchie-face]

#but the point is Taylor has never once let a man get away with anything #she’s called out cowardice and insensitivity and coldness and every other thing that a girl ever felt wounded by #and now she comes after what’s almost the last villain standing: the good guy who just won’t fucking propose

[scrunchie-face]

Fun fact about the early Catholic church is that, despite spending generations being persecuted by the Roman empire, it took less than 15 years under Theodosius I to go from “the empire is Catholic now” to “and also every other religion is banned.” You can literally read St. Augustine move from “state religious persecution is unacceptable” to “state religious persecution is cool actually” over his lifetime as Catholicism came to power. I’m sure there’s no broader lessons to be learned there

[scrunchie-face]

TSwift Red Carpet Madness: Round 1, Matchup 11

Our eleventh matchup is between three lesser known looks! Be sure to follow tsredcarpetmadness for all upcoming polls!

Two polls today! Second is here.

[scrunchie-face]

HARD same. I used to think of her as a LOT more of an equal partner in those relationships! Because I was young! And thought that 20 was plenty grown up!

I know Taylor said she's in her 30s now and doesn't care about what happened to her when she was 19, but when you look at her lyrics you can see how those relationships at 19/20/21 impacted her following relationships, how her pain and hurt may have healed but it's always going to be a part of her!

[scrunchie-face]

I've been really obsessed with "Down Bad" as a song in the sequence of songs about love affairs changing a person--indeed, wounding a person-- leaving an indelible mark if you will-- and it's interesting in context of her other songs that explore this. (Putting under a readmore because it's really just such a lyric dump):

She sings in "Down Bad":

Did you really beam me up In a cloud of sparkling dust Just to do experiments on? Tell me I was the chosen one Showed me that this world is bigger than us Then sent me back where I came from

He takes her, changes her, then abandons her! The other lyrics it tied me to were in "Ilicit Affairs" and "Would've, Should've, Could've"

Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me You showed me colors You know I can't see with anyone else ... You taught me a secret language I can't speak with anyone else

---

And if you never saved me from boredom I could've gone on as I was But, Lord, you made me feel important And then you tried to erase us

I think this line is interesting too from "Down Bad" and also reminds me of "Illicit Affairs" -- this thing she cannot talk about

They'll say I'm nuts if I talk about The existence of you

--

But it's not just that the love affair has changed her and he left-- it's that it has ruined her, hurt her-- maimed her -- and I couldn't not make this comparison:

Down bad, wakin' up in blood (Wakin' up in blood) Starin' at the sky, come back and pick me up

--

All Too Well (Ten Minute Version):

From when your Brooklyn broke my skin and bones I'm a soldier who's returning half her weight And did the twin flame bruise paint you blue? Just between us, did the love affair maim you too?

It's blood and bruises and broken bones!! She has to compare her internal pain to a physical condition, one that leaves a change, leaves a mark-- and it's not that it's a result of an accident -- he did this to her

[scrunchie-face]

@francesderwent is very correct!

I have been thinking about “the smallest man who ever lived” a lot because I just finished re-reading pride & prejudice and wickham made me think of it every time he popped up

[scrunchie-face]

okay also from miss americana i didn’t realize that reputation was not nominated for a grammy and????? WHAT?!?!?!?

[scrunchie-face]

Fascinating to me how none of the stages of grief playlists have Reputation songs on them that truly is the love story of all time.

on the one hand I think we might be waiting to recontextualize reputation until the taylor’s version is released. BUT on the other hand, in my heart we are canceling NONE of the reputation songs!!! I know I'm gonna be with you so I take my time is REAL! is this the end of all the endings my broken bones are mending is REAL!! nobody’s heard from me for months I'm doing better than I ever was is REAL!!! even in my worst lies you saw the truth in me is the REALEST of the REAL!!!!!!!!!!!

[scrunchie-face]

You see all the wisest women had to do it this way because men are unbelievably stupid

[scrunchie-face]

The improvement between SOUR and GUTS is actually insane tho

[scrunchie-face]

there's no temptress quite as irresistible as the mid afternoon sleepies

[scrunchie-face]

It is actually driving me nuts how casually he keeps saying “Count Dracula”! Like, in a good way, like when you are watching a tragedy unfold and you know the ending. I cannot even imagine what it might be like to read this with no ambient cultural knowledge, no concept of who “Count Dracula” is