On Oct. 5, Taylor Swift released the music video for “The Fate of Ophelia,” the lead single off her most recent album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” But unlike many of Swift’s past music videos, which successfully trace a story from start to finish, the filmed version of “The Fate of Ophelia” is no more than a series of viral moments strung aimlessly together just to increase record sales.
The song title is a reference to the tragic character Ophelia from William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Swift draws on Ophelia’s plight throughout her self-directed music video: In one frame, Swift is trapped in a backstage rigging system. In another, she “drowns” in a bathtub, aiming to mimic John Everett Millais’s painting of Ophelia’s watery suicide. While this image of being strangled by fame is intriguing, Swift’s messy references paired with shallow, literal lyrics are careless at best and an insult to Shakespeare’s Ophelia at worst.
The video attempts to do what Swift does best: portraying both Taylor Swift, the institution, and Taylor Swift, the person. Swift drifts back and forth between backstage rooms and the stage, and as soon as she occupies a set, crew members run from the wings with cameras. But this fierce commitment to a “behind-the-scenes” smokescreen abandons the honesty that has made Swift one of the most acclaimed songwriters of her generation. It’s difficult to believe Swift’s portrayal of herself as a windswept Shakespearean heroine when she’s singing “pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes.”
The dissonance between Swift’s romantic, glitzy scenes and her simple, redundant lyricism is hard to overlook. “I’m not tragic,” she seems to say in every sequin outfit she puts on. “I’m having fun!” But her slapdash and aimless inclusion of themes that have sold well for her in the past — fame, poetry and even death — makes the video seem impersonal and insincere.
In “The Fate of Ophelia,” Swift defies the tragic fate of the title’s heroine, but not with the powerful, self-affirming image that she’s cultivated in previous comeback albums. Rather, she’s dependent upon a love she can’t seem to describe in terms other than football metaphors. This is a depressingly far cry from the intentional lyricism of her previous albums “Reputation” and “Red.” As Swift passes through one of many backstage hallways with her crew and tosses around a football, one can’t help but wonder: Is this really all she can think to say about her fiance?
Any one of Swift’s more than 280 million Instagram followers will recognize several moments from the video as the same images that grace her special-edition album covers. It’s clear that these images carry no weight beyond their utility as a marketing tool. The video’s frequent scene changes and constant introduction of new stimuli imply that it was designed to be clipped, cut and go viral — not to tell an effective story.
Unlike Shakespeare’s compelling and nuanced portrayal of Ophelia, and unlike in videos past, Swift’s newest music video depicts neither a journey of tragedy and redemption, nor authentic pleasure. In the video, Swift is just … okay. Beyond its glam and self-indulgence, “The Fate of Ophelia” video isn’t even deep enough to fill a bathtub.
