Comparison of Two Female Roles
The poem I have chosen from which we read during the second part of the semester is Bryanna Licciardi’s “Your Friendly Female Anthropologist’s Take on Bar Pick-Ups” from her 2017 book Skin Splitting. This poem is a great read and can be looked at from many different aspects. The song I have chosen is Taylor Swift’s “Enchanted” from her 2010 album Speak Now. The two both have the same aspects of the world we live in and have many themes that relate and are covered in many genres.
In “Your Friendly Female Anthropologist’s Take on Bar Pick-Ups” the author’s use of imagery paints the entire layout of every step of the poem. It’s all about picking up a date from a bar and what leads up to it. The poem gives an insight to female’s behavior while at the same time telling us how she will react based off what the guy could do. For example, Bryanna Licciardi states, “The plan is to show interest watch for the lip smack, his ultimate sign of hello there. Expose your upper teeth, toss your hair, begin the contract.” Here the theme is one that is in “Enchanted” as well and it is female roles, or the rolls that females play. From the first line of the quote, we are informed that this is her plan for interaction. Her role she plays is to engage and get the guy’s attention. She controls what happens here just by making the first move and showing interest. This is something you see in many different genres today whether it be a comedy, horror, mystery, or fairy tale. Female characters that engage with men rather than vice versa have been popular more so in today’s writing than in the 1900’s and previous. The female having control shifts the mood and prevails a different aspect than your basic guy hits on girl in the bar repetitiveness.
Likewise, in Taylor Swift’s “Enchanted”, the theme of female roles is used as well. Taylor writes about a guy she notices from across the bar she is interested in, and she goes from wearing a fake face to being well enchanted from the sight of a man across the room. This can be shown from her lyrics where she states, “There I was again tonight forcing laughter, faking smiles. Same old tired, lonely place. Walls of insincerity, shifting eyes and vacancy vanished when I saw your face. All I can say is it was enchanting to meet you.” As you can see when she says she was forcing laughter that she felt out of place and not as confident as the narrator of “Your Friendly Female Anthropologist’s Take on Bar Pick-Ups”, however the theme still stands only it is a slightly different role. To show more information Swift as well states, “Your eyes whispered, “have we met?” Across the room your silhouette starts to make its way to me. The playful conversation starts. Counter all your quick remarks, like passing notes in secrecy” Here the role is switched where instead of the female taking the initiative the man does. However, the role is shown of the female which is when she says counter all your quick remarks. The side of the female being approached is shown. Being shown the female perspective and seeing how she reacts to being approached shows a very similar role to the role of the female doing the approaching. This example of the theme is equally important because it offers an insight to what the female is thinking when she is engaged. It is important to see both sides of this role from “Your Friendly Female Anthropologist’s Take on Bar Pick-Ups” and “Enchanted because women’s lives at one point weren’t of equal value, nor were they as relevant to read about. Things have changed, and the theme of female roles here highlights the control that women in today’s world have as well as how their perspective matters.
Furthermore, another theme revealed in “Your Friendly Female Anthropologist’s Take on Bar Pick-Ups” is the theme of courage and perseverance. The two are both obvious when reading the poem especially toward the end. The narrator herself is courageous to even be the one to make the move being that you rarely see it from females in today’s world. Nowadays, it is more common for the guy to make the first move almost as it is seen as the gentlemen thing to do. However, the narrator in this case does and it is seen throughout the entirety of the poem. Perseverance on the other hand, is primarily seen when Bryanna Licciardi states, “When the plan has reached its culmination, take him from the bar with your arms at his waist to subliminalize your claim amongst other females. If another does manage to lock in on your claim, stand your ground.” A lot can be taken from this quote from the poem such as how the perseverance comes out when she says if another girl were to try and make contact with the guy you have approached stand your ground. She says no matter the difficulty stay devoted to making him yours. The theme here can be seen in other genres of writing such as the way of a hero who stands up for someone or something and does not give up no matter what. However, this theme is loaded and can differ. This theme is important because it is supposed to create an individual or group of individuals and show their bravery. Which is exactly what Bryanna Licciardi shows in her poem. This theme as well can be seen in, “Enchanted”.
In addition, Taylor Swift’s “Enchanted” has the exact same theme even though it is told from another point of view. Like stated in the previous paragraph there are different ways to show courageousness and perseverance. In her song she is courageous in a different way than Bryanna Licciardi’s poem. Here in Swift’s song like referenced in paragraph three, she showed up and felt out of place, but it did not stop her from going out. Even though she put a fake face on, and she faked laughter. That is her being courageous because it takes a lot to go somewhere that you feel uncomfortable and to force yourself to be there. It shows how much courage she had. Even though stories have the same themes they can differentiate between each other and still have the same meaning. The genre determines just how the theme is laid out and how it will turn out. She shows perseverance in the song likewise to Bryanna Licciardi’s poem when she states, “Please don’t be in love with someone else. Please don’t have somebody waiting on you. The night is sparkling, don’t you let it go. I’m wander struck, blushing all the way home” She is saying here that she is not going to lose hope in the fact that she can be with the guy she met. She says don’t let it go because she does not want to lose what they had because it meant that much to her. She is not wanting to give up on being with the guy she met. Perseverance is shown here because she wants no delay in being with him no matter if it is difficult.
All in all, both Bryanna Licciardi’s poem “Your Friendly Female Anthropologist’s Take on Bar Pick-Ups” and Taylor Swift’s song “Enchanted” have similar themes and are great examples about showing how different genres and point of views can vary a theme yet keep its meaning. The two both have the same aspects of the world we live in and have many themes that relate and are covered in many genres.
Taylor Swift “Enchanted” link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs_1nw6OXgE
