Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" music video depicts typical high school stereotypes and relationships. It shows Taylor as the geeky girl next door who is in love with the school's football star. His girlfriend is the popular, dangerous cheerleader depicted by her red car and dress. Throughout the video, Taylor watches longingly as the football star fights with his girlfriend from afar. In the end, Taylor's transformation into a beautiful prom queen in a white dress allows her to win over the football star, resolving the relationship tension between the typical jock and geek.

1. Taylor Swift
You Belong With Me!

2. Applying Theorists:
Todorov: Equilibrium, she likes him, then he has a fight with his girlfriend, however they get together in the end.
Disequilibrium and the resolution.
She has to look perfect to get the boy.
Character types: Geeky girl, typical boy teen – football player, popular girl
.
Binary Opposites: High heels/sneakers, cheer captain/bleachers, geek/popular, short skirts/ t-shirts, jocks/geeks,
males/females, sporty/nerds.
Barthes: American footballers, band. It is all very cultural american, ‘the girl next door’ A very western audience.
Enigma: Is she going to get the boy?
Actions: On the phone we presume it is his girlfriend.
Semis: Glasses = nerdy. At the end of the video Taylor is wearing a whit dress, this colour connatates that she is
pure. Whereas the popular girl is wearing a read dress, she also has a red car, this colour connataes danger.
Symbols: Femininity and the popular vs. unpopular.

3. The girl next door…
The video opens with
a shot of two houses,
a few second's later
we gather that one
house is the boys and
the others is Taylors.
This is showing that
she is the typical ‘girl
next door’. Which is
very American.

4. The geek…
In this mid shot we can see that Taylor is wearing
thick framed geeky glasses, she isn’t wearing much make up
either and has natural hair.
This is connected to femininity.

5. This mid shot is backing up the statement of the being a geek. As she is
sat alone on a park bench reading a book.
She is also not in the centre of the frame. Telling us that she is never
really the main focus.

6. Here is a wide shot of the boy getting into his girlfriends car. This
type of shot has been used to show the whole car. The fact that it
is a sports car and is the colour red shows that she is dangerous
and not a girl to be messed with! Having a fast car and a fast paced
lifestyle.

7. Here is a mid shot of Taylor on the bleachers.
Wearing a band uniform. In cultural America
being in the school band is seen as nerdy. Most
American high school girls aspire to be the cheer
captain.

8. Cultural American Cheerleaders.

9. Typical American high school football
game. Very cultural.

10. When Taylor walks into the prom it appears
she has no glasses on. The message here is
that you have to be beautiful and not a nerd
in order to get the boy.

11. Here Taylor makes an entrance wearing
a white dress. Showing her purity and
making her look ‘angel like’.

12. Again like the car she is wearing red…