Weekly Blog Post 4

This video is entitled "Thug Story" and it features Taylor Swift and T-Pain. Right from the beginning, it is clear that the short film is designed as a sort of parody, in order to get a laugh out of the audience. The question then becomes, why does the viewer find it humorous, if at all? By looking at the various forms of context that it can be examined under, the reasoning behind the various comical aspects begins to appear.

One of the forms of context that the film can be looked at is through a visual standpoint. Taylor Swift and T-Pain appear as though they are in a parking garage, displaying their skills in their rap. The context of this "typical" setting for rap videos and the way the two are dressed clash with Taylor Swift and all that she represents. With even the slightest knowledge of Swift's stardom in the genre country, one would be able to tell that she is not typically associated with thugs and rappers. Her bling and flat-billed hat are clearly not usually what she wears, and so as a result, she doesn't fit in with that particular context.

Another frame of reference that the music video can be looked at through is through a literary or audio context. In the first part of the song, Swift says, "I'm so gangster you can find me baking cookies at night / You out clubbing but I just made caramel delight / T-Swift and T-Pain rapping on the same track / It's a thug story, tell me can you handle that?" Typically, when someone thinks of a thug, he/she doesn't associate that picture with baking cookies and caramel delight. This preconception of a thug is precisely why, in context with T-Pain, the listener would find the video funny, as they do not expect a cookie-baking blonde who lives with her mom to be rapping with T-Pain. There is also a play on words, as Swift's most popular song, "Love Story," is played upon with the title of "Thug Story." While Love Story is a romantic, fairy tale story, the context of this video allows the viewer to compare the clashing differences between the two.

The final aspect of this video that is comical, also examined through an audio standpoint, is that Swift is "bleeped" out at the end of the film while saying the word yo. In the context of editing techniques, Swift is surprised that she is censored as they typically only bleep out cuss words that might offend the listener. Since she uttered the word yo, there is essentially no reason for the audience to be disgruntled, and so Swift becomes angry. On another level, using the context of rap videos, it is funny to the audience as they wouldn't expect the beloved Taylor Swift to say something explicit, even though she is on a rap video. Thus, even though she didn't cuss, the immediate reaction of the listener is to wonder what she said.