White Girl's Take On T Swift's Racist (?) Video

This might just make it worse.

I am a young white girl. I am perpetually conflicted on one point of discussion: Taylor Swift. Is she annoying? Is she hilarious? Does the age range of her extensive list of extremely famous ex-boyfriends matter? These are the questions that plague my demographic. When I first saw the music video for her new song "Shake It Off," I was pleasantly surprised. No longer was she dressing up as Juliet, or pretending to work in a cubicle, or having blond children with a tattooed, Draco Malfoy-esque man-boy.

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The ending of her version isn't quite like my man Shakespeare's

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She spends a whole day at work and does no work

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Can't help thinking he's about to Avada-Kedavra that baby

No, in this video, she was addressing the much talked about topic of her own complete ineptitude in the field of choreographed dance. And it was actually funny. Her attempt at that super awesome finger dancing thing was pathetic in the best way, and that gracefully failed ballet move at the end made me LOL. To be honest, on my first viewing, I saw the backup dancers only as real dancers who can actually do what Taylor so obviously cannot.

I was quickly informed by social media that I was missing something. Earl Sweatshirt tweeted that, although he had not watched the video, he knew that it was "inherently offensive and ultimately harmful." So I was like, "better watch that again." I paid close attention to the other dancers and noticed something new: nearly every scene is diverse in the most intentional way. Earl Sweatshirt and others who shared his opinion, however, were arguing that the scenes involving twerking back-up dancers were the offensive ones. So I watched it again. Here's the breakdown:

Screenshot, "Shake It Off" video / Via youtube.com

First, Taylor is surrounded by ballet dancers. I’ll admit this isn’t the most diverse picture I’ve ever seen, but check out those arms. I see a gradient! Now, maybe those girls to the right are just tan. Fine. Maybe.

Screenshot, "Shake It Off" video / Via youtube.com

Next up we’ve got Taylor and her snapback and those pants and some intimidating break dancers. They’re all super awesome at spinning on their heads, and they’re all black. Oh wait, no, they’re all Hispanic? Wait! That guy standing on the right is pasty as they come. This may be the most diverse break-dancing crew I’ve ever seen.

Screenshot, "Shake It Off" video / Via youtube.com

As the video progresses, Taylor continues to suck at dancing. In this case, contemporary dancing. Here we see her reaching out in an uncontrollable expression of her pain and angst, surrounded by humans of nearly every color. Three cheers for the power of dance bringing together our world’s cultures!

Screenshot, "Shake It Off" video / Via youtube.com

This Lady-Gaga-spacesuit-electronic-robot dancing section is perhaps the least interesting, but lo! What race from behind Taylor breaks?! African American and white.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the part of the video that sparked the controversy: the twerking. In an article on radio.com, this scene's backup dancers are described as "a slew of African American women."

To my eyes, the woman near the right side of this shot with the red hair does not look African American, but that is only one, which may not be enough.

Screenshot, "Shake It Off" video / Via youtube.com

Screenshot, "Shake It Off" video / Via youtube.com

The camera zooms out, we see a wider shot of the row of dancers, and I become more definite in my interpretation – that girl on the left is not African American. Her legs are almost as white as mine, which closely resemble two mozzarella cheese sticks. To be honest, I’m much more concerned with Taylor’s pose in this shot – what even is that? How does this help you shake off the haters, Taylor?

Screenshot, "Shake It Off" video / Via youtube.com

Here we have what I would consider the most risqué section of the video, potentially offensive for its objectification of women’s backsides, but decidedly not a “slew of African American women.” Four pairs of legs. Two of which do not look African American. This twerk team has every shade! Its like one of those paint sample strips which range from what is apparently “beige” but looks like printer paper to dark brown which is named something like “burnt umber.”

Screenshots, "Shake It Off" video / Via youtube.com

The video concludes with some ribbon-twirling and some cheerleading and various other dancing scenes, nearly all of which include people of all races. Taylor and her people’s obvious efforts to be racially diverse were so clearly intentional, and yet – she is being attacked.

Maybe I am ignorant. Maybe I am too white to say this stuff. But from what I’ve seen of “Shake It Off,” its not racist. She tried so hard to be diverse, guys.

The video is hilarious. Taylor Swift sucks at dancing, and she knows it. That is pretty much the point.