Taylor Swift colonialism: Wildest Dreams director Joseph Kahn responds to allegations
Taylor swift dropped the music video for her latest 1989 single, “Wildest Dreams,” during the MTV VMAs pre-show on Sunday, and after its release the clip was criticized as depicting colonialism. Directed by Joseph Kahn, “Wildest Dreams” was filmed in Botswana and South Africa, and follows Swift and a male character (played by Scott Eastwood) as they make a romantic movie. They’re surrounded by giraffes and fake camera crews.
In a statement issued by Kahn and provided by Swift’s publicist, the director responded to the allegations and said the video was “not about colonialism, but about a love story on the set of a period film crew in Africa, 1950.” He also compared the video to films like Out of Africa and The English Patient, a connection some critics made as well.
Here is Kahn’s full statement:
“Wildest Dreams” is a song about a relationship that was doomed, and the music video concept was that they were having a love affair on location away from their normal lives. This is not a video about colonialism but a love story on the set of a period film crew in Africa,1950.
There are black Africans in the video in a number of shots, but I rarely cut to crew faces outside of the director as the vast majority of screentime is Taylor and Scott.
The video is based on classic Hollywood romances like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, as well as classic movies like The African Queen, Out of Africa and The English Patient, to name a few.
The reality is not only were there people of color in the video, but the key creatives who worked on this video are people of color. I am Asian American, the producer Jil Hardin is an African American woman, and the editor Chancler Haynes is an African American man. We cast and edited this video. We collectively decided it would have been historicially inaccurate to load the crew with more black actors as the video would have been accused of rewriting history. This video is set in the past by a crew set in the present and we are all proud of our work.
There is no political agenda in the video. Our only goal was to tell a tragic love story in classic Hollywood iconography. Furthermore, this video has been singled out, yet there have been many music videos depicting Africa. These videos have traditionally not been lessons in African history. Let’s not forget, Taylor has chosen to donate all of her proceeds from this video to the African Parks Foundation to preserve the endangered animals of the continent and support the economies of local African people.
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