After performing at over 50 sold out stadiums in her United States leg of “The Eras Tour,” Taylor Swift decided to take her concert experience to the big screen. Since turning to the theaters, Swift is now dominating the box office with her concert film, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.” The movie amassed $129.8 million globally during its opening weekend, making it the highest-grossing domestic concert film ever, surpassing “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.”
Since its announcement on August 31st, fans have sold out theaters around the world eager to live or relive the Eras Tour concert experience. Due to the very high demand and prices to go to The Eras Tour, many fans were unable to get tickets, so they were very excited to hear about a cheaper experience.
However, a controversy among fans has struck about how they want to view their screenings. A lot of fans are upset because they want to sing, dance, and trade friendship bracelets while watching the film like they are at real concerts. These fans are upset because they have seen other theaters on TikTok that looked more fun than their own theater. “You guys really overhyped the movie experience, everybody stayed silent, no bracelet trades and everyone except me and my friend looked so serious,” @multifandom.vanessa wrote on TikTok in a post with over 70,000 likes.
A lot of this hype for treating the film like it is the actual concert came from Swift herself when she announced the concert film. Her social media statement included the line, “Eras attire, friendship bracelets, singing and dancing encouraged.” At real shows, fans have been dressing up and exchanging hand-beaded friendship bracelets, as well as enthusiastically singing and dancing along to the music. Many fans interpreted Swift’s message as telling fans that they should feel free to pretend they were attending the concert.
Lots of fans did just this, singing their hearts out and even forming circles around the theaters dancing with each other. However, not everyone was happy about this. Some fans claimed they could not even hear Taylor singing and they just wanted to watch the film as if it were a normal movie.
Major swiftie and senior at Battlefield, Addison Meyers, states, “Honestly, I think that everyone should be able to see the film and do whatever they want at it,” she continues, “Whether you want to sing and dance, sing from your seat, or just sit back and watch the tour unfold, you should be able to do that with no judgement from anyone else.”
In the end, whether fans decide to sing and dance their hearts out, quietly watch, or do something in between, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is a celebration of Taylor’s artistry, bringing fans together to experience her music. These varied experiences make the Swiftie community more vibrant and show that Taylor Swift’s music continues to be loved by many.
