Over the past 17 years, the name Taylor Swift has become one of the most recognizable names in the music industry. She has released 10 original studio albums, not including her rerecorded masters or her live albums. She announced her now record-breaking Eras Tour on Nov. 1, 2022, in which the VMAs awarded Tour of the Year. After the Ticketmaster debacle that left many fans ticketless, Swift and her team decided to produce “Taylor Swift The Eras Tour,” a movie meant to replicate the concert experience.
Fans prepared costumes and memorized chants in advance of the movie coming out on Oct. 13, 2023. While some were anticipating the movie, others voiced their concerns about how fans would act in theatres as Swift and her team encouraged fans to dress up in costumes, dance and sing throughout the experience. However, AMC and other theaters initially did not comment on how movie-goers should act during the movie. People on TikTok created their own rules and posted them, asking fans not to scream during the movie and to be aware of those around them. AMC eventually released guidelines for their showings of the movie, clarifying that movie-goers could dress, stand, dance and sing along if they liked and asking for attendees to refrain from screaming and be respectful of others’ viewing experience
Going into the movie, I had no idea what to expect from other attendees. I had already seen videos of people dancing in the front of the theater and videos from AMC workers showing how loud it was from the lobby. I went into this theater expecting people to be standing, dancing and singing like a concert; however, I walked into a very quiet theater. There were only a couple of groups of people standing and only some people singing along, yet there were many lip-syncing, enthralled by Swift’s performance. As she worked her way through nine different eras, some attendees would stand to the side of the theater and dance around. While my friends and I definitely sang our hearts out and gave the elderly couple behind us quite the laugh, not many were joining in on the festivities like Swift and her team encouraged. While this movie was very different from the actual concert in multiple ways, it definitely did not disappoint. With its amazing energy, provided by fans singing along to their favorite songs and gorgeous cinematography, everyone was left energized after the movie ended. Each era of Taylor Swift’s career is shown, highlighting the popular songs from each album. Parts of the movie showcased aspects of the concert that were hard to see during a live concert, like the designs that were on the stage, as well as close-up looks at Swift and her dancers. Seeing this movie in theaters added to the experience, and it is being added to streaming services in January, giving everyone the chance to experience this record-breaking concert.
