UP to offer course on Taylor Swift

The University of the Philippines is set to offer a course on American pop star Taylor Swift. 

Offerered as an elective under BA Broadcast Media Arts and Studies, the course will be taught in the second semester by Dr. Cherish Aileen Brillon of the College of Mass Communication.

In an email interview with GMA News Online, Brillon said the course will focus on the conception, construction, and performance of Taylor Swift as a celebrity and how she can be used to explain the Filipinos' and media's relationship with class, politics, gender, race, and fantasies of success and mobility.

"Generally, the bigger question the course will try to answer is the Filipinos' relationship with the idea of celebrity because we have such interesting practices and discourses around celebrities," she said.

As a Swiftie who became a fan during the Red Era and a Philippine media studies scholar, Brillon said she "is very interested in how Filipinos have appropriated Taylor Swift as an icon."

"It is also interesting for me how Taylor Swift has inspired her Filipino fans in a kind of political activism that was very evident in the last elections," she said.

Courses on the pop star have been offered in several academic institutions such as Stanford University, New York University, and Harvard University.

She is currently making stops around the world for her "The Eras Tour" concert. It is in support of her 2022 album, "Midnights."

In 2024, the "Anti-Hero" singer will visit Asia as part of her tour.

—MGP, GMA Integrated News