I’m so glad I found your Substack! I just re-watched The Secret Garden (1993) today after hearing it in I Hate It Here. I hadn’t seen it since I was probably 12, but I was stunned by the parallels between the film and a lot of Taylor’s lyrics, themes, and album aesthetics. I especially love how Colin and Dickon are like “the hot house flower to my outdoorsman,” and how a “Robin” leads her to the hidden door.
I am listening to the audio of this, since I haven't read it since I was a kid. But the garden is hidden behind a wall of IVY, and at the end of chapter 9 she says she has to be careful because she wants to keep her secret KINGDOM hidden, so that Mr Craven doesn't "LOCK IT UP FOREVERMORE?!?!" Sedate me. Do you think her doing the Eras stage as a KEY is giving us access to her secret world? A very dangerous thing to do considering parts of her fan base?
Love all these connections! It’s got me thinking that another reference that I think could come into it would be the line “I got cursed like Eve got bitten” from The Prophecy. Eve bites the apple but in turn is “bitten” by the snake’s trickery and is thus thrown from and locked out of the garden of Eden. In this song she’s begging and lamenting the inevitability of losing her forbidden love and the idea of not being able to go back to the garden feels like it fits nicely in this metaphor.
thank you for the content, the only sane analysing out there.
I’m so glad I found your Substack! I just re-watched The Secret Garden (1993) today after hearing it in I Hate It Here. I hadn’t seen it since I was probably 12, but I was stunned by the parallels between the film and a lot of Taylor’s lyrics, themes, and album aesthetics. I especially love how Colin and Dickon are like “the hot house flower to my outdoorsman,” and how a “Robin” leads her to the hidden door.
I am listening to the audio of this, since I haven't read it since I was a kid. But the garden is hidden behind a wall of IVY, and at the end of chapter 9 she says she has to be careful because she wants to keep her secret KINGDOM hidden, so that Mr Craven doesn't "LOCK IT UP FOREVERMORE?!?!" Sedate me. Do you think her doing the Eras stage as a KEY is giving us access to her secret world? A very dangerous thing to do considering parts of her fan base?
Love all these connections! It’s got me thinking that another reference that I think could come into it would be the line “I got cursed like Eve got bitten” from The Prophecy. Eve bites the apple but in turn is “bitten” by the snake’s trickery and is thus thrown from and locked out of the garden of Eden. In this song she’s begging and lamenting the inevitability of losing her forbidden love and the idea of not being able to go back to the garden feels like it fits nicely in this metaphor.
this is so good omg thank you
Appreciate your analysis!