PATRICIA PRADO – Multimedia Reporting

The Eras Tour: An Immersive Movie Experience Connects Thousands of Swifties

HOST INTRO: After a five year hiatus from touring, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour was highly anticipated by her fans as this tour uncovered a “journey through [all her] musical eras.” Swift describes this tour as the most “electric experience” of her life, and therefore decided to bring the immersive film to the big screens. Fans from all over the world are taking Swift’s suggestion of “[singing and dancing], eras attire, and friendship bracelets,” and are turning their movie theaters into full blown concert-esque experiences. Patricia Prado spoke with individuals from both ends of the screenings, a movie theater crew member and an audience member/Taylor Swift fan.

TRACK: I am here at AMC 19th Street East 6 in New York City with a crew member, Janese Fall. Fall shares what it was like for her and her fellow crew members as they prepared to welcome fans to the Eras Tour movie. An immersive film experience that was highly anticipated by Taylor Swift’s fans, who are better known as “swifties.”

ACT – JANESE: I worked the Friday night that it opened, and it was an increasing amount of people. I think almost everyone that was coming was for Taylor Swift. We had to prep a lot extra beforehand. We were also selling merch from the Eras tour so we had to prepare for that as well. We also did the bracelet thing, all of our crew members had bracelets on and we were trading with the customers.

TRACK: In reference to lyrics in Swift’s song “You’re On Your Own Kid,” in which states: “So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it.”

SOUND: Taylor Swift performing her song, “You’re On Your Own Kid,” from the “Surprise Song” portion. This sound clip was taken from the Eras Tour Movie screening at AMC 19th East 6 at 8 pm, the screening I attended on October 14, 2023.

TRACK: As heard in the audio clip, from my 8 pm screening on October 14th at AMC 19th East 6, It is clear that swifties have taken it upon themselves to make this tradition. To curate friendship bracelets to trade amongst each other at her shows, and of course, the film experience was no different. Through these bracelets, fans have the ability to connect with others and form a community with fellow Taylor Swift enthusiasts at events such as these that celebrate the artist and her music.

TRACK: For some fans, the movie was a similar rerun of the show they attended, while for others this was their Eras Tour experience due to the difficulty in securing Eras Tour tickets.

Through this immersive movie and concert-like experience, Swifties were provided an environment in which they were able to comfortably dance, cry, and sing their hearts out to their favorite songs from the ten “eras’ of Swift’s discography. Due to the audience’s high energy and enthusiasm, they are often seen as “too loud” and disruptive as their screams and singing can be heard by audience members in other showing rooms. The following audio clip has been provided to me by Khushi Gupta, a Baruch student I interviewed. This audio clip is from an evening screening at AMC Empire 25 at Times Square in New York on opening night, October 13, 2023.

SOUND: Fans screaming and singing along to “Blank Space,” at an opening night, 7 pm screening at AMC Empire 25 at Times Square in New York.

ACT – JANESE: I’ve heard it (fans singing) and I’ve also had people from theaters next door come up to us and tell us like “Oh I can’t hear the movie because all I hear is Taylor Swift.” My managers have tried to lower the volume for the concert, but that’s not really going to help. Especially when it’s a concert. People are going to be singing and dancing.

TRACK: This singing and dancing was prevalent when Baruch student Khushi Gupta attended a screening in AMC’s Times Square location. Gupta is a Communications and English double major who is also the president and founder of Baruch’s Fan Society club. Prior to the movie, Gupta was able to first experience the Eras Tour at Metlife Stadium on May 28th. When asked to describe her experiences (both concert and film) and rate her theater experience from one to ten, the immersive film was almost a perfect ten to her.

ACT – KHUSHI: A 9.5, because I broke a nail in the movie theater. So I was really sad about that, but apart from that, because I was getting up to dance but then I tripped over a seat. Just the experience in general, I’ve seen so many movies, never like this. again I don’t know how Taylor does it. She makes her concerts seem like something we’ve never seen before. Her production value is unlike any other concert I’ve ever been to. And the movie experience, people were dancing. There was this couple in the corner slow-dancing to “Lover,” it was so cute.

TRACK: Gupta attended the movie with both her mother and sister, decked out in their previously purchased merch from both the tour and Swift’s “Red (Taylor’s Version) album release.

ACT – KHUSHI: We were all dressed in merch and we got compliments from other people. It was a really fun night, and it cemented our bond together as a family but also coming together to see Taylor. In the movie theater itself, there was no judgment from anyone, no one was telling us to sit down or not make too much noise. Everyone was like enjoying seeing Taylor but also seeing the happiness that other people were experiencing.

TRACK: If Gupta could use three words to describe it all, she’d use the following:

ACT – KHUSHI: Powerful, emotional, and an experience.

TRACK: In an Instagram post, Taylor Swift stated that the Eras Tour movie is a “film that so vividly captures my favorite adventure I’ve ever been a part of: The Eras Tour. And the best part is, it’s an adventure we’re still on together.” The Eras Tour movie will be in theaters until January 2024, inviting fans to continue to produce “joyful chaos,” as Swift describes it. For Baruch College, I’m Patricia Prado.

Cover image is the clip at the end of the movie credits that thanks Swift’s fanbase for their loving commitment to supporting her and her musical endeavors.