Intertextuality

The example of intertextuality that I found was actually kind of easy because I was listening to this song was stuck in my head when I came to class. The song, “Love Story” by Taylor Swift is a really obvious example of intertextuality in music.
The song references Romeo and Juliet because it describes a typical love between two young people whose love is forbidden by the father of the girl.

“That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles,
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
And I was crying on the staircase
Begging you please don’t go.

And I said, Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone
I’ll be waiting all there’s left to do is run
You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess
It’s a love story, baby just say yes.”

Another intertextuality used in the song is the scarlet letter. The idea is that the girl is a scarlet letter because the boy isn’t supposed to be with her. I’m not sure if the scarlet is supposed to represent that it is a sin to be with her or more of the idea of anyone who wears a scarlet letter is untouchable; not really that she is untouchable in a bad way because the original idea was to show that someone committed adultery. I think it is more of the idea that she is different because he dad loves her so much so no one should be able to have her.

“Cause you were Romeo, I was the scarlet letter
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
You were everything to me
And I was begging you please do go.”

So overall, this song has two references to another story. Also, the whole concept of the song is taken from Romeo and Juliet whether or not it was referenced.