Taylor Swift

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia is constrained by father, brother, court and lover until grief and social pressure overwhelm her; her death by drowning becomes one of Western art’s most repeated images. “The Fate of Ophelia” does not use her name only as shorthand for a sad woman. Taylor Swift imagines changing the ending.

Taylor Swift wrote “I Knew It, I Knew You” from Jessie’s perspective for Toy Story 5. The song centers reunion: an old friend or love returns after life has pushed earlier days into the distance, and recognition revives a feeling that time had not erased.