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Elisa Doucette

@elisadoucette.bsky.social

650 followers 210 following 1.1K posts

🧰 (Word) Fixer. Language lover. 😎 Most days I'm an editor. Some days I get around to writing as well.

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · Jan 14

Elisa is one of those people...she seems like the person you call at 3AM after you accidentally murdered someone, and she'd just be like "Ok, I know a guy. I'll be there in 40 minutes. No judgement. No questions. We got this."

Post from the official Threads account: "Story time: What's the best compliment you've ever received?"

Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 1d

People being all weird about Taylor Swift getting freaked out that the person she loves the most is playing a game that can at times be a brutal sport have OBVIOUSLY never seen Regina King's [should have been Oscar nominated] performance as Marcee Tidwell, "a football wife" in Jerry Maguire.

Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 1d

Ophelia didn’t get to rewrite her story, but she made sure the truth flourished.

Taylor keeps rewriting hers, one coded lyric at a time. So Tay, I guess thank you for the lovely bouquet. 🌸

You can read the full WILF essay: craftyourcontent.kit.com/posts/what-i...

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What I Learned From The Fate of Ophelia About Hidden Languages

Writers hide secrets everywhere: Shakespeare in bouquets, Swift in Easter eggs. Ophelia’s flowers teach us the craft of smuggling meaning into stories

craftyourcontent.kit.com

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 1d

For writers, symbolism isn’t decoration, it’s depth.

It’s how we write for two audiences at once:

The Casual Reader who feels the story
The Careful Decoder who sees it

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 1d

Taylor Swift gets it.

Capital letters, costume changes, numerology, lyric callbacks...every Era, every Easter egg: her own secret code.

Details that thrill the observant, it’s a language for the digital age, and Swifties are fluent speakers.

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Album cover: Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl (2025). Taylor Swift poses submerged in teal water wearing a jeweled, netted costume resembling pearls or scales. Red glitter text reads “The Life of a Showgirl.” The image evokes glamour, performance, and spectacle.

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 1d

Shakespeare didn’t need exposition or explanation, he trusted his audience to listen between the lines.

He gave them floriography, the language of flowers: a secret reward for those who cared enough to decipher it (in his time, plenty of people would have known what it all meant!)

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 1d

And then, when the story swallows her whole, the flowers return.

Gertrude describes her drowned body tangled in garlands of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples.

Even in death, Ophelia gives one last monologue – silent, but perfectly delivered.

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 1d

Fennel for false flattery and columbine for deceit, aimed at King Claudius.

Rue for regret, offered to Queen Gertrude and some kept for herself.

A daisy for innocence lost. Violets for faithfulness that withered as corruption bloomed.

Every petal was a pointed remark.

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 1d

She enters the court singing simple songs, her hands filled with imaginary blooms.

Rosemary for remembrance, pansies for thoughts; both for Laertes, her brother. A plea to remember their father’s death, and not to forget the truth beneath the palace’s polished lies.

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 1d

She was surrounded by people who treated her like a pawn: her father, her brother, her boyfriend, her mother-figure, her king.

Each demanded loyalty, but none offered it.

When her voice was dismissed, she stopped speaking directly and started speaking in symbols.

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 1d

Everyone calls her “the girl who went mad” cause it’s easier that way.

But what if she wasn’t mad at all? Maybe she was the only one paying attention. The one who understood a corrupt court built on deceit and performance.

Spoiler alert: She was.

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 1d

What if Ophelia wasn’t losing her mind...what if she was dropping Easter eggs? 🌸

She covered the stage in metaphors, handed out coded insults, and drowned wrapped in her own symbolism.

Dismissed as mad, she spoke the only way her world allowed: poetry that bit back.

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Painting “Ophelia” by John Everett Millais (1851–52). A young woman floats on her back in a stream, her ornate dress spread out in the water, surrounded by wildflowers. Her head is tilted back, eyes half-closed, arms extended upward, as if suspended between life and death.

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 1d

THANK YOU! I've thought that since the first one I saw on roadways.

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 2d

If you’ve been writing for algorithms and audiences instead of yourself, maybe it's time to find joy again? To remember what made you fall in love with the page in the first place.

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 5d

Someone informed me last week that my posts are so embarrassing because I'm using AI to write them. Alas, little troll, these posts are coming from my own fleshy fingertips. The cringe is coming from inside the brain bin. 🤷‍♀️

Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 5d

For those of you wringing your hands about the "too simple storytelling" of Taylor Swift's music with football stars and making out inuendo, I'd like to tell you a little ditty 'bout Jack and Diane.

Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 5d

Ok, #Swifties...is Actually Romantic about multiple people? It feels like the two verses are about two different subjects. 🤔 One very 🍏 and one very 🍊.

Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 7d

Stage 12 - Return with the Elixir (the hero(ine) returns from magical/tribulatory world to their home with all the knowledge/growth/rewards/happiness)
Album 12 - The Life of a Showgirl

What do you think? Any stage/album you see these connections on? What did I miss? Do we get an epilogue?

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Album cover for The Life of a Showgirl. Taylor Swift is shown submerged in turquoise water, wearing a sparkling jeweled bodysuit with silver beadwork and diamond bracelets. She gazes at the camera with her head tilted slightly and one arm raised. The title “The Life of a Showgirl” appears in bold red-orange text across the image.

Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 7d

Act III - The Return
Stage 10 - The Road Back (the return begins, but the hero(ine) needs to face the consequences of what they've done)
Album 10 - Midnights (hello Anti-Hero!)

Stage 11 - Resurrection (the final climax, one last battle for the hero(ine))
Stage 11 - Tortured Poet's Department

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Album cover for Midnights. A close-up of Taylor Swift holding a lighter near her face. She wears blue eye shadow and red lipstick, looking down with a pensive expression. The word “Midnights” is printed at the top with a list of tracks on the left.

Album cover for The Tortured Poets Department. A sepia-toned photo shows Taylor Swift lying on a bed in black undergarments, partially curled with one arm draped across her chest. White pillows surround her, and soft light streaks across the image. The title appears at the top.

Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 7d

Stage 8 - The Ordeal (the test that transforms the hero(ine))
Album 8 - Folklore

Stage 9 - The Reward (the hero(ine) finally holds the "prize" they have been journeying for)
Stage 9 - Evermore

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Album cover for Folklore. A black-and-white photo of Taylor Swift standing alone in the distance among tall trees in a foggy forest. She wears a long coat and looks small in contrast to the towering trunks.

Album cover for Evermore. Taylor Swift is shown from behind in an autumn field, wearing a brown-and-orange plaid coat. Her hair is styled in a French braid. Bare trees fill the background.

Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 7d

Stage 5 - Crossing the Threshold (the hero(ine) moves into the action, leaving the familiar behind)
Album 5 - 1989

Act II: The Initiation
Stage 6 - Test, Allies, Enemies
Album 6 - Reputation

Stage 7 - Approach the Inmost Cave (introspective reflection on journey to this point)
Album 7 - Lover

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Album cover for 1989. A Polaroid-style photo cropped at the mouth shows Taylor Swift wearing a sweatshirt with seagulls printed across it. The text “T.S. 1989” is handwritten at the bottom.

Album cover for Reputation. A grayscale portrait of Taylor Swift in a torn sweatshirt and choker necklace, looking directly at the camera. One side of her face blends into a background of newspaper clippings with her name repeated. The word “reputation” appears in Gothic font at the top.

Album cover for Lover. Taylor Swift stands against a pastel sky of pink and blue clouds. She wears a white T-shirt, her hair tipped with blue, and has glittery heart-shaped makeup around one eye. The word “Lover” is written in pink script at the top.

Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 7d

Stage 3 - Refusing the Call to Adventure (doubt, fear, vulnerability)
Album 3 - Speak Now

Stage 4 - Meeting the Mentor (accepting the call and finding your north star person/people)
Album 4 - Red (first collabs with Max Martin & Shellback)

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Album cover for Speak Now (2010). Taylor Swift is turned slightly over her shoulder, wearing a dramatic flowing purple gown that swirls around her. Her curly blonde hair cascades down, and she gazes at the camera with a poised expression. The title “Speak Now” is written across the image in large white script, with “Taylor Swift” beneath it in gold.

Album cover for Red. Taylor Swift wears a wide-brimmed hat and looks down, her long blonde hair over one shoulder and lips painted red. The word “RED” is in bold red text, with “Taylor Swift” in white beneath it.

Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 7d

Act 1: The Departure
Stage 1- The Ordinary World (an introduction to the hero(ine's) life & home)
Album 1 - Taylor Swift [Debut]

Stage 2 - The Call to Adventure (the inciting incident that disrupts the ordinary world and pulls the hero(ine) from their current life)
Album 2 - Fearless

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Taylor Swift’s self-titled debut album cover shows her with long, curly blonde hair, looking directly at the camera with a soft, serious expression. Behind her is a textured, nature-inspired background with butterflies and foliage in shades of green and blue. Her name is written in white cursive script across the bottom.

Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 7d

The 12-stage Hero's Journey is broken further into 3 "acts":
The Departure, The Initiation, The Return

(I'm using Vogler's 12-stage Hero's Journey, not Campbell's 17-stage, as the "extras" there are male-centered and/or about women as the temptress and foil.)

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 7d

2AM tangential thoughts on the third listen (insomnia has an upside?)

The modern Hero's Journey has 12 stages.
#TaylorSwift now has 12 albums.

👀

But WHAT DOES IT MEAN? What if none of this is accidental‽ I offer this rabbit hole for fellow literary geeks...

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A collage of Taylor Swift performing on her Eras Tour, arranged against a black background. She appears in dozens of different outfits, each representing a different album era, including sparkly bodysuits, flowing gowns, colorful dresses, and casual looks with guitars. The clothing spans a rainbow of colors — silver, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and black — capturing the theatrical costume changes from the concert series.

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Elisa Doucette @elisadoucette.bsky.social · 7d

📚 Sorta Synonyms: illustrious, elite, masterful
🧰 Modern Equivalents: Pulitzer-worthy, the "chef’s kiss" emojis, The Life of a Showgirl

Not everything has to be eximious. But when something is? It's like an antidote to our algorithm-fed world.

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