Barbie, Taylor, Beyoncé, and the Era of Joy

Barbie, Beyoncé and Taylor pose in sparkly, silver outfits, looking iconic in front of a sunset-hued background. Small graphics of sunglasses, a high heel, bracelets, microphone, pride heart, disco ball, and people dancing surround them.

“The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.”

– Audre Lorde

Do you feel it?

Maybe you can hear it?

It feels like anticipation rising until it can’t be contained anymore, finally exploding like a firework into a million sparks of colour and light. And it sounds like an arena full of screaming fans.

It’s movie theatres full of strangers dressed in pink cowboy hats and jumpsuits. It’s crowds of girls, gays and theys singing along to Taylor and Beyoncé and Harry in their cutest outfits, bejeweled hearts around their eyes and rainbows painted onto their skin. It’s a line a…