Development and synopsis Joseph Kahn directed the music video for "Wildest Dreams", the third time he directed a music video for a
1989 single after "Blank Space" and "Bad Blood". Filming primarily took place in
Botswana and
South Africa. Inspired by
The Secret Conversations (2013), a memoir of the actress
Ava Gardner, Swift conceived the premise for the video as an illicit love affair between two actors in an isolated place within Africa, because they could only interact with each other without other means of communication. Kahn took inspiration from romantic films set in Africa, such as
The African Queen (1951),
Out of Africa (1985), and
The English Patient (1996). The video's narrative focuses on an affair between a
classical Hollywood actress (Swift) and her male co-star (
Scott Eastwood) who shoot a film in 1950s Africa. Kahn compared the affair to the romance between
Elizabeth Taylor and
Richard Burton.
Release and reception The video premiered on television during the pre-show of the
2015 MTV Video Music Awards on August 31. Swift donated all of the proceeds from the video to the
African Parks Foundation of America for wild animal conservation causes.
Rolling Stone Brittany Spanos commented that Swift and Eastwood channeled "retro Hollywood glamour", and
Billboard Natalie Weiner deemed Elizabeth Taylor an influence on Swift's fashion in the video.
ABC News described the video as visually powerful, and Wickman found the production cinematic and the narrative "a lot more engaging" than the music video for "Style". Mike Wass of
Idolator said that although Swift and Eastwood did not have a strong "chemistry", the African scenery and narrative "all [hang] together rather nicely". The video was nominated for Best Fresh Video at the 2016
MTV Italian Music Awards. Many online blogs and publications contended that the video glorified "
white colonialism" by featuring a white cast in Africa. Critics opined that it portrayed a romanticized nostalgia for
colonial Africa held by white people and neglected the struggles of the African peoples during the
European colonization. The African studies professor Matthew Carotenuto wrote that the storyline depicted "pith-helmet-and-khaki-clad men as civilizing heroes and the women who joined them roughing it in tents wearing lingerie". In the book
Mistaking Africa, the history and political science authors Curtis Keim and Carolyn Somerville wrote that "Wildest Dreams" reinforced the stereotypes associated with Africa and "the mistaken perception held by many Americans that large game are found everywhere in Africa and that all parts of Africa are identical". Kahn defended the video and said that featuring a black cast would be historically inaccurate for the 1950s settings. Lauretta Charlton of
Vulture felt that the accusations were overblown: although she acknowledged that the video's depiction of Africa was problematic, she regarded it as "antiquated" and recommended the audience to focus on the "modern-day colonialism of Africa" that demanded urgent attention. Some journalists and academics analyzed the video in the context of Swift's celebrity and the historical Hollywood depictions of Africa. Carotenuto opined that Swift was part of a "
Lion King generation", which led her to think of Africa as "nothing more than a rich tapestry of flora and fauna, with actual Africans fading onto the periphery", an idea that had been propagated by Hollywood films and popular American culture.
The Atlantic Spencer Kornhaber wrote that her generation was when "certain symbols of white dominance[...] have been glorified". For Kornhaber, "Wildest Dreams" was in line with Swift's artistic vision of "a powerful but vague nostalgia, defined less by time period than by particular strains of influence that just happen to be affiliated with a certain skin color". Kornhaber and Tshepo Mokoena from
The Guardian argued that the criticism was not meant to portray Swift as racist. The former contended that it was a "lesson" for Swift about "how nostalgia can be inherently political"; the latter said that the video was a "clumsy move, but not one that merits outrage", but the criticism blemished Swift's "America's sweetheart" reputation. == Live performances ==