Honors College Art & Science of Emotions Fall 2017 (12:00 p.m.) The Burn Journal | Page 6

What’s Better Than Revenge
Author: Hannah Wickersham
If there is anything that Taylor Swift is known for, it is releasing songs that are emotionally
charged, and usually a jab at somebody who did her wrong in her personal life. Swift’s song “Better
Than Revenge” is an upbeat country-pop song featured on her 2010 album “Speak Now.” “Better Than
Revenge” is a well-known song that pretty obviously slammed actress Camilla Belle. Joe Jonas, her ex,
was rumored to have left Swift for Belle immediately after they broke up back in 2008 (Lee). The song
begins with the lines “I had him right where I wanted him/She came along, got him alone and let’s hear
the applause/She took him faster than you could say ‘sabotage’”. The couple began dating in July 2008,
though Jonas met Belle while on set for one of his music videos. Immediately after the couple broke up,
Jonas pursued Belle. Swift resorted to what she knew her best outlet was for her anger and hurt; re-
venge.
Being overcome with negative feelings such as anger, frustration, and aggression, can prove to
be dangerous to the person experiencing them, and the ones it is directed towards. Often times, revenge
is a way to deal with these feelings in a way that is rewarding to the avenger. “Reactive aggression is the
ultimate behavioral expression of anger” (Blair), which is often triggered by “a frustrating or threatening
event and involves unplanned, enraged attacks on the object perceived to be the source of the threat/
frustration,” (Blair). A negative reaction triggered by a threat or frustration, such as a boyfriend dump-
ing you and him immediately getting involved with the woman that supposedly caused the downfall of
the relationship, would obviously cause reactive aggression, and thus anger follows. The amygdala is
stimulated by feelings of anger and threat, which is “dependent on the functional integrity of the medial
hypothalamus and the periaqueductal gray” (Blair). This system is thought to mediate reactive aggres-
sion in humans (Blair), which amplifies our reaction to things that make us angry. Anger is a response to
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