Keira Knightley as Anna Karenina Song Lyric Dissection

A kind of different format for this post! Today I’ll be explaining the lyrics to my song “Keira Knightley as Anna Karenina.” Just so there isn’t any confusion, I’ll write the line I’m explaining in one color and write the explanation for that line in the same color! Some lines might also not have explanations. Now, just to get into a general background: over the pandemic summer, I decided to watch Keira Knightley’s entire filmography (I regret to inform you all that this task was never accomplished). She stars mainly in period pieces and I was enchanted by the way they took the mundane and inserted dramatics and pain and love into the story. I wanted to know what it would feel like to be one of those characters, who seem to live for each other, who abandon all reason in the name of love. Of course, it’s all unrealistic. But that doesn’t make it any less romantic or beautiful. And I wanted to capture that feeling. 

"Wheel out the backdrops 
And the hopeless devotion
Bring out the cameras 
And the unchecked emotion
Star-crossed lovers
No plan but all action
Who knew affairs could be so romantic?"

Anna Karenina (2012), employed an interesting technique of showing the viewers the sets as they moved and changed, and this was one of the reasons I found the film so intriguing. Besides the nod to the film, these lines make it clear that this isn’t reality.
A reference to “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”
Something I do often in this song is name common tropes found in movies and literature. Some may be overused, but they never fail to invoke emotion in the consumer. 
A sort of reference to the seemingly absurd prioritization of emotion over logic in media like this.
Affairs are inherently unromantic. They betray love and are almost never idealized. However, the power the media has to portray affairs as such (like Anna Karenina does), leaves consumers questioning their outlook on life. 

"Curse the screen for making me feel something I didn’t know I could feel
I now believe love has to be hard for it to be real
Unimaginable circumstances masked by pretty dresses
Until someone dies for me I can’t learn my lesson"

Being a chronic media-consumer, I often felt like I was missing out on things that weren’t necessarily things that I should want to happen to me. It would be interesting to go back to a time when I hadn’t read as many books or seen as many movies if I would feel the same.
Movies often show us that the best loves are the ones that endure every single trial and tribulation thrown at them. Also a nod to: “This love is difficult/ But it’s real.” Another thing movies teach us is that you should only settle for someone that would give their life for you, who would give it all up for you. It seems like a selfish thing to want, but I can’t say it wouldn’t be nice to have someone who loves you so much that they would die for you.
Masks and dresses— masquerade balls are one of my favorite settings in movies and novels, no matter how cliché they may be. This line also explains how everything seems beautiful just because of its aesthetics.

"Cos now I’ve learned to only want the loves that live for you
Would someone tell me that those romances were doomed?
I feel I could make pain disappear if I keep believing
Who’s gonna tell me they’re called tragedies for a reason?"

Kind of a savior complex moment. Believing will never just fix something, but it can feel like it will.
At least in Anna Karenina, there isn’t a happy ending for Count Vronsky and Anna. Sometimes devoting yourself to someone, living for them and not yourself, can lead to your demise. 

"Take out the reality
And any sense
Replace it with pride
And deceptive innocence
Mutual pining
And devastation
A tragic opportunity calls to me like an invitation"

A reminder that these tropes and feelings and actions do not take place in reality.
One of my FAVORITE tropes (after childhood friends to lovers, of course).
Innocence used to one’s advantage, proving that they’re not really that innocent at all.

"Curse the screen for making me feel something I didn’t know I could feel
I now believe love has to be hard for it to be real
Undesirable circumstances masked by pretty dresses
Until someone kills for me I can’t learn my lesson"

Turning the previous line in this place on its head to be a little more sinister. Having someone who dies for you is great, but what about someone who would kill for you? To avenge you, to protect you, to defend your honor? That’s love on a different level.

"Cos now I’ve learned to only want the loves that live for you
Would someone tell me that those romances were doomed?
I feel I could make pain disappear if I keep believing
Who’s gonna tell me they’re called tragedies for a reason?"

"Meeting in secret in lantern light
Reading letters by candlelight
And beautiful gowns to be worn only that night
And putting so much in that you can’t put up a fight
Running from doubters and inner demons
Only having each other to believe in 
And soon running from each other and with changing seasons
Only the thread remains that used to tie you at your seams
But there’s still the what-ifs and the fantasies
And the hopeless romantics who like tragedy
And there’s the high society gatherings
And the faith that someday someone will live for me"

Classic scenes that seem to be in every period drama/ romance ever. 
Not having the energy to fight for better circumstances, to fight for equality in your relationship, to fight for a place for your relationship in society because it’s so exhausting living for the other.
Feeling like it’s you and your partner against the world. But never being free from yourselves, either. When you only have each other, there’s only one person (besides yourself) that you can hate. 
The thread of Fate destined the two of you to fall apart. 
I am one of those hopeless romantics, of course, and daydreaming after watching a particularly good movie or show and feeling like you could exist perfectly in that world is a great feeling. 
Bringing it back to that idea of devotion that seems so sparse in reality.

​Hope you enjoyed reading!
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