It’s the documentary everyone has been talking about, especially the gays. The New York Times Presents Britney film has officially landed in the UK on Sky and NOW TV. Framing Britney Spears chronicles her rapid rise to fame and her subsequent breakdown. Her story is as well known as her music: she’s one of the most famous people on the planet. But people are looking at the Britney Spears story in a different way after Me Too.
The film doesn’t really show you anything new. You just look at the all too familiar footage with an added edge of discomfort. When a journalist asks a young Britney if she’s a virgin and she politely confirms that she is. Or when a German TV hosts asks her about her breasts – her face sort of drops and she doesn’t know how to respond. Her 2007 meltdown launched a thousands jokes and memes. Looking back, the seeds of the meltdown seem to have been planted on the day her first single came out.
Britney was held up to impossible standards. She was the all American pop princess with a wholesome image, but she was young and very sexy – so did that make her a slut? A temptress? When Justin Timberlake released Cry Me A River, he essentially slut shamed her in the video. But then he bragged about screwing her in an interview. Why wasn’t he slut shamed? Ultimately, this is a story about misogyny and double standards.
She was depicted as a bad mother for driving with her baby on her lap, but photographers chase her when she’s holding her kids and she looks terrified that she’s going to be knocked over. She can barely walk through the throng of men with flashbulbs.
After the 2007 meltdown, Britney was placed under a conservatorship. Her father was given control over the finances and career. She is unable to travel or access her money without her father’s consent. She can’t even have guests at her home unless her conservators consent. Ultimately, she’s denied the ability to live as an adult. She’s infantilised, as she always has been – but she isn’t restricted in any way from making those around her rich. She raked in around a million dollars a week in Las Vegas, so she was well enough to do a number of gruelling residencies. How could anyone with that kind of earning power be considered incapable to making their own decisions?
Netflix are said to be working on their own Britney documentary. The success of Framing Britney Spears has led to rumours of a sequel. It would seem that Britney documentaries are becoming their own sub-genre. That’s all we’ll have to work with for the foreseeable. Britney is said to be on strike as she disputes her conservatorship. Those million dollar a week residencies will have to wait until the situation is resolved.
Britney headlined Brighton Pride in 2018. She looked great but she didn’t appear to know where she was. A dancer had to remind her she was in Brighton before she greeted the crowd. She mimed every note and didn’t really look like she wanted to be there. If you had no control over your life, would you?
Framing Britney Spears is available to watch on NOW TV.
