Sunday, March 07, 2021

9/52 - Framing Britney Spears

 

I'm not going to lie, I picked this one simply because of the hype surrounding it. Quite frankly I felt, for a New York Times investigative piece, it was a bit on the light side. Don't get me wrong it was interesting and thought provoking, specifically around the portions that dealt with how women are treated by the media in terms of double standards. The questions that are asked of them in interviews, the stories and the speculation that are put forth in the news, I really feel like there was no way she could win. You'd have to have an incredibly strong sense of self worth and optimal mental health, coupled with a quality support team to be able to weather that storm at such a young age and I am not sure she had any of that. She may have had parts of it at different times, but not enough of any of it at the right times. Of course, that is nothing but pure speculation on my part and truly this documentary is a lot of speculation. Sure we can see all the public moves being made, but we have no way of seeing the entire picture or have anyway of knowing anyone's true motivation.

I feel there was enough presented here, that I definitely felt bad for the situation she finds herself in, it does seem quite excessive from my perch here on my couch. It's not something you see happen to a male celebrity. I truly hope she finds the peace she is looking for.

I watched this on Crave.

3 comments:

Lynn said...

Sounds like it was kind of a mixed bag but I might still check it out. I'm going through a weird phase where I'm obsessed with the whole concept of celebrity and what it really means for people to live in the public eye, especially younger famous people who grew up in a world where everyone has a camera on them at all times and internet rumours travel faster than any kind of actual fact. It's such a bizarre thing to imagine! They have my sympathy, especially ones who started so young like Britney - I'm sure they had no idea what kind of life they were really signing up for.

Shan said...

Well then you're going to like the next few picks. And yes I would say check it out. Personally I was expecting something a little more investigative seeing as it was from the New York Times, but it still gave lots to think about. An interesting discussion was had with teenage girls around the idea of double standards in media and in life in general. Thanks for watching along and chatting! I love it!

Goofball said...

I've seen it too.

For what women are treated in the media, I figured that around the same time (90ies) there were some more that were constantly in the news with negative updates, chased etc. (eg Lindsay Lohan , Paris Hilton & Nicole Ritchie, ...) . Very relevant now again with wha Megan Markle claims to live through in the UK.

The financial arrangement does raise questions... we cannot judge Britney's situation but the fact that it's hardly possible for someone to revoke it seems like a system vulnerable to abuse. It does raise questions

but I agree that it wasn't a very deeply founded documentary. In the end, it didn't show anything that was truly not known, right? Lots of it seemed to be based by the free britney instagram account? really?