I have been ride or die for Britney Spears since 1999. In the midst of her public breakdown in 2007, it was heartbreaking watching her mental health struggles play out across relentless and cruel tabloid cover stories. Even though I was just a kid at that time, I knew there was something seriously disturbing about society’s treatment of her. I’ve never stopped rooting for Britney, and even if this moment is over a decade too late, it’s nonetheless beyond refreshing seeing the world recognize that her downfall was fueled by misogyny and exploitation, and that she is owed a long overdue apology.
The catalyst for the tides finally turning in Britney Spears’ favor is the Framing Britney Spears documentary, produced by the New York Times and available to stream on Hulu. The documentary explores the legalities of, and corruption behind, the conservatorship that has controlled Britney for the past 13 years. Detailing her historic rise to fame, the most iconic moments of her career, and her unparalleled impact on pop culture, part of the film’s objective is to remind us all why we fell in love with Britney in the first place – and judging from the internet’s overwhelming response, it’s safe to say they succeeded. Eventually, Framing Britney Spears gets to her downfall and the people who brought her to rock bottom, showcasing the usual suspects like the paparazzi but also reminding us the role people like Justin Timberlake and Diane Sawyer played in her vilification.
Here are some of the most important key takeaways from Framing Britney Spears.
- Britney Spears was heavily scrutinized and sexualized by the media from the time she was just 16 years old. Framing Britney Spears features cringeworthy and disgusting clips of a young Britney being subjected to horrifying questions from reporters. From the size of her breasts to her virginity, no topic was off limits to the (largely male) reporters assigned with interviewing a barely legal young girl. As the Times episode makes clear, the media vacillated between emphasizing her innocence and shaming her for being overly sexualized — despite the fact it was largely responsible for perpetuating this dichotomy.
- Justin Timberlake owes his career – and a major apology – to Britney Spears. Britney Spears was failed by so many people, but no one did her worse than Justin Timberlake. Timberlake and Spears were together for just three years, 20 years ago when they were just barely adults. But it was through their tumultuous breakup — and the tabloid fascination thereof — that Timberlake launched his solo career and simultaneously appeared to ruin her life. 2002’s “Cry Me a River” seemed to be all about Spears cheating on him, made worse by a music video featuring a Spears lookalike. “The way people treated her, to be very high school about it, was like, she was the school slut and he was the school quarterback,” says Wesley Morris, a New York Times critic at large, in Framing Britney Spears. “He essentially weaponizes the video for one of his singles to incriminate her in the demise of their relationship.” Friendly reminder he also threw Janet Jackson under the bus without a second thought.
- Harassing Britney Spears came with a million dollar payday. The paparazzi whose car Britney famously hit with an umbrella (after he relentlessly taunted and harassed her) was interviewed for the documentary. He explains that the motivator behind why he tormented this 25 year old girl is that you could sell photos of Britney for over $1 million dollars in the heyday of the Spears media frenzy. And the reason they commanded such a hefty price tag was that there was a demand for them — because all of us wanted them. When these paparazzi argue that they weren’t personally victimizing Spears but merely giving the people what they wanted, there’s a certain amount of truth to what they’re saying. They were working within a system of incentives and consumption that they did not build.
- Britney’s father and conservator Jamie Spears was an alcoholic long absent from her life. Kim Kaiman, the senior director of marketing at Jive Records during Britney’s rise to the top, had this to say about her father: “The only thing Jamie ever said to me was, ‘My daughter is going to be so rich, she’s gonna buy me a boat.’ That’s all I’m gonna say about Jamie.” And yet, despite Britney’s continued requests to have her father removed as conservator, he remains in absolute control of her life.
- The media thrived off of her misery. Diane Sawyer made a then-21 year old Britney sob during a primetime interview after telling her about a politician who said she’d shoot her if she had the chance. Matt Lauer, who we now know is a misogynist pig, was practically gleeful when a 25 year old Britney broke down in tears at his accusation of her being a bad mother (and we now know she was likely suffering from postpartum depression during that time). These are just two of countless examples the documentary highlights of the media being cruel and heartless, capitalizing on a popstar’s suffering to get their latest soundbite.
In conclusion: #FreeBritney
