On February 5th, The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears, was released on Hulu and FX. The documentary goes into the story of who Spears is and what has happened along the way. From misogyny at a young age, to being slut-shamed to not even having control of her whole life, it covers it all.
Spears was criticized for everything she did once she started. She was either dressing too conservatively or too slutty. She was acting too old for her age for certain people but was completely fine to others. She finally gained control of her being oversexualized as a child and people had problems with it.
Then, she dated Justin Timberlake and their breakup caused a downfall for Spears. During the relationship the main topic was, “Did you sleep with him?” or “Did you have sex yet?” which Spears always denied. When the couple broke up, Timberlake had a different story than Spears did.
Wesley Morris, critic-at-large for The New York Times, compared the situation to high school drama, “she was the school slut, and he was, like, the school quarterback or whatever, and he essentially weaponizes the video for one of his singles to incriminate her in the demise of the relationship.” He publicly stated that they did have sex and accused her of cheating on him. He used this concept of her cheating in his music video for “Cry Me a River.” It was as if Spears ruined everything and Timberlake was this innocent boy who got his heartbroken.
This documentary shed light on the reality of the celebrity world. Spears could go nowhere without being bombarded by paparazzi. The one clip in the documentary shows her getting bombarded with cameras so she goes and hides in the bathroom and that does not stop them from being there right when she comes out. This was before her “breakdown.”
Spears had her “breakdown” in 2007 which was insinuated to start when she shaved her head. Paparazzi were following her after her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, who did not let her see her kids. The paparazzi followed her to a gas station and she had had enough. After this, she proceeded to bash a paparazzi car with an umbrella. These are where the infamous “Britney Spears has lost it” pictures come from.
She became the butt of every joke from then on. Family Feud even had a topic about Spears filling in the blank, “Name something Britney Spears has lost in the past year.” No one seemed to care about her mental health or the damage this was causing.
In 2008, Jamie Spears, Britney’s father, filed for temporary conservatorship after Spears’ second trip to the hospital in a month. Conservatorship is usually done when elderly people are unable to take care of themselves. This places a guardian in charge of making decisions for the conservatee. This is usually for those who have a physical or mental illness along with old age. This conservatorship was only supposed to be temporary, but 13 years later, it still remains.
Spears did not want her father to be her conservator. She requested to remove her father as her conservator, but Judge Brenda Penny denied that request. Spears is refusing to perform until her father is taken off as a conservator. This was upsetting to her fans.
This trial brought back to life the #freebritney movement. From TikTok to Twitter, the hashtag and movement were worldwide. The movement started in 2019 when fans were convinced that Spears was sending hidden messages in her posts, according to Glamour. The movement was created to help people realize that Spears needs to be free and to be making her own decisions.
While watching the documentary, it opened my eyes to what celebrities go through. Spears did not expect any of this fame, she earned it. She was just a girl from a small town in the Bible Belt. She truly did not ask for this or deserve any of the hate she got. She was doing the best she could and is still doing the best she can under these circumstances. She was in the eye of the public at any time, any movement could be a “money shot.” She got divorced, lost custody of her kids and could not be a normal person. If I was her, I would have lost it way before she did. She is stronger than those, especially her family, make her out to be.
I grew up listening to Spears, as any kid who had older siblings born in the ’90s did, and she is still one of my favorite artists. I cannot tell you how many times I have screamed my heart out to “Toxic” or “Oops!…I Did It Again” throughout my heartbreaks and meltdowns.
She produced truly iconic music that people could relate to and love. She is a one-of-a-kind artist. She was a star when all people cared about was boy bands, she made people want to know her and who she was. So, with that being said, #freebritney and watch the documentary for yourself on Hulu.