The New York Times recently released a documentary on FX and Hulu about Britney Spears and the legal battle that she is currently locked in with her father over her conservatorship. The film delves into her trajectory towards heightened stardom and media coverage. It’s an incredibly sad, but truthful look at the way the tabloids and people within Spears’ own family have taken advantage of her image and fame.
While watching the documentary, I found that the real heart of the #FreeBritney movement – which seeks to replace Jamie Spears, Britney’s father, as the controller of her finances, medical records, and career plans – is the fans that have rallied so hard for Spears to gain liberation. It was the fans that gained traction on the issues surrounding the star’s conservatorship and flipped the false narrative that it was necessary for her to have someone else make all of her decisions for her. They showed up at every court date and eventually even got confirmation from Spears herself, through court documents, that she approved of and encouraged this support for her case.
It was harrowing and sometimes uncomfortable to watch old interview clips and paparazzi videos in the film which showed Spears being scrutinized and harassed for different aspects of her life. People had problems with how comfortable she was with her sexuality while still having teenage fans that looked up to her. The wife of the governor of Maryland in 2004 was even quoted saying that she would like to shoot Britney Spears for being a bad influence on kids. As a successful young female artist, Britney was constantly under an unfair amount of scrutiny for how she presented herself to the world, despite how men in the media spotlight are not held to these same expectations. It was incredibly infuriating to hear about how Justin Timberlake propelled his career by exploiting his breakup with Spears in order to paint the picture that she had cheated and broken his heart. This was a career move that caused the media to villainize Britney Spears without anyone actually caring to find out her side of the story.
Britney tells the camera in one of the old video clips, “I know what I want and I know what I like,” in response to being called a diva. However, this strong-willed, passionate woman is the Britney that the tabloids were intent on destroying. With an immense amount of paparazzi following her every move and profiting off of her most vulnerable moments, it was no wonder that her mental health was severely affected. The photos of her shaving her head and hitting a paparazzi truck with an umbrella are still famous images, and the headlines and jokes about Spears that ensued were all ploys for the public’s entertainment. However, the documentary highlights how no one was actually paying attention to Spears and her mental wellbeing. This breakdown was followed by the beginning of the conservatorship that her father put her in. Despite making a complete recovery and returning to the stage with new albums, tours, and a Vegas residency, every facet of her life is still dictated by her conservators to this day.
