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We don’t know what we don’t know.
This is what a lawyer who met with Britney Spears before one of her guardianship hearings notes in the new documentary Framing Britney Spears. There are so many unanswered questions about the pop star’s well-being today, with the control that it has been under control for more than a decade under the new scrutiny of fans – that is, the #FreeBritney movement, a phenomenon mostly, but not fully Internet-based, complete with podcasts, seemingly exaggerated theories of the star’s secret coded messages and more.
Is it possible that your private medical records and other information support the fact that the current guardianship, controlled by your father Jamie Spears, is still necessary, despite what some fans believe? Right. But this new production gives credit to the growing concerns that something more sinister is going on.
Framing Britney Spears, part of The NY Times Presents series and streaming on FX on Hulu Friday, isn’t breaking many new reporting fields, but it’s a fascinating time capsule, covering your meteoric rise from a small Louisiana town to a teenage superstar pop and tabloid target during her 20s . There is a fun nostalgic rush to look back at the effervescent young woman responsible for so many ephemeral pop culture: Catholic schoolgirl outfit! The body in red leather! The snake!! All are touchstones for those who were young around 2000, but low-waist jeans and good vibes cannot last forever.
The most interesting part of the documentary, directed by Samantha Stark, involves watching media footage from the first daughters, when Spears was one of the most famous people in the world and also … a woman in her 20s. It is not a new revelation, but in 2021 it is so bizarre and ridiculous to watch what was common at the time: nighttime jokes about her virginity; reporters Asking her if she had a sex life; regular shame for expressing any flourishing sexuality. Watching a montage of it, you can see how the obsessive attention around it is getting out of hand, so we can only imagine how shocking it must have been at the center of it all. The moment you’re seeing Matt Lauer (!) Question a tearful Britney (!!) about whether she’s a bad mother (!!!) to Dateline in 2006, all you can do is not to turn your back on horror: OK thereby?!
The answer, at least for much of the culture, was absolutely. Framing Britney Spears does a good job of showing how much money could be made at the time with pictures from tabloids and the entire pre-social media craft industry that ran the celebrity misogynist industrial complex. At one point, the filmmakers interviewed a paparazzi (who was part of the famous umbrella scene), where he notes that Spears never asked him to stop taking pictures of her. Sir, she’s on camera asking you to stop, over and over again! The whole montage has a horror movie feel, where impending doom is obvious to everyone, but you are powerless to intervene.
The whole montage has a horror movie feel, where impending doom is obvious to everyone, but you are powerless to intervene.
Maybe that’s why, then, some fans feel so compelled to help now, when there are better options available than sitting with Lauer to tell their side of the story. Britney couldn’t resist degrading stereotypes 15 years ago, but the power of social media is now allowing others to do it for her. Which can be great; the woman certainly needs a more lenient reconsideration. But an unpleasant question hangs in the back half of the documentary: what if fans, some of whom camp outside the courts and spend their days seeing secret messages in their social media posts, are wrong? What if she isn’t trying to speak to them and doesn’t want them to speak for her? Isn’t this intrusion into your life potentially disturbing as well?
Framing Britney Spears does not delve deeply into this aspect of the story that is still unfolding and, of course, without Britney herself weighing in, there is no way to know for sure. The documentary launches great weapons to help fill some gaps in the place of the singer’s voice, most notably the former assistant / escort / friend Felicia Culotta, who certainly presents a convincing argument that Britney’s father is only interested in his dairy cow . Disturbing lawyers are also the ones who discuss how it can be impossible to get out of guardianship once installed.
Fans are then left with a kind of creepy suspense, pondering dark questions about the strange dichotomy of her life today that is explicitly pointed out in the doc: We must believe that she is a woman who is not mentally well enough to have any control over her finances. or day-to-day decisions, but solid enough to work for crowds of thousands and raise millions. It sure doesn’t seem right.
Spears owes his fans no explanation, but more than anything, this documentary made me look forward to the day when, hopefully, we will finally achieve this complex story in his own words. For now, the mystery still remains.
Framing Britney Spears is broadcasting on FX on Hulu Friday.
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