Ep. 8 - The Portrait of Britney Spears: On Media & Celebrity
CultureKlatsch
English - April 25, 2021 21:49 - 54 minutes - 48.6 MB - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsTV & Film Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
We talk about the documentary “The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears,” directed by Samantha Stark. The documentary traces Britney’s rise to stardom and the events that ultimately led to her being placed in a conservatorship, examining the role of the media in the framing of female celebrities.
We parse out the complexities of the frame with Dr. Rodney Herring. We discuss the lore of celebrity culture and how celebrities are portrayed in traditional and social media, limning the differences between how Britney is portrayed by the tabloids and by The New York Times. We look at some of the arcs of Britney’s portraiture that emerge in the documentary and how she is variously framed, now as a relatable and empowered role model for young people, now a panoramic laughingstock or monetized public meltdown. We consider these portraits along the theme of control in Britney’s mental health, her body and sexuality, and even her own capacity of personhood at the hands of her conservatorship.
Further Reading:
Holden, Stephen. "FILM REVIEW; A Britney Spears Vehicle That Bypasses the Bumps." The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/15/movies/film-review-a-britney-spears-vehicle-that-bypasses-the-bumps.html
Polaschek, Bronwyn. “The dissonant personas of a female celebrity: Amy and the public self of Amy Winehouse.” Celebrity Studies, 9:1, 17-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2017.1321490
Snapes, Laura. “Comrade Britney Spears! Star calls for strike and wealth redistribution.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/mar/25/comrade-britney-spears-star-calls-for-strike-and-wealth-redistribution
Yahr, Emily. “Documentaries are changing public opinion about celebrities — with consequences even the filmmakers didn’t expect.” The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/03/19/celebrity-documentaries/
The songs you hear on the show are "Belle et Triste" and “Roza Vertov” by Kariatida: freemusicarchive.org/music/Kariatida