In defence of Britney Spears
March 4th 2008 13:33
The media has quite accurately chronicled Britneys recent social decline via events that have hit the gossip pages and alot of people seem to be expressing their distaste for her bad manners, unprofessional behaviour, questionable parenting and general slobbish appearance. This made me stop and think: what IS going on with Britney Spears?
Firstly I can understand why people are sick of seeing Britney Spears breakdown and outrageous antics in the media. It is all so ugly. Personally I don't think shes ugly, I think the whole situation is ugly, but sometimes its hard to tell the difference. Britney is one giant flashing reminder of how fleeting beauty is and how money doesn't buy happiness. She represents a big gaping flaw in our society and values, and I think she is aware of it.
I think Britney is purposely out there making a spectacle of herself in public to spite the people who would prefer her to fade into obscurity with some dignity . . . im sure she feels she lost her dignity a long time ago performing like a street monkey on a musical box while the domestic side of life passed her by. It probably pisses her off that she spent the greater part of her life entertaining people that now have no empathy for her when she is clearly struggling . . . im sure Judy Garland would be rolling in her grave to know we still make such sport of people like Britney.
Britney was never the best singer, she is a much better dancer than a singer, and in general I would describe her as a "performer" rather than a "musician". Her music is quite openly about the glitzy filmclips and the costume changes in her concerts, its no secret its all mimed, its about the choreography, the sets, the props, the outfits, the makeup, the hair . . . its all theatre, all a show . . . Britney was just a faceless puppet with an awesome body from dancing all day, and a happy outlook from being the centre of attention . . . it didn't really matter who Britney was, as long as there was a body sitting in the make-up chair ready for the wheels of her giant music machine to turn around her.
Britney was born the same year I was in 1981. When she was 21 she broke up her 4 year relationship with Justin Timberlake, when she was 23 (in Jan 04) she had her infamous 55 hour marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander. In Jun 04 she then started dating Kevin Federline, was engaged within 3 months and married by Oct 04 . . . married at just 23 years old to a man she barely knew.
At 24 years old, after less than a year of marriage, Britney gave birth to her first child Sean Preston by caesarian section (Sep 05) and their second child Jayden James was born just a year after that (Sep 06) when she was aged 25. The marriage, not surprisingly, suffered problems the whole time and is now over and resulting in custody battles. The media watch Britney like a hawk waiting for her to slip up. She has no privacy, and the things that everyday people do with their children, like forgetting to put a seat-belt on or smoking etc are blown out of proportion and increase the threat of her with losing custody of her children due to being an unfit mother. Im sure she has post-natal depression, she has a lot of pressure and not much support . . . a stark contrast to her lifestyle just 5 years ago.
I remember Britneys debut single "Baby One More Time" coming out in 1998 when we were 17 and I was doing preliminary exams for my HSC and getting my drivers licence. Up until that point, while I had been studying my books, Britney had a life of gymnastics, talent-competitions, musicals and TV appearances . . . she was being primed to be a star.
Most of the women I went to high school with now have children, they have partners, or have had partners, often married and divorced or in some complex de-facto relationships. A lot of those women had their first children while we were at school or not long out of it, but now that we are all in out mid 20s it is extremely unusual to have not partnered off and had children.
It is extremely important to women to be able to socialize with each other and fit in with each other. I know women that would rather date an ex-con, drug-addict or abusive man than date noone. And you might say it is because they are lonely but I think it is because you are socially oestracised as a woman if you do not have a partner and/or children to bring along to the family barbeque or your cousins birthday dinner . . . or at least have them exist so you will be able to talk about them in their absence and relate your tales to the other women . . . it is better to bring along someone who is completely wrong and bad for you than to be scoffed at as the token loner. If you cannot snag a man your female friendships will dwindle and diminish and you are pushed to the outers of society.
It seems to me that when she hit 23 Britney suddenly and with great determination decided it was no longer acceptable for her to be single. This is probably the age she realized she didn't zip into her costumes the way she used to and she was never going to re-create that pre-pubescent straight-up-and-down flashing of the teenage girl mid-riff body that everyone so admired and that propelled her to stardom. It is the curse of all the child stars that once they look adult they somehow seem fat . . . did she really get a boob job or did she just grow breasts . . . no amount of sit-ups will stop the natural widening of your hips when you enter your 20s unfortunately for Ms Spears.
Britney put her social life on hold to become a star and the public adored her. Now when shes not so fabulous she sees she really just had a whole bunch of fair-weather friends. Shes trying to play catch-up on her domestic life with the whole husband and kids thing but its not making her any happier. She is desperately grasping at anything she thinks might regain that sense of happiness she once had. She is depressed. She doesn't care if her gut is sticking out and she doesn't have a bra on, she doesn't care if you see her vagina, she doesn't care if her behaviour seems erratic. I have no doubt she does take a lot of drugs, illicit and prescribed, chain-smoking and drinking like a fish. You would be depressed too if you were quite literally yesterdays news, a once treasured show pony now put out to pasture. Britney would be genuinely shocked at how cruel and malicious reporters are being now she is no longer respected as a "beauty" . . . imagine how differently people speak to her now compared to how she was doted over in her earlier career.
There is an anxiety about fitting in and being useful that extends as far as our biggest stars. That Britney Spears would rather have a custody battle with that deadbeat K-Fed just so she can relate to other "normal" people, that she would feel so compulsed to produce children and be "normal" when she has already been such a success in every other area of her life . . . well I think it says a great deal about the unreasonable expectations society puts on women, and im not talking about the media, I mean society as a whole, Britneys friends, family, colleagues, and contemporaries . . . there is no time to sit down and be grateful for what you have achieved, women just keep comparing themselves to each other and creating a general sense of inadequacy amongst the sex . . . your not a real woman if u cant keep a man right?
Firstly I can understand why people are sick of seeing Britney Spears breakdown and outrageous antics in the media. It is all so ugly. Personally I don't think shes ugly, I think the whole situation is ugly, but sometimes its hard to tell the difference. Britney is one giant flashing reminder of how fleeting beauty is and how money doesn't buy happiness. She represents a big gaping flaw in our society and values, and I think she is aware of it.
I think Britney is purposely out there making a spectacle of herself in public to spite the people who would prefer her to fade into obscurity with some dignity . . . im sure she feels she lost her dignity a long time ago performing like a street monkey on a musical box while the domestic side of life passed her by. It probably pisses her off that she spent the greater part of her life entertaining people that now have no empathy for her when she is clearly struggling . . . im sure Judy Garland would be rolling in her grave to know we still make such sport of people like Britney.
Britney was never the best singer, she is a much better dancer than a singer, and in general I would describe her as a "performer" rather than a "musician". Her music is quite openly about the glitzy filmclips and the costume changes in her concerts, its no secret its all mimed, its about the choreography, the sets, the props, the outfits, the makeup, the hair . . . its all theatre, all a show . . . Britney was just a faceless puppet with an awesome body from dancing all day, and a happy outlook from being the centre of attention . . . it didn't really matter who Britney was, as long as there was a body sitting in the make-up chair ready for the wheels of her giant music machine to turn around her.
Britney was born the same year I was in 1981. When she was 21 she broke up her 4 year relationship with Justin Timberlake, when she was 23 (in Jan 04) she had her infamous 55 hour marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander. In Jun 04 she then started dating Kevin Federline, was engaged within 3 months and married by Oct 04 . . . married at just 23 years old to a man she barely knew.
At 24 years old, after less than a year of marriage, Britney gave birth to her first child Sean Preston by caesarian section (Sep 05) and their second child Jayden James was born just a year after that (Sep 06) when she was aged 25. The marriage, not surprisingly, suffered problems the whole time and is now over and resulting in custody battles. The media watch Britney like a hawk waiting for her to slip up. She has no privacy, and the things that everyday people do with their children, like forgetting to put a seat-belt on or smoking etc are blown out of proportion and increase the threat of her with losing custody of her children due to being an unfit mother. Im sure she has post-natal depression, she has a lot of pressure and not much support . . . a stark contrast to her lifestyle just 5 years ago.
I remember Britneys debut single "Baby One More Time" coming out in 1998 when we were 17 and I was doing preliminary exams for my HSC and getting my drivers licence. Up until that point, while I had been studying my books, Britney had a life of gymnastics, talent-competitions, musicals and TV appearances . . . she was being primed to be a star.
Most of the women I went to high school with now have children, they have partners, or have had partners, often married and divorced or in some complex de-facto relationships. A lot of those women had their first children while we were at school or not long out of it, but now that we are all in out mid 20s it is extremely unusual to have not partnered off and had children.
It is extremely important to women to be able to socialize with each other and fit in with each other. I know women that would rather date an ex-con, drug-addict or abusive man than date noone. And you might say it is because they are lonely but I think it is because you are socially oestracised as a woman if you do not have a partner and/or children to bring along to the family barbeque or your cousins birthday dinner . . . or at least have them exist so you will be able to talk about them in their absence and relate your tales to the other women . . . it is better to bring along someone who is completely wrong and bad for you than to be scoffed at as the token loner. If you cannot snag a man your female friendships will dwindle and diminish and you are pushed to the outers of society.
It seems to me that when she hit 23 Britney suddenly and with great determination decided it was no longer acceptable for her to be single. This is probably the age she realized she didn't zip into her costumes the way she used to and she was never going to re-create that pre-pubescent straight-up-and-down flashing of the teenage girl mid-riff body that everyone so admired and that propelled her to stardom. It is the curse of all the child stars that once they look adult they somehow seem fat . . . did she really get a boob job or did she just grow breasts . . . no amount of sit-ups will stop the natural widening of your hips when you enter your 20s unfortunately for Ms Spears.
Britney put her social life on hold to become a star and the public adored her. Now when shes not so fabulous she sees she really just had a whole bunch of fair-weather friends. Shes trying to play catch-up on her domestic life with the whole husband and kids thing but its not making her any happier. She is desperately grasping at anything she thinks might regain that sense of happiness she once had. She is depressed. She doesn't care if her gut is sticking out and she doesn't have a bra on, she doesn't care if you see her vagina, she doesn't care if her behaviour seems erratic. I have no doubt she does take a lot of drugs, illicit and prescribed, chain-smoking and drinking like a fish. You would be depressed too if you were quite literally yesterdays news, a once treasured show pony now put out to pasture. Britney would be genuinely shocked at how cruel and malicious reporters are being now she is no longer respected as a "beauty" . . . imagine how differently people speak to her now compared to how she was doted over in her earlier career.
There is an anxiety about fitting in and being useful that extends as far as our biggest stars. That Britney Spears would rather have a custody battle with that deadbeat K-Fed just so she can relate to other "normal" people, that she would feel so compulsed to produce children and be "normal" when she has already been such a success in every other area of her life . . . well I think it says a great deal about the unreasonable expectations society puts on women, and im not talking about the media, I mean society as a whole, Britneys friends, family, colleagues, and contemporaries . . . there is no time to sit down and be grateful for what you have achieved, women just keep comparing themselves to each other and creating a general sense of inadequacy amongst the sex . . . your not a real woman if u cant keep a man right?
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