All The People I Hate After Watching ‘Framing Britney Spears’
We want justice for Britney Spears!
If you’ve got a spare hour and a half, I can’t stress to you enough that you should watch Framing Britney Spears. Whether you’re a fan of her music or not, you can’t deny that Britney has been at the centre of pop culture for the past two decades and thus, she’s relevant to you. The late ’90s and the ’00s was Britney’s world and we simply lived in it.
Introducing: Framing Britney Spears
The New York Times documentary dives deep into Britney Spears’ life and how she was treated by the industry. From relationships to the media, paparazzi to her family: this documentary unpacks how the people in and around Britney’s life shaped and curated her downfall.
If you don’t know, Britney Spears is currently under a conservatorship, which the documentary spends most of its duration explaining. Essentially, because of this conservatorship, Britney Spears’ life, money, and estate were all being handled by her father, a person she didn’t want in that position. It should be noted that currently Jamie Spears is no longer a conservator over Britney’s person but still remains one over her estate.
As a result, after watching Framing Britney Spears, I’ve decided that I hate approximately six people.
Let’s get into who they are and why you should hate them too.
#1. Justin Timberlake
the more you look at this magazine cover, the worse it gets… pic.twitter.com/VaAVQdAf1j
— Haydn Hickson (@haydn_hickson) February 9, 2021
Fuck this man. Fuck this man so much. To refresh your memory, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears were Americas ‘it’ couple for a hot minute there. After these two split, instead of letting them move on in peace, the media wanted more. It was at this point, that Justin Timberlake tried to take advantage of Britney’s shifting image, alluding to her cheating on him in a music video, and talked about having sex with her on American radio. I’m not saying fuck this man, but fuck this man. And don’t even get me started on what he did to Janet Jackson… or Kylie for that matter.
#2. Diane Sawyer
I think it’s time to have a conversation about Diane Sawyer being one of the media’s greatest tools of misogyny in the aughts. Her interviews w #BritneySpears #WhitneyHouston are truly some of the most vile from an era particularly vile to women in the limelight. pic.twitter.com/SkDLlfP7H0
— MOST TONY NOMINATED ONEHIT WONDER Jeremy O. Harris (@jeremyoharris) February 9, 2021
One good thing about everybody having social media is that crazy interviewers and bullying-interview tactics are no-longer tolerated by all of us. It’s very jarring to watch how these interviewers treated Britney when she was really going through a tough time and journalist, Diane Sawyer, is no exception.
When watching her interview with Britney Spears, it’s almost as if she was instructed to do anything she possibly could to make her cry. And sure, we can’t really judge her by 2021 standards, but let’s just say watching the interview back now is an insanely uncomfortable experience.
#3. Mike Munro
Well, I watched the Britney doc and unfortunately my takeaway is that our entire society is a humiliating, violently misogynist failure and I'm ashamed of a media culture that, for decades, villainized her for money and sport, conditioning us to think it was funny. #FreeBritney
— Matt Rogers (@MattRogersTho) February 7, 2021
Believe it or not, the bullying tactics weren’t exclusive to the States. Even Australia’s own Mike Munro got in on the action, which is why he makes an appearance at number three on this list.
#4. Daniel Ramos (And All The Other Paparazzi That Harassed Britney)
paparazzi photographer: Britney never gave us any indication that she wanted us to leave her alone
interviewer: what about when she said "pls leave me alone!"
paparazzi photographer: she meant just for that day 🙁— pat regan (@poregan) February 7, 2021
The perception of Britney Spears went from “sweet girl next door” to “psychotic woman who lost the plot”. A lot this perceived journey is actually all to do with the paparazzi who wouldn’t leave Britney alone. Throughout the documentary, the ex-photography director of Us Weekly spoke about how paparazzi photos of Britney Spears could sell for a $1 million USD. Daniel Ramos is one of the paparazzi that incessantly followed Britney around and snapped the infamous umbrella image.
#5. The Producer On Family Feud Who Made A Joke Of Her Life
The answers for the Family Feud survey “Things Britney Spears lost this year” in 2008 ? pic.twitter.com/Xl5FYr5YB6
— jordan renae (@jj_renae) February 7, 2021
As Britney Spears’ downfall was being highly publicised by the media, she quickly became a laughing stock in American culture. An example of this can be seen in the Family Feud episode where the question “Name something Britney Spears has lost in the past year” is asked. Needless to say, I hate the person who produced this question, I hate the people who answered the question, and I hate the host for entertaining this question.
#6. Jamie Spears
What we think of Jamie Spears pic.twitter.com/sJnllmTAai
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) February 10, 2021
There really is a special place in hell for Britney Spears’ dad.
Following all of this media chaos, Britney Spears was placed under a conservatorship. Jamie Spears and Andrew Wallet (Britney’s lawyer), were named as co-conservators, giving them control over her person and her estate. As conservators, Jamie Spears and Andrew Wallet had the ability to limit Britney’s visitors, they also had access to her medical records and, not to mention, they had the ability to manage her finances. Wallet has since removed himself as Britney’s conservator, but Jamie Spears is still in the picture.
According to the documentary, Britney Spears never wanted her father to be her conservator. And yet, to this day, Britney Spears’ life is still being somewhat controlled by Jamie Spears. It was only just reported that Britney Spears was “grounded” by Jamie for three weeks for meeting a friend for a socially-distanced walk on the beach.
I should note, I don’t actually really hate all of these people. Obviously, Britney’s downfall was a product of its misogynistic time. A time when women were pitted against each other and celebrity tabloid culture was at its worst. I’m not saying all the people above should be cancelled, but we should use the documentary as a learning experience to reflect on the way we consume pop culture to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. Oh, except Britney’s dad, he should actually be cancelled.
Moving on from Framing Britney Spears, for more on the #FreeBritney movement, make sure you check out her boyfriend’s statement against Jamie Spears.