The New York Times and FX documentary ‘Framing Britney Spears’ brought in an unprecedented movement in Hollywood. The documentary talked about the singer’s Conservatorship, where her father James Spears has the legal control over her life and financial affairs. The documentary laid out the factors that led to this and why people are demanding that she be freed from it.
Britney, who has been in the public eye since her early teenage years was put on a Conservatorship in 2008 after her mental health deteriorated. Her divorce with Kevin Federline was said to have been a major part of the sequence, which also included a couple of incidents in the public. It was also the time that she was hounded mercilessly by swarming paparazzi, who had no regard for her private space.
In a heartbreaking incident from a little before 2008, a pregnant Britney Spears was photographed crying and holding her elder son by the owners of a restaurant. Britney had entered the restaurant asking for help as the paparazzi was harassing her. However, the people chose to make fun of her, took her pictures and released it to the press. In another shocking incident in 2007, TMZ published photos of her private parts taken by the paparazzi after an accidental flashing.
After Britney was put on the Conservatorship for a ‘temporary’ basis, the dates for it to end kept delaying every year, with the singer being under legal guardianship for over twelve years now. The #FreeBritney movement has gained momentum in the last few years, however, its roots can be traced back to 2009.
After Framing Britney Spears aired, several celebrities, including her boyfriend Sam Asghari spoke out against the Conservatorship and her father. In an Instagram story, he said that James Spears put restrictions in his relationship with the 39-year-old.
The documentary through several insiders in her life, talked about the constant scrutiny and sexism she faced as a female celebrity in Hollywood. The documentary called out several people from the media, including TMZ co-founder Harvey Levin, American broadcaster Diane Sawyer, #MeToo accused Today Show host Matt Lauer, comedian Sarah Silverman among others from glaring mistreatment of the singer. Many of these figures had made disturbing comments about Britney during award shows, programmes and interviews.
However, one of the biggest events to have ever come out from the documentary was that pop-singer Justin Timberlake had to issue an apology to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson in his role in turning public opinion against the singers. Britney and Justin had dated for three years between 1999 and 2002. After they broke up, Justin released a single titled ‘Cry Me a River’ with a Britney Spears-lookalike in the music video and implied that she cheated on him. He then went on to give several interviews over the years, where he spoke about the singer in a not-so-pleasant way. His activities lead to a lot of slut-shaming, trolling and misogyny towards Spears. However, when asked up-front about the rumoured cheating, he maintained that the break-up was a mutual decision.
In the case of Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake pulled off an item of her clothing revealing her breast during the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show. Jackson was banned from the event and had to face severe misogyny and sexism. Her career also saw an all-time low. On the other hand, Justin’s action did not draw any negative impact for his behavior.
Decades after both the incidents, Justin took to Instagram to pen a lengthy apology. He said that he was unaware about his part in perpetuating sexism and misogyny. He also said in the post that he ‘failed’ both the singers.
The events that follow Framing Britney Spears is also a show of the age we live in. Social media has done a lot to call out journalists, tabloids, and even celebrities for their offensive behaviour. It is inspiring to see people expressing their support to female celebrities and calling out behaviour that is morally wrong.
However, this same solidarity seems to be missing in India. Yes, the paparazzi culture in India is much better than that in Hollywood, but there have been several incidents when a woman in Bollywood has faced blatant sexism from the media, the public and even other celebrities. We cannot forget how a major publication published pictures of Deepika Padukone’s cleavage. When the actor called the publication out, they tried to paint it as a publicity stunt. They went on to share more pictures of the actress from magazine shoots where her cleavage was visible, totally disregarding the very basic concept of ‘consent.’
This incident is one among thousands of instances where a female artist in India has to go through trolling, bullying, slut-shaming and moral policing. From Sunny Leone being harassed for her past career as an adult film star to Swara Bhaskar being trolled for a masturbation scene in a movie to the recent chilling public witch-hunt of Rhea Chakraborty, the list goes on. The internet is also a zone where anonymity gives shelter to trolls, who attack these celebrities for any reason— be it expressing their political opinions, posting a picture or simply existing. From Jaya Bachchan to Ananya Panday, no one is immune from these attacks from time to time.
If there is anything that we can learn from the Framing Britney Spears saga is that we need to treat our women in spotlight better. We can all start with an apology to the ones we have wronged, shamed and dismissed while making sure that we never have to depend on these regressive tropes again.
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