To increase demand for #FreeBritney, documentaries about Spears is released! Controlling Brittney Spears, a sequel to Framing Brittney Spears, aired last Friday on FX and Hulu and promises more facts about Spears’ horrific living conditions since 2008.
CNN aired Toxic: Britney Spears’ Fight for Freedom on Sunday night, a short, unrevealing summary of Spears‘ career and her difficulties with guardianship. Britney vs. Spears, a 90-minute Netflix documentary by Erin Lee Carr and Rolling Stone contributor Jenny Eliscu, was released on Tuesday.
The surprise release of Fyre Fraud by Hulu in 2019, just days before Netflix’s Fyre, has brought attention to the two Britney stories. Their proximity and today’s hearing show they intend to profit from Spears’ case.
Framing Britney Spears investigates how much of her private life was exploited. Is it fair to dig more ground at this sensitive time? #FreeBritney has acknowledged Britney’s treatment. Helpful?
Management. Following Britney’s testimony in June, filmmakers interviewed Samantha Stark and Liz Day sources of the guardianship. Controlling Britney Spears shows how her father and others tried to hurt her and steal her money in brutal ways.
Watching the film along with Framing Britney Spears gives you a fuller picture of Spears’ position and how the structures of our culture, from the media to the courts, can marginalise women. “It reminded me of prison,” says Alex Vlasov, former senior assistant for operations and cybersecurity at Black Box.
Vlasov’s short film shows how Jamie Spears, Robin Greenhill of Tri Star and Edan Yemini, Black Box’s head of security and Vlasov’s former boss, used a secret iPad to duplicate all of Spears’ phone calls, including text messages from her lawyer. Non-lawyers say this violates attorney-client privilege!
Like the rest of Controlling Britney Spears, this footage is presented in a rational, journalistic manner aimed at understanding Britney’s life outside of Instagram. The documentary’s allegations about the recording and surveillance of Spears’ encounters prompted Spears’ lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, to file a third motion to dismiss the guardianship earlier this week.
Documentaries enhance issues or legal matters. Documentaries educate and inspire. Handling Britney Britney Spears explored how widely circulated photos of a shaved, angry Britney contributed to the “Britney is crazy” narrative that may have triggered the guardianship.
Spears’ media clips again juxtapose concern and anger. Britney: On the Record (2008) calls the guardianship “terribly unpleasant”. The two New York Times documents state that you or a loved one could lose their rights if Britney Spears does so.
Britney vs Spears fight. The documentary shows that Carr and Eliscu started the project in 2019 to honour Spears’ songs and career. They changed their film to frame Britney Spears’ tutelage. Personal.
Carr and Eliscu like Spears. Carr fell in love with her music when she was 10, while Eliscu, who has interviewed Britney many times, describes sneaking past Spears’ security and hiding in a hotel bathroom to help the singer sign documents requiring new legal representation. Spears repeatedly neglected guardianship rules.
The Netflix post shows how thoroughly Carr and Eliscu studied Spears documents from an unnamed source. The guardianship agreement described Spears’ illness as “dementia” for a 27-year-old who recovered and was able to return to work.
Adnan Ghalib, who used to be a paparazzi, and Sam Lutfi, who used to be her manager, talk about how they tried and failed to protect her. “The perfect scapegoat” for the guardianship, Lutfi said. Britney vs Spears ignores Lutfi.
The first 25 minutes of the film cover her early career, including her marriage to Kevin Federline and harassment by paparazzi. Her worst times are not covered, presumably out of respect for the star.
The NYT documentary fails to connect the dots. Unfortunately, it feels like jumping on a bandwagon and doesn’t add much to the big picture that the New York Times and its partners on FX and Hulu have already painted.
