Thomas and Tranna dissect ‘Framing Britney Spears’

In their new column for Xtra, Chosen Family’s Thomas and Tranna react to the biggest stories on the internet and beyond. A warning to readers: Parts of this discussion deal with misogyny, transphobia and sexual violence.  

It’s been just over two weeks since the release of Framing Britney Spears, the New York Times documentary that examines the pop princess’ life, from childhood dreams to superstardom to a conservatorship that has ruled her life for the last 12 years. And already, the doc’s cultural impact is significant. In the past two weeks, there’s been a collective re-evaluation of the inherent and brutal misogyny of the media in the early 2000s: Diane Sawyer has been called out for a particularly appalling interview she did with Britney back in 2003, and Justin Timberlake was put on blast so intensely he issued an apology that many fans feel is too little too late. But the re-examination doesn’t end with Britney. A 2013 interview with Lindsay Lohan and David Letterman has also been called out for its shockingly horrible treatment of Lohan’s mental health and addiction issues, and good old Sawyer is also under fire for her infamous Whitney Houston interview, which was exploitative in a way no journalist would ever be able to get away with today. 

Framing Britney Spears may not necessarily contain much new information for die-hard Britney fans who have been following her legal situation closely, but it does a compelling job of bringing all the pieces of the puzzle together and creating a timeline that shows how it all went down. It closely examines the connections between exploitation, misogyny, fame, mental health, patriarchy and media, with Britney at the center of the messy web.  

As two Britney lovers who’ve been following the story of her conservatorship closely, we knew when we saw Britney’s former assistant, Felicia Culotta, in the documentary’s trailer that it was going to be something. Does it live up to the hype? Will the doc be a catalyst toward Britney’s freedom? Join us as we debate and dissect Framing Britney Spears and the importance of Britney in pop culture. 

Thomas: So… straight people now know about #FreeBritney! 

Tranna: I know! Even Sarah Jessica Parker tweeted #FreeBritney, which made me so happy—and I’m sure it made Britney happy too, because she’s always been a Sex and the City fan. 

Thomas: And now because straight people care, the world finally cares. But brave queers and their allies created the #FreeBritney movement online almost two years ago. This is not new for us. 

Tranna: I’ve been screaming “free Britney” since 2008, when I saw the MTV documentary, Britney: For the Record, which was basically the last time Britney was allowed to speak somewhat freely in an interview. Britney was telling us, even back then, what a bad mess she was in when her father took control over her life through the conservatorship. That was 12 years ago. 

Thomas: Watching Framing Britney Spears, it’s startling to see the violent misogyny in the media of the early 2000s that went completely unchecked and unquestioned until now, largely thanks to this doc. 

Tranna: Right around the time her personal life was falling apart—her marriage to Kevin Federline ended soon after they had their second child in 2006—celebrity gossip blogs, like Perez Hilton, were starting to become a really big thing. So, at that time you have this new beast (blogging) working hand in hand with the old beast (print and television tabloids) to create this insatiable hunger for celebrity gossip, reaching an extreme that had never existed before or even since. It’s really specific to 2004-2010, and Britney was in the eye of that storm. It’s what makes her experience as a celebrity so singular. Print tabloids don’t really mean anything anymore, and celebrities have so much more control over their narratives through social media. 

Thomas: I’m happy we are finally re-examining that era, knowing what we know today about the predatory nature of the entertainment business. One detail that people always forget is that Britney Spears was so fucking young. She was only 22 when “Toxic” came out, and that was from her fourth album! By the time she was 25 she was a global superstar, had three consecutive #1 albums, three world tours, and two children born just a year apart. In a way, the breakdown now looks like it was inevitable because she was under the kind of intense pressure that very few people can understand. 

Tranna: If Britney would have had a team who was actually looking out for her well-being, I do not think things would have turned out the way they have. On the other hand, Britney’s stardom was reliant on people who were willing to do anything for money. It’s sad to say, but so much of her fame was tied to her sexualization and exploitation. Just look at the “…Baby One More Time” video. It’s a fantastic song, but would she have been the cultural phenomenon she became without her sexualization? Sadly, that question can be asked of so many female pop stars. Britney wasn’t a voice like Céline; she wasn’t a songwriter like Alanis; she wasn’t savvy like Madonna—she was a kid (and so were we)! And as kids, we were pretty oblivious to how fucked up it was for this 17-year-old girl to be so sexualized, we just loved the songs and thought she was pretty. But exploitation has been the main theme of her career from the very beginning. 

Thomas: It’s very interesting to me that the queer community, even when we were younger, has always been very supportive of Britney—Perez Hilton notwithstanding. I wonder if the way the media vilified her after the Justin Timberlake breakup endeared her to us even more… I remember watching her 2003 performance with Madonna and Christina Aguilera at the MTV Video Music Awards, which was about one year after the breakup. Picture this: 21-year-old Britney kisses 45-year-old Madonna, the camera cuts right to Justin (who released his first solo album in 2002 with the infamous video for “Cry Me a River,” that was inspired by his relationship with Britney). And I will always remember his awkward stare, knowingly being filmed while looking at the scene playing out on stage. If there was ever male gaze exemplified, that was it! The homophobic reaction to the kiss was wild, and at the same time that kiss was total queer baiting.

Tranna: Until seeing the doc, I never knew how much the Justin Timberlake breakup was responsible for the way the media turned on her. When they broke up, the media treated Justin like this wounded little bird and this triumphant hero because he managed to fuck the virgin who had been the object of every man’s desire. And she became the “evil slut” because she allegedly cheated on him. She was totally vilified and degraded and, again, exploited—this time by Justin. That vilification, that branding of her as an “evil slut,” was totally dehumanizing. And it’s that dehumanization that allowed the media to pulverize her with impunity from 2004-2007. Without that post-Justin dehumanization the media would never have been able to do to her what they did. It is so sickening. 

Thomas: Chris Crocker was asked how he felt about the documentary, and he made a very interesting connection between the transphobia his younger “gender-bending” self experienced after the “Leave Britney Alone” video went viral and the misogyny Britney experienced at the hands of the media. He received death threats because he didn’t conform to gender norms at the time. I think people who have suffered from transphobia or homophobia identify with Britney because transphobia and homophobia are deeply rooted in misogyny. 

Tranna: In connection to misogyny, here’s what I thought was the most disturbing aspect of everything: All of the paparazzi who were terrorizing her—hunting her like a pack of wolves—were men. The then-editor of US Weekly, who’s featured in the doc and had a multi-million dollar budget for paparazzi pictures, is a man. Watching the doc, I couldn’t help but feel like what all these men were doing to Britney was a kind of violence. There was something more sinister happening than just paparazzi trying to get a picture of a celebrity. Madonna has often characterized the media treatment she’s received as sexual violence (she uses a harsher word), and while I’ve always felt very uncomfortable with her analogy, watching the doc made me think about it. When that paparazzo, who took the infamous umbrella picture of her, says, “well, she never really told us to stop,” I wanted to punch him in the face! 

Thomas: It’s heart-wrenching. And we haven’t even addressed the conservatorship, which would never have occurred to a male star like Michael Jackson or Justin Bieber, regardless of their struggles with mental health. The conservatorship itself is an aspect of the misogyny she has experienced in every aspect of her career. It’s also baffling to know that during her tenure on American Idol and her two residencies in Las Vegas, she still wasn’t able to have control over her finances, her health or her family. 

Tranna: It’s absurd. Clearly these men behind the conservatorship—led by her father, Jamie—are abusing the purpose of a conservatorship to make money from her (yet another form of exploitation). Side note: We have to keep in mind that Britney is the quintessential Sagittarius, and Sagittarians live for freedom and escape! Imagine a Sagittarius having their freedom taken away from them? It’s unthinkable! 

Thomas: Sagittarius queen! I think that is another aspect of Britney that queer people identify with: For so many of us, control and power are taken away from us in our family of origin when we come out, and taking it back is a lifelong journey. So to see someone who has brought us so much joy and excitement over the years, someone who has given many of us the courage to be who we are, be completely destroyed by the media and then controlled by a conservatorship—it’s very angering! Just typing this, I want to scream and throw my computer! I might need to watch the tragically beautiful “Everytime” music video to calm myself down.

Tranna: What do you think of the fans featured in the doc who basically started the #FreeBritney movement? 

Thomas: I have to admit, I initially didn’t get why fans showed up at the courthouse, but now I get it. We’re so fucking helpless in face of the patriarchy and toxic masculinity that showing up for Britney Spears at the courthouse is kind of a revolutionary act! 

Tranna: I honestly never thought about it that way, but you’re right! It reminds me of the great love Judy Garland’s gay fans had for her. What do you think is next for Britney? Do you think she’ll regain control of her life? Do you think she’ll ever make music again? 

Thomas: I think she is a person who just wants to heal and, to me, that’s what has made her so moving on Instagram in recent years. You can see that desire to heal: She loves an inspirational quote, a yoga pose, a sweaty dance session. Based on what we’ve learned from the court documents, it doesn’t sound like healing can fully happen so long as her dad is legally responsible for her and her estate. I just don’t want anything bad to happen to her, and I honestly don’t think she can be a working artist and be spared by the media. Maybe society really is evolving and we’ll just let her be, but I find that the pull she has on the media and her fans—we are literally writing a column on a documentary that the world cannot stop talking about—is so strong, it will never go away. That’s Britney’s destiny, for better or worse. She gave us so much incredible music and I would honestly love for her to be recognized for the artist she is. For some reason, maybe because of her age and sexuality, she was never given the recognition that Madonna, Beyoncé or Lady Gaga received from critics. My wish would be for the world to see her as she is: An artist. What do you think?

Tranna: I mean, I really love her. How can anyone not? But, and I say this with no meanness, I think part of the bigger reason she was never given any of the recognition that Madonna, Beyoncé or Lady Gaga have received is because I think it’s hard to make the argument that Britney is an artist. I think she’s the best Zumba teacher we’ve ever had, and I think she is dazzling, captivating and has a magical pull over all of us. But I think there’s a difference between charisma and artistry. I want Britney to get whatever she genuinely wants. In the 2008 documentary, she described a fantasy of living on an island with her kids and a man, and that’s what I think she truly wants. I hope she gets that dream life because she deserves it. 

Thomas: Okay, I’m going to go now and listen to “Lucky” on repeat. 

“She’s so lucky, she’s a star/ But she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart, thinking/ If there’s nothing missing in my life/ Then why do these tears come at night?”

Montreal-based comedians Thomas Leblanc and Tranna Wintour’s podcast Chosen Family streams on CBC, Apple and Google; new episodes drop every Thursday.