Britney vs Spears: a critical analysis of narrative
On September 23rd 2021, Netflix released the official trailer for Britney vs Spears, a documentary that discusses and investigates the injustices that happened to the famous pop star, focusing on the singer’s fight for freedom out of the conservatorship she’s been under for more than a decade, expected to be premiered on the platform on September 28th.
Britney (Jean) Spears, also referred to as the “Princess of Pop”, is an American singer that rose to fame in the 1990s. …Baby One More Time (1999) and Oops!… I Did It Again (2000), were global triumphs and became two of the best-selling albums of all time, as well as making her the best-selling teenage artist of all time.
Britney Spears’s popularity, music, look, and presence attracted millions around the world, making her audience range from youngster to older people, male and female, western and eastern civilizations alike, which is also why this documentary can reach and engage many.
Britney vs Spears is a documentary, a “non-fictional motion-picture intended to document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education, or maintaining a historical record […] documentary filmmakers have a responsibility to be truthful to their vision of the world without intentionally misrepresenting a topic.”
Therefore, this genre of filmmaking attracts many — it’s for its portrayal of the truth, a deeper investigation made to show the audience what normal news won’t show in detail.
Documentaries have different formats of presentation depending on the producers. In Britney vs Spears, we see that the filmmaker, Erin Lee Carr with the help of journalist Jenny Eliscu, investigate the singer’s case by way of exclusive interviews with the people that worked for her and confidential evidence that had never been shown to the public before.
The film also doesn’t have a set setting either, as the each character is showed in a different setting (they’re interviewed in different places), and Britney’s scenes are public videos of paparazzi mobs.
What happens in the documentary?
The film starts black, cutting to the image and sound of an audience cheering, chanting the singer’s name.
Suddenly, the image of a young Britney Spears appears. It’s at a concert, she’s still young — the peak of her career. As an audience we can see the power she has over the people at the show. How she attracts people to her and how loved she is.
This movement creates instant empathy and recognition, mixed with a sense of nostalgia.The scene of a teenage, smiling Britney Spears is shown, a foreshadowing of the short-lived happiness she had felt.
The film then shifts, showing an even younger Britney.
“When I was 8, my mom realised I could sing. I’ve always loved to sing. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do”.
The scene then cuts to an older, teenage version of Britney, rehearsing for her shows, and on stage.
“[…] Everything about her was strong and fearless”.
These unfolding scenes show the audience Britney’s talent, which tells us that not everyone gets to have what the protagonist has (talent, fame…).”
It also lets us remember where she came from and how she grew up and, also, how the world perceived her. It shows the consequences fame had on her, the “spiralling out of control” she experienced, and her need for help, this being the temporality that the narrative follows.
We are then lightly introduced to the “antagonist”, the father, who created the conservatorship.
The introduction of characters, like in all mediums of narrative, gives us a spectrum of what to expect from each one, their motives.
Documentaries are no exception and, considering the reality of the story portrayed, it only focalises the more on who is the “good guy” (or victim in this case) and the “bad guy”.
Even though Britney and his father are the main focus of this story, they are not the ones moving the narrative, nor are they present in the film.
The characters are the people interviewed by the filmmakers, the movement being the back and forth from scene to scene, the portrayal of the interviewees’ emotions and connections to Britney — mimesis; as well as the narrators who are the filmmakers and interviewers themselves, guiding the spectator through each sequence with their voiceovers — diegesis.
The narration of the documentary then follows Britney’s mental health struggles and how that had impacted her relationships and career from 2007.
The singer’s vulnerability had forced James Spears to create a conservatorship to help the singer with the pressure of her career and her image in the media. What this decision turned out to be was a manipulation of power, leaving Britney Spears with no control or choice to make decisions of her own.
The struggle for Britney’s freedom has lasted more than a decade. Over the last couple of years, the singer had become more vocal on her Instagram about her unhappiness with the conservatorship and her family.
Soon after Britney posted her videos, fans noticed the deletion of the content, signalling the censorship on her account. The fans, moved by her courage, went vocal about this issue on social media, the hashtag #freebriteny becoming a global movement.
The reaction of the documentary was varied in the public.
Though many showed their support towards the telling of the pop singer’s story others, like the Independent thought that the documentary was “irresponsible, boring and a waste to everyone’s time”, continuing by saying that the “Netflix film features more hypocritical finger-wagging over the past and revelations that only raise more questions”.
I think misinterpretations about the meaning behind this film could have been avoided if the interviews had been more focused on how people had tried to help her, if there was anyone trying to defend and protect her from the pressures of her job and the conservatorship.
Though the film tries to make the viewer empathise with the singer and her struggles, it is true that it doesn’t satisfy the audience’s questions with the case. At times, the overloading portrayal of emotions from the interviewees seems almost forced and cliché and incomplete. Instead, I believe the one thing that most people have ended up wondering is “why didn’t anyone intervene?” “Why couldn’t she trust anyone?” “Why would no one back her up?”
The singer’s fight for freedom is still far from over. The leaked audio of her latest court appearance and statement has only fired the fans’ fight on social media, raising even more awareness of the situation.
This is what closes the documentary, like a reminder to the audience of the humanity in the celebrities fans idolise.
