Britney Spears may not have become more famous in the past few months, but it certainly seems that way. Press coverage of her every wobbly move seems more pervasive than ever. Once again, Britney Spears is major business. This time, however, her music is not the commodity being exchanged in the marketplace; it's her life, or, to be more precise, the unraveling of her life. In other words, she is losing her mind, and other people are profiting from it.
What does it say about us as people when we delightfully feast on the destruction of one person's life? Why is there so little sympathy for someone who is clearly in the midst of a complete nervous breakdown? Granted, none of us asked to have Britney Spears in our lives, but is this fair payback? Does this merit the glee with which her meltdown is being consumed? We're all so busy ogling her downward spiral that we're forgetting to ask what's brought her to this point.
Spears rose to the top of the charts by commodifying her voice and, more convincingly, her body. Her very being was transformed into a product, but this is standard. The female pop artist is a product, and the product must perform in order to maintain market dominance. Call it Glamour Darwinism. The female pop artist must constantly reinvent herself in order to survive. Take Madonna: she has stayed alive by unveiling a new and improved product every few years. There are exceptions, of course, your Meryl Streeps and Norah Joneses, women who have not had to commodify themselves in order to succeed in showbusiness, but these are two names in a sea of objectification, and it is this sea that Ms. Spears is currently drowning in.
Britney Spears has been reinvented as a defective product. She is New Coke. She is the DeLorean and the Corvair, and she is in the middle of a major factory recall, but unlike GM, she will not have a team of lawyers or managers to bail her out. It's a fire sale, and everything that is Spears must go.
But that doesn't mean people can't make a ton of cash while the ship is sinking. Enter the Disaster Capitalists, the carpetbaggers who have shown up to sell marshmallows fresh-roasted on the Britney bonfire. Meltdowns of the Rich and Famous is a fabulous business model, provided that the rich and famous self-destruct slowly and painfully, the slower the better. The worst nightmare in the minds of those "news outlets" covering Britney's long march to the bottom is that she'll die before they're able to wring every last dollar out of her tattered life. They want a prolonged, videotaped custody battle, more inebriated photo shoots, more dazed live performances, more flab (even though she's hardly fat), more bad songs, more pantless public appearances, perhaps a failed suicide attempt or two during the holidays -- anything except death itself, because they want this product to stay on the market forever, or at least until their profits go down.
This is the sad fate that awaits Britney Spears. No one is looking to understand what's happening to her, no one is looking to help her, everyone simply wants to look, to curl up on the couch and watch the train wreck that is her life. And when the flames have been put out and the paramedics have thrown a sheet over her immolated remains, we'll speed up and be on our merry way, her pain and suffering forgotten before we reach the next rest area.
This isn't simply a matter of "pop stars are people too," or some sappy call for sympathy for a poor little rich girl. This is simply a call for honesty. This is nothing to celebrate or get excited about. This is not a comedy. This is a tragedy, and a common one. People have mental breakdowns and traumatic custody battles every day, and no one asks for it. The fact that it's happening to someone famous should not make any difference.
Britney needs to go into isolation and take some lessons from Tina Turner or Annie Lennox- two talented women with staying power.
Some people can handle their booze and dope, but Britney clearly cannot.
as far as sympathy goes:
are you kidding me???
not for an artistic fraud who had the balls to say:
"I think we should all just listen to" good old G-Dubya
I feel sorry for her poor kids
she should "retire" and be a mother
A simple answer to the above question: we're not exactly abundant in the empathy department as a society. On the other hand, we have an epidemic of denial in our own lives. Most of us are not in touch with aspects of ourselves that echo what Britney's going through, so we find it easy to be critical of her behaviour.
That really isn't the paparazzi's... or Federline's... or the leaches' she thinks are friends that she surrounds herself with to get back for her.
She could be more aware of her persona... perception, appearance... Stop giving the presshounds the fodder. How many times does it have to be printed that you're endangering your children and yourself by driving around amidst rabid paparazzi? How many times does it have to be printed before you stop by the panty drawer on your way out for a night on the town? How many times does it have to be printed that you may be a wreck before you take a look at yourself?
It's not like she hasn't had the warning signs thrown at her. Madonna's tried to offer advice.... Offered to help get her performance for the VMA's together after the original idea fell through with a stylist, personal trainer, or whatever she thought she needed. But she turned it all down for Margaritaville (finally found the panty drawer though). But others can only do so much with a person that doesn't want to help herself.
While I don't agree with the way the media feeds on her, she could take the hint and stand up for herself. She could've walked out and backhanded that tasteless Comedienne for using her children as joke bait. If she had, I bet the performance would've been forgotten about, the slap being the headline, and she wouldn't be as much in the pit as she's in today.
The press should be ashamed of themselves... At least treat her like a human, with respect and, dare say, concern... What the media did to poor Anna Nichole's rotting corpse was the bottom of the barrel. Like she'd never been. Disgusting. Terrible. But, did they ever say "We hope she finds the help she needs" at story's end? Will they ever for Britney?
I agree about poor Anna Nicole. Anna was stressed out, her caesarian section hadn't healed, she had developed pneumonia that hadn't completely gone away, she was terrified of losing her baby, and she was in grief for her son. The media was pitiless and to a certain degree so was Larry Birkhead, but I think if he'd had a chance to meet with her, perhaps they could have worked it out, I read they had been e-mailing each other prior to her death.
Anyway, I also agree with you that no matter what Brit does, the press should treat her like a human being. In some ways its another form of self abuse to expose one's self to this media onslaught. Something is literally eating Brit alive, but if she doesn't get it together soon, the pitiless vultures will be crowing over the corpse of her dead or her dead career and rights of a mother.
It reminds me of a short story I'd read in Jr. High.I think it was Poe-called "the lottery".
In this story all of the winners of the numbers drawn were stoned to death by a mob.
I don't enjoy watching her unravel. However, I think its gross how humans seem to lift a person up just to crush them.
Britney has refused help because shes scared of what it entails and she should be. I think she went post-partum nuts and doesn't realize it.
No insurance, its your fault, default on a loan, its your fault.
On the other hand, I don't believe that over-identifying with the victim, which you see on the far left, is the answer.
But, the Lack of Empathy for Britney is a reflection of the America envisioned by the con talk-show hosts. The latter are, in the main, highly narcissistic individuals and one of the main features of narcissism is lack of empathy.
Something triggered this breakdown and although its none of my business, I'm certainly interested in what that is.
I've never thought much of Britney's transparently manufactured "talent", but I take no pleasure in watching her self-destruct. It's sad, and pitiable.
Would I want to trade places with her, even for a million bucks a month?
Never.
~Lannie~
a train going from station to station without problems is not news
but a trainwreck is ...
Why would anyone be sympathetic for someone that spends 14 thousand dollars for a pair of sandals while there are children in the country going hungry.
-Mike
Incorrect. Everyone around her has tried to help her, but SHE refuses to accept the help. SHE has made HERSELF a spectacle. Most of us watching are not enjoying the fall, but are stunned at her ridiculousness. If a young girl (or boy for that matter) from our own neighborhood was acting like she is acting, the entire neighborhood would be talking about her. Why should Spears be treated any differently than the products of our own nighborhood rumormills? It is human nature to gossip, because it allows us to communicate with each other reagrding what is acceptable and what is not acceptable behavior in our society. Her behavior is unacceptable on a lot of levels, and people have a right to talk about it. It is no different than any of us taking about the boy next door who had everything going for him, but turned to a life of crime or something. Most would be stunned and puzzled at the negative turn around, and he would be talked about incessantly. It's no different for Spears.