“Have you seen the documentary?” we all ask each other about once a year when a groundbreaking account of a star’s life, demise, alleged criminal activities or death emerges and sweeps through pop culture, usually challenging what we thought we knew about them, or confirming our suspicions all along.
In 2021, that’s Framing Britney Spears, the New York Times documentary that looks at Britney Spears’ conservatorship, which since 2008 has given her father Jamie control of her financial, legal and medical affairs, leading to fans’ #FreeBritney campaign. In the process, we witness truly chilling footage of paparazzi hounding Britney throughout her early years of fame to the full height of stardom, until the inevitable retreat from the public eye.
We’ve seen this before. With Amy Winehouse, with Whitney Houston, Amanda Bynes, Lindsay Lohan – I could go on. The press smell blood, they go after it, we want more, they get more; the cycle continues. Until it doesn’t….