The documentary on Spears comes on the heels of another Noughties phenom Paris Hilton’s documentary This is Paris, that also puts the tabloid culture that hounded female celebrities under the microscope. Framing Britney Spears’ examination of how callously the media handles Spears’ mental health problems is especially telling and heart wrenching. It reminded me of Asif Kapadia’s brilliant Amy Winehouse documentary Amy, a tragic chronicling of public life and death. Winehouse transforms from an artist in her prime to a lonely young woman struggling with addiction under the glare of global surveillance and as fair game to public ridicule.
Since Framing Britney Spears has sparked conversations about fame and misogyny in recent weeks, a clip from a 2013 interview of Mean Girls actor Lindsay Lohan by late-night institution David Letterman has been circulating on social media. The then 26-year-old Lohan, whose struggles with addiction and mental health had been subject of media…