"Framing Britney Spears" should have probably been called "Free Britney;" that’s the name of the fan-driven movement that eventually becomes the primary focus of Samantha Starks’ New York Times-produced documentary.
Stark explores the controversy that has invaded the pop star’s life now for more than 13 years: her father, Jamie Spears, unusually and legally serving as her conservator, the title given to someone by a court to control someone’s daily affairs and financial decisions.
Daddy received the conservatorship after Spears’ public meltdowns, which, we’re told, was a result of post-partum depression and the media’s constantly invasive obsession with her. After Spears shaved her head and chased a paparazzi’s van with an umbrella, a county judge bluntly ruled that she was in no shape or form to be in charge of her estate’s finances (one worth in the upwards of $60 million). But that was 13 years ago. Spears is fine now, or so we’re told, but she still doesn’t have the power to manage her own career. Daddy is still in charge.
It’s not as if Spears hasn’t fought this; she petitioned to have her father replaced from the role in August, and her court battle felt like a rallying cry for her very passionate fans to fight alongside her. And that they did. A grass-roots effort, resembling a political campaign, formed. The final part of the documentary turns its attention towards this movement which grew via online communities, and the ultra-popular podcast, “Britney’s Gram.”
Of course, “Reframing Britney” is so much more than just an account of the conservatorship battle; it also reflects on the misogyny that Spears has had to deal with ever since she stormed the pop charts more than 20 years ago with “Baby One More Time.” Spears' career is somewhat, all-too-briefly, tackled here, especially the media's constant harassment of the Mississippi-born singer.
It turns out that Britney advanced 21st century feminism in ways that not many give her credit for. The hyper-sexualized nature of her persona was a risk she took, seemingly inspired by her idol Madonna’s risque attitude back in the ‘80s and ‘90s. This led to a male-dominated media questioning her actions; everything from her voluptuous body to, especially, her ambiguous virginity being questioned. Just remember, she was only 17 when she rose to the top of the charts, and around 19 when the media started the chaos.
All this fascination and intrigue for the singer seems to stem from the fact that, despite the invasive nature of the media, not to mention former close confidants of Spears’ spilling the beans of her private life for a quick buck, we never truly got the full story about what happened.
All we get in Stark’s film is speculation. Yes, she’s made an incredible comeback, playing sold out shows and selling millions of new records, but was she ever “falling apart?” Maybe the “comeback” that I keep referring to may have not happened without the restraints placed on her during a very tumultuous time in her life. Alas, we can’t really know the truth here because neither side is interviewed, Britney and Jamie declined Stark’s invitations to appear in camera.
"We never knew her," former MTV VJ Dave Holmes says. "We know her even less now." That’s what so frustrating about "Framing Britney Spears," it doesn’t have all the details needed to warrant a fully-formed opinion from an unbiased viewer. Eventually, we hope, a far more essential document will be made with Spears’ participation. But in the absence of access to Spears’s own side of the story, not to mention her own father’s, all Stark can do is retread what we already knew about Spears.
The best thing about Stark’s doc existing in the zeitgeist is that it might open the door for some much-needed questioning on the matter. Spears’ attempts at re-opening the case have fallen flat with judge after judge. Maybe having “Reframing Britney Spears” become the talk of Twitter, which it has become, might spark new debate about the way everything has been handled.
SCORE: C+