Framing Britney Spears - Fighting for Freedom

Framing Britney is director Samantha Stark's successful attempt to package Britney Spears' meteoric rise and fall into a 74-minute documentary. The film tackles the question of whether Britney Spears is unjustly under the guardianship of her father due to her mental condition in 2008.

Britney Spears - Crowned with success

Britney Jean Spears first saw the light of day on December 2, 1981 in McComb, Mississippi. She grew up in a strict Christian environment in Kentwood, Louisiana, and won singing and dancing competitions at a young age. After several failed attempts to get a record deal, she finally convinced "Jive Records" in 1997. In 1999, Britney Spears' debut album "Baby One More Time" was released, with which she soared to No. 1 on the US Billboard charts in no time. Shortly thereafter, she broke all records again with "Oops!... I Did It Again." The two albums not only propelled Britney into the annals of music history, but also made her the epitome of the "Princess of Pop.

Britney catapults herself into the headlines

In 2008, Britney Spears made massive headlines when she shaved off her blonde wavy mane on camera and grinned in the mirror. Britney with a bald head: a picture that went around the world and sent fans into a real state of shock. At that time, the singer was in a mental crisis, which was decisive for this rebellious action. As a result, Jamie Spears, Britney's father, was appointed conservator of his daughter, which meant a huge restriction of the singer's rights. After a court order, Britney was put under the conservatorship of her own father at the age of 26, which meant that from now on he could make decisions about his daughter's schedule, financial transactions and contracts, and he earned a lot of money from it.

More than a decade of Britney's restricted free will

This was followed by years of imprisonment among her own family. A particularly painful aspect that Britney always highlights is the disturbed psyche of her own family, who for years made her believe that she was okay with the terrible things that her family did to her. Furthermore, the singer revealed that she was drugged and forced to work. For years, she could not remove her contraceptive because it was prevented by her conservatorship. Yet Britney and her partner would have wanted another baby so badly.

Release of Britney Spears from conservatorship

In 2020, Britney Spears, then 39, went public with an urgent plea to finally be freed from her father's abusive guardianship. The singer had been quietly working towards this moment for years. She said she could no longer stand being constantly subject to her family's compulsion to control her. Although she was an adult woman, she had not been able to live a full life. Her father had abused her guardianship for years. Now she wanted to put an end to the abuse. On November 12, 2021, Britney regained her freedom after 13 years. A Los Angeles judge lifted all restraints on Britney's finances and affairs with immediate effect.

#FreeBritney - a liberated Britney Spears

How can it be that a person is able to deliver highly sophisticated performances, but at the same time needs a guardian, usually reserved for elderly or demented people? This was the question posed by Britney's fans, who since the beginning of the guardianship have united on social media to form the #FreeBritney movement, pleading for her freedom.

Britney Spears as a victim of a sexist media system

Samantha Stark, who directs Framing Britney, manages to rearrange the flood of coverage of Britney Spears to highlight how the singer was victimized by a sexist media system. This includes male journalists who used Britney's "innocent schoolgirl" depiction in the "Baby One More Time" music video as an opportunity to pester the then-16-year-old with questions about her virginity. Tabloid media that hired reporters to stalk Britney to once again put her in a bad light in headlines. Add to that a depressed Justin Timberlake, who used the failed relationship between him and Britney as an opportunity to portray himself as a victim in a song called "Cry Me A River."

In interviews, he repeatedly implied that Britney had cheated on him. The media quickly made her the culprit, which meant she incurred massive hostility. Britney Spears was put in her place by presenter Diane Sawyer, among others, when she confronted the star with the provocative question "What did you do to him?" and said that she should remember her role model function for young teenagers.

Perfect timing for Framing Britney

The release of Framing Britney on February 5, 2021 could not have been timed better. Not only because the Spears case had been reopened, but also because children and teenagers of the nineties, who quietly followed the headlines about Britney at the time, were now sitting in the editorial offices of the major tabloids themselves. In addition, celebrities were increasingly coming forward with psychological problems, largely as a result of aggressive "reporting."

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