Pobrecita Britney Spears
Last night at karaoke I got to wondering if I knew Britney Spears' Toxic well enough to sing it - so I looked it up, and it turns out I do (it's a pretty easy song). But that search in turn led to a further review of Britney's career, and I became fascinated as I realized that she actually has a really great body of work. I think it's unfair how her career turned out. Sure, she's a total nutcase and we're all tired of her shenanigans, and maybe she never deserved to be famous in the first place, but if you compare her actual songs with what her rivals (Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, JoJo, etc) have to offer, the simple truth is that her contributions to dance pop are truly deserving of respect. So why did she sour so fast? Two words can summarize her undoing: Justin Timberlake.
At the time we just thought Britney was retarded for making mountains out of molehills. Who gave a damn whether she was a virgin or not? Nobody except her, so if she was bothered so much by Justin's betrayal, it was her own fault for making that her Thing - her raison d'etre, if you will. But from the PR perspective, I'm sure it made a lot of sense at the time. The reason Britney exploded onto our consciousness the way she did was because she offered such a fresh-faced change to a media world saturated with whores. The Britney we fell in love with was the pig-tailed, school-spirited girl waiting to be saved by the bell (so to speak) in the Baby One More Time video. So she tried to take that image and run with it. But then Justin exposed her for a charlatan, and it was all downhill from there. Have you noticed that the sum total of her career from that point on was a desperate attempt to compensate - to take ownership of her newfound whore image? Her trouble was that she took that image too far, and it just became gross. It's the same kind of gross sexuality that makes people love Madonna (and that makes me love David Johansen), but for some reason it failed for Britney. Perhaps because she overestimated how much of a whore she seemed to the rest of the world. Or perhaps because she was so naturally trashy...
But talk about a Madonna-whore complex. Zing!
Anyways, my recent deflation made me realize that it's never easy to be exposed for a charlatan. It doesn't matter if your point of pride was stupid to begin with, and everyone else thought you were weird for even caring. Luckily my disappointment wasn't so great that I'd go off running barefoot in gas station bathrooms or marrying douchey sponges, but I can sympathize with how terrible it must have been to be so publicly humiliated, and moreover, betrayed by someone you thought you loved. That shit could surely get you asking those "Who am I? What am I doing here?" questions.
Plus, it's hard enough to endure the loss of love. Too often there are Justin Timberlakes in the world who act irresponsibly and never have to answer to ruining a person's life or causing mental disorders. Vanilla Sky, vis a vis Cameron Diaz's character, I think is an exploration in this moral dilemma. The Justin Timberlakes and David Ameses will continue to walk away scot free, because people feel sorry for them for having to be burdened by the crazinesses of the Britney Spearses and Julie Giannis ("we've all been there before, so why can't these crazy cunts just learn to deal with it?"). All the same, I have a sneaking suspicion that this isn't just.
At the time we just thought Britney was retarded for making mountains out of molehills. Who gave a damn whether she was a virgin or not? Nobody except her, so if she was bothered so much by Justin's betrayal, it was her own fault for making that her Thing - her raison d'etre, if you will. But from the PR perspective, I'm sure it made a lot of sense at the time. The reason Britney exploded onto our consciousness the way she did was because she offered such a fresh-faced change to a media world saturated with whores. The Britney we fell in love with was the pig-tailed, school-spirited girl waiting to be saved by the bell (so to speak) in the Baby One More Time video. So she tried to take that image and run with it. But then Justin exposed her for a charlatan, and it was all downhill from there. Have you noticed that the sum total of her career from that point on was a desperate attempt to compensate - to take ownership of her newfound whore image? Her trouble was that she took that image too far, and it just became gross. It's the same kind of gross sexuality that makes people love Madonna (and that makes me love David Johansen), but for some reason it failed for Britney. Perhaps because she overestimated how much of a whore she seemed to the rest of the world. Or perhaps because she was so naturally trashy...
But talk about a Madonna-whore complex. Zing!
Anyways, my recent deflation made me realize that it's never easy to be exposed for a charlatan. It doesn't matter if your point of pride was stupid to begin with, and everyone else thought you were weird for even caring. Luckily my disappointment wasn't so great that I'd go off running barefoot in gas station bathrooms or marrying douchey sponges, but I can sympathize with how terrible it must have been to be so publicly humiliated, and moreover, betrayed by someone you thought you loved. That shit could surely get you asking those "Who am I? What am I doing here?" questions.
Plus, it's hard enough to endure the loss of love. Too often there are Justin Timberlakes in the world who act irresponsibly and never have to answer to ruining a person's life or causing mental disorders. Vanilla Sky, vis a vis Cameron Diaz's character, I think is an exploration in this moral dilemma. The Justin Timberlakes and David Ameses will continue to walk away scot free, because people feel sorry for them for having to be burdened by the crazinesses of the Britney Spearses and Julie Giannis ("we've all been there before, so why can't these crazy cunts just learn to deal with it?"). All the same, I have a sneaking suspicion that this isn't just.
posted by Rex at 2:30 PM
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