phamos | I think that she knows.

I've been watching old videos of Britney performing at the VMAs, and I'm sad. I'm so sad that this girl, who was once so vital, energetic, athletic, was basically chewed up and spit back out. No one ever prepared her for adulthood -- not that that's an excuse, but she just never had a chance. We kinda wanted her to fail, because she represented so much of what is wrong with the American music industry. I was always ranting about how Britney got to be a famous singer even though she (empirically) couldn't sing any better than about 90% of the girls at any given karaoke bar. But she did have talent -- not that she was such an amazing dancer, either, because she wasn't. But she could command a stage, better than any other performer of her generation. She wasn't the prettiest girl, and she wasn't the most talented girl. But she had some sort of indefinable star quality. I don't know if that charisma is worth the gazillion dollars that got thrown at her. Probably not. But it was obvious about 5 years ago that this was where the girl was going to end up, and we all watched, and we waited. Britney's entire life was a car crash in slow motion, and we rubbernecked for the better part of a decade.

This is my favorite fan video of the day.

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i completely agree with you. thank you for posting this.

did you see some the commentary on feministing? here's the link for comments: http://feministing.com/archives/007707.html#comments

i thought this was a very good analysis of the "britney debacle":

Instead of applauding her for even getting up the guts to go do it, we slam her because she is fat, off kilter, and clearly uncomfortable. If we look at her outside of the ideal, she is struggling like the rest of us to deal with the bipolar of modernity--living reality while presenting an ideal. Unfortunately for Brit Brit, she is incapable of presenting the ideal, and so, we eat her alive...

I found that the fact that women are just disposable objects who are conditioned to cultivate external approval rather than internal was also highlighted by Brit Brit's Ex, Timberlake. As a man, he does not have to conform to bust-waist-hip measurements. His success was not based so much on how sexy he was, and so, perhaps he has not been tricked into basing all his self-worth on how his breasts and belly button look.

Maybe Brit Brit (like millions of other women) has been unable to make the transition from Boy Toy to a real, feeling human, and can't handle the pressure of being forced continually into the limited role of sex object. While Timberlake, like the Rolling Stones (not to compare music) can probably go on singing on stage until he is in his 60s, Brit Brit is realizing that only her body matters--never mind her courage for even stepping out on stage.

So many of us our struggling with this bipolar society, and Brit Brit brought it home for me last night.

amen, sista.

As far as Britney's body goes, I'm terribly torn. Honestly, if you judge her based on other women her age, especially women who've had two children, her body is slammin'. Unfortunately, she looks terribly uncomfortable moving at that weight. When she was 110 pounds of pure muscle, she was a dancin' dynamo. But she just doesn't know how to DANCE while weighing 135. That's because she's completely untoned. If she were standing still in that bikini, she'd look amazing. But moving around, she just looks MISERABLE and BLOATED and like she just doesn't know what to do with herself. I think it was the way she was carrying herself more than her actual figure that made people say all the "fat" stuff. She's demonstrably not fat, but she moves like she is. Get her to spend a couple of months with any half-decent bellydance troupe and maybe they'll give her some pointers. Girl needs to admit she's curvy now and work those curves.

(There's one picture floating around out there that, every time I see it, makes me think of Janeane Garofalo's old standup bit about how she's going to make her own version of Backdraft only call it Backfat. I am terrible for giggling at this.)

Britney Spears' handlers turned a country teenager into a sex symbol. They never expected the country teenager turned sex symbol to ever change. Now she's just stuck.

Britney Spears will never again enjoy the level of success she once did. Pop music is dead. Even Justin Timberlake has changed with the times. He has a successful career which we all respect.

Britney Spears has yet to find her purpose. She's failing miserably in her attempts to recreate her former studio created self. Britney Spears hasn't yet done the work that will help her become her true self.

Britney Spears needs a personal growth coach. That would mean dropping out completely. Her people realize Britney Spears will risk no longer being relevant if she disappears to do this work. They will keep her out there no matter what. Even her failures make them rich.

Britney Spears still looked sluggish out there. She didn't move like a drunk person. I wonder if she was under the influence of some Rx medication. She didn't have any energy. Her routine looked poorly rehearsed.

Unfortunately, Britney's appeal is in exemplifying a sort of ideal. It's not just that she gained weight that made her performance so bad; she just lacked any significant movement or sharpness or stage appeal that could make her look good. If she's sick enough that she can't dance in public and still shows up on the freakin' MTV music awards as the opening act, that's just setting herself up for a public car crash. I don't see anything admirable about that from any viewpoint. When she was stepping out and doing club shows earlier this year, that took courage. Stepping out for a performance that you're not remotely ready to give to be a faded memory of your former sexpot self is just ridiculous.

Considering that the upside for Britney Spears is to come back and be, say, Janet Jackson for the next decade, why bother? Why not go back to the real world and live out the rest of her life? I think the saddest part of this isn't Britney's status specifically as an oversexualized icon, but that this lifestyle of being overexposed in every respect might be all that she has in life. It's not like she's ever shown interest in starting a charity, taking up a political cause, or creating a significant business outside of her fame like, say, Bono or Angelina Jolie.

But Justin Timberlake is a total whore, though there still seem to be a fair number of people who swoon over his looks. (Personally, I don't get it. He and Dave Matthews have looks made for radio as far as I'm concerned...)

Disagreeingly,
Hyoun

Britney was popular because she was dumb white jailbait pussy. Now she's a pretty gross mother of two. It's basically that simple.

Yes, but she was dumb white jailbait pussy who shook her ass in entertaining ways. Now she's a pretty gross mother of two who totters around drunkenly in a spangledy bikini and decides that firing her choreographer and hairdresser two hours before an awards show is a reasonable thing to do. I find that kinda sad.

yeah, i agree. i should have been clearer: i don't think she's fat by any means, but she did look very uncomfortable trying to move onstage. it's just sad to compare her previous performances with the recent VMA one. night and day.

oh, i totally agree that she should have bowed out of doing the VMAs. she just wasn't ready. it does kind of seem, though, that mtv set her up just a little. still, she obviously does not have the presence of mind (yet) to understand that she's not in any kind of shape, physical or emotional, to perform on that scale.

i think she could come back, but i think she should take a lot of time off after this record is released and think carefully about it. and definitely get some help. i think it's pretty clear that there are substance abuse issues.

i guess what is really troublesome is the way that a lot of people WANT to see people like britney fail. i can understand why we like to see the rich and famous knocked down a few pegs, but at the end of the day, it seems poisonous.

I don't mind seeing stars knocked down a few pegs the way that, say, ~~Chris Gaines~~ Garth Brooks seemed to disappear after being way too silly for words. But that was just a stupid decision; it didn't actually do him any real harm to lose his legitimacy when he was ready to retire anyways.

But I don't want to see anyone actually be ill or crazy. That doesn't help out anyone. (OK, maybe I'm still on the fence for Paris and those reality TV stars who are famous for being ridiculous.) I'd much rather have the hot comeback album than the failure, though.

Agreeingly,
Hyoun

yeah, it's a shame that it doesn't seem like that hot comeback is going to happen. i am stunned that britney's kids have been taken away and she's still acting a fool. she needs some months in rehab, that's for damned sure. who would have ever thought k-fed would end up being the somewhat classy and concerned part of the parental equation? at least that's the way it seems...

I think that she knows.

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Oh, Britney! Where does it hurt?

You're right on all counts.

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