Framing Britney Spears

Firstly, as anyone who has a seriously troubled person close to them knows, the United States has the highest thresholds for having someone declared mentally ill of any developed democracy on earth.

For good or for bad, or both, the US ACLU completely gutted protecting seriously mental ill people from themselves and protecting society from them, while they are in seriously ill stages. In Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Japan, S. Korea, Australia the thresholds to hold and evaluate people, and to mandate treatment are much much lower than in the US. Just google: ACLU and 5150. If you hear someone got mandatorily institutionalized or remanded for treatment in the US, where it is so difficult to force that, you can bet they are seriously ill. There are many families trying to get people with multiple severe mental illness, often dangerous mental illness, treated mandatorily that can't get that done due to, forgive the pun, insane, US case law. It actually affects our murder rate, and even our homelessness rate where we have severely schizophrenic persons on the streets due to courts and ACLU preventing treatment.

Lastly this documentary is itself extremely exploitive in that it is thoroughly one sided. Exactly what to these fan groups (and idiot NYTimes reporters) know about her actual mental health that the courts, her family, and court appointed medical and psychiatrics professionals don't know? NOTHING.

Shockingly good! Hard to put into words this well-made documentary about the pop icon Britney Spears. It has been criticized for being one-sided. But the silence from those involved confirms the suspicion that what is happening around Spears is disturbing. Although the documentary aims to inform about her guardianship, it is just as much about the enormous pressure on her. Especially the years 2007 - 2008 show the relentless and brutal attention she received. It also shows the dark side of the business side of a megastar. There is a lot of money in circulation. Many questions remain unanswered after this. In addition to the question of guardianship, the biggest issue remains unclear about Britney Spears' life situation. Let's hope that one day Britney Spears can tell her side of the story unhindered.

The New York Times did an excellent job and revisiting Spears' career through the #metoo lens and highlighting the constant misogyny she dealt with from a young age all the way until now. It will give you a newfound respect for her, one that is well overdue.

I loved this, it's pretty short but very interesting and makes me feel for Britney. I used to be a conservator for my father and it is a complicated system that needs review to prevent a situation like this. I hope Britney gets her life back.

I've heard about mysterious instagram posts and of course the #freebritney movement, but this gave some really great insight to what's been going on with Britney and covering topics like the paparazzi, talk shows, and conservatorship. Probably a great watch if you're a Britney fan, but an even more interesting watch if you have no prior knowledge like me.