Britney

I feel bound to comment (albeit briefly) on the conduct of Ms Spears. As those close to me know, I have a little penchant for early Britney - well one track when pissed - but this is sufficient for me to have been given the tag of a Britney fan. Well, sometimes you just have to go with the public perception of your tendencies and, as is inevitable, you end up actually engaging with the person you are mistakenly taken to like. So here are my thoughts on the subject of our Brit.

Whilst I have no clue as to the detailed ins and outs of our Brit’s career, one cannot but know some of it because even if you don’t read the tabloids, don’t read the goss mags or any of the lower order shite that is mass produced in the UK every week that focuses on celebrity culture, the broadsheets pick up on it and add their 2 penny-worth anyway – along with yer mates sending you the uncensored version of the ‘commando’ photos (thanks for that Sleepy) to accompany your tea and Cheerios in the morning. There is no escape! Britney is a truly wealthy woman, but consider this, the media she has fed so assiduously over the past decade and her record company have undoubtedly made more money out of her than she will ever make for herself. She also has to deal with the downside of the fame she has sought which is a complete panopticon-style surveillance of her life which seeks to discipline her behaviour in such a way that whatever options she chooses are all wrong. Consider, she focuses on the kids – boring, where is the mileage in that? She does the party circuit, she’s bad Britney, and asked to consider her kids and the example she sets to her young fans. The woman cannot win. Even if she retires and does a Brigit Bardot, it’s difficult to see how she could ever fully escape the telephoto lens because she sells.

One of the reasons why she sells is because her life resembles a car crash and we all know the fascination we have with people whose lives are such. You can’t leave it alone – every aspect, every nuance is scrutinised and discussed; everyone has an angle, a view of the wreckage. It’s actually quite obscene in a way. But if you add her class background into the mix then the heady combination just simply becomes irresistible. And if she falls into the category of ‘trailer trash’ well, you’ve just achieved a state of nirvana.

Arguably one of the features of Britney’s life that seems to get the most exposure is her working class roots. And I have a big problem with that. Not that she is working class, but that her class is used against her. I hate the term ‘trailer trash’ with a vengeance because it is such an easy, savage comment to make about people who – for whatever reason – are enduring a pretty rough life. Think for a while how people might come to live in a trailer park and ask yourself this. How many bad decisions, poor investments, changes to circumstances are you away from the trailer park? Think about how you would cope without all the creature comforts and support you now enjoy, how you would deal with your neighbours who might not be teachers, public servants, self employed entrepreneurs and such…then shut the fuck up and never use the term again.