Puncturing the postfeminist fantasy
THE YEAR IS 2021, AND THE MOST-TALKED-ABOUT pop star in the world is Britney Spears. Yes, that’s the same Britney Spears who hasn’t released a new studio album since 2016 and who, two years ago, announced an “indefinite work hiatus.” But one way of explaining the resurgence of interest in all things Britney is that she’s now in the news because of how long she’s been out of the news.
Specifically, Spears is suddenly ubiquitous—in headlines, on social media and in sketches—thanks to “Framing Britney Spears,” an episode of FX docuseries that is now streaming on Hulu. Directed by Samantha Stark, it offers a thorough chronology of Spears’ career, with a focus on the conservatorship she was placed under in 2008, which gave her father
