the Britney debacle
I stay well outside the pop culture buzz, so I didn't catch the MTV Video Music Awards. I just have enough going on without trying to squeeze that in. I did see the aftermath though, last night on one of those TV tabloid shows before I went to the gym. Ooofff!
Apparently I'm not the only one with too much going on to squeeze things in. It looks like someone is spending far too much "party princess" time and way too little "gym" time for that act. Yo Ms. Spears, when you have that much of you bulging around the costume, I only have two words. Peasant dress. They only showed about three seconds of the performance, but not only did it remind me of why I don't wear a speedo at the beach, it reminded me of why I don't sleepwalk in a speedo at the beach. She not only looked like, but had all the energy of a beached whale.
Stick a fork in that piece of trailer trash. She is done.
Apparently I'm not the only one with too much going on to squeeze things in. It looks like someone is spending far too much "party princess" time and way too little "gym" time for that act. Yo Ms. Spears, when you have that much of you bulging around the costume, I only have two words. Peasant dress. They only showed about three seconds of the performance, but not only did it remind me of why I don't wear a speedo at the beach, it reminded me of why I don't sleepwalk in a speedo at the beach. She not only looked like, but had all the energy of a beached whale.
Stick a fork in that piece of trailer trash. She is done.
Labels: Pop Culture
John put this out here at 6:54 AM
6 Comments:
All things being equal, John, and I agree that Britney may be/is probably done, is a trainwreck, needs help, is not a great mother, etc....
...your comments are exactly why I am scared to death for the state of my 13 year old daughter's self-image and all girls who feed into the media's picture of what is "fat" and what is not; what is attractive and what is not. Take a real good look at that picture of Britney again. She's not FAT. And she certainly doesn't look like a "beached whale" as you so elegantly put it. She's had two kids in less than 2 years, and agreed, she isn't the taut-bodied little thing she was, but she doesn't look BAD. BAD is obese and flabby, and she's neither. The worst thing that she can be accused of...with respect to her looks...is that perhaps she chose a bad costume for her body shape, in my opinion.
Comments like yours perpetuate the media-driven standard that if one isn't air-brushed to perfection -- a standard, I might add, that is impossible to achieve -- that one's body is unacceptable. It leads young girls (those particular susceptible) into such dark areas as anorexia and bulimia, not to mention depression and other painful illnesses. I'd like to point out too that if we don't send the message that we are not the sum total of how we look, that that is simply a small COMPONENT of who we are, we as parents and adults and the people who take in and read this media bullshit, we are as much responsible as the people who print it. We then perpetuate it in our own households and raise kids who may constantly strive for perfection standards they can never reach, and who may internalize their failures to achieve those standards as personal failings for the rest of their lives, never accepting themselves as the wonderful, beautiful, outstanding people they are.
Stepping off my soapbox now...
I agree with most of what you're saying but I don't think it applies in this situation. I would emphasize the part where you mentioned that she should have picked a better costume. I would also add when your entire act is built on a taut body that does a high energy dance routine (because it certainly isn't the quality of the tunes), and you have none of that...for her, that is looking bad. Britney Sprears' fame is based on style without substance. Role models and self images aren't. That media driven standard you talk about is all her act is (or was) based on.
It's not about being too skinny or too fat. Skinny has very little to do with what I'm saying. It's about being obviously out of shape and listless, and incapable of doing what made her famous. For Britney, how she looks and how she dances in her show may not be the sum total of what she is, but it is at least 99% of why people watch her, and that's..ummm...gone.
If kids are looking for role models, she isn't one. In fact, if kids watch what she's done recently, I don't see how they could possibly look up to that. As much as I hate to say it, Hillary would be a far better choice. So would Mother Teresa.
Stepping off mine too...
Well, come to think of it, Mother Teresa was petite and skinny too. Maybe that was a bad example.
On some level, you miss the point. Regardless of what she's known for, regardless of what contract she's signed with her public -- now any and all little girls who MAY have held her up as a role model (not that they should have), all they will now associate with her is "FAT" because of this relentless and horrific media commentary. What do you think they will think of themselves NOW when they look in the mirror and look at their own REAL and inevitably flawed bodies?
And what about the messages that we as parents send to our kids when we make fun of people who fail, or fall, or -- gasp -- fail to live up to OUR EXPECTATIONS to be something more than human?
I'd much prefer to teach my kids to be kind and sympathetic, and understanding of the failings and difficulties of others.
I feel kind of sorry for her, if you want to know the truth. I'm not saying she's without blame, but can you even imagine living under the microscope she's under, at such a tender age, and with such a lack of wise guidance around her?
We're going to have to agree to disagree because I'm not buying it for a second.
I think little girls that may have looked up to her, did so because she was cute, was in great shape and could dance. All style, no substance. Now, she's not cute, she's not in shape and doesn't have the desire, will, ability, whatever to dance. All the little girls who looked up to her didn't see her in the mirror before, and they don't now. They weren't Britney Spears before, and they aren't now, and maybe they see that it really doesn't matter, because it was a poor choice to begin with.
Maybe what they see is someone who has pretty much tossed away every scrap of help anyone has offered her...and that trainwreck of a TV clip is the result. She's had guidance, but she's disregarded it. You can't tell me the people in rehab gave her nothing in the way of tools to deal with where she's put herself. At some point she has to take responsibility for what she has done with her life. I understand being human and making mistakes. I have made and will make plenty. I also understand learning from them, and doing something about it.
Six months ago I could be sympathetic. Then I used to be disgusted, but now I'm just amused...and the angels wanna wear my red shoes.
Ok, well, cause I like you, I'll agree to disagree about THIS. But we'll have to agree that Elvis Costello is cool, and thankfully we have his lyrics to fall back on.
I'm a "get-the-last-word-in" kind of gal sometimes, but something tells me I'm not going to make any headway here with you, so, in a rare show of maturity, I'm letting it go.
:-)
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