Michael Hann

Revelatory and grubby: Framing Britney Spears reviewed

The programme makers use the same questionable methods as the people they are castigating. Plus: Ozzy Osbourne and Stewart Lee

A woman scorned: Britney Spears. Credit: Red Arrow Studios/© Felicia Culotta 
issue 20 March 2021

The most headline-grabbing of these three pop docs was Framing Britney Spears, part of the New York Times Presents documentary series, and a bit of a worldwide sensation. It was both revelatory and grubby. As many have noted, the footage of interviews with Spears as a prepubescent and teenager was so deeply unpleasant, so unrelentingly sexual, that it seemed to come not from 20 years ago, but from Neanderthal times.

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