Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Oops ... We Did It Again...
I've found that if I look long enough even I can find something to watch on British television. The other day I recorded a compelling documentary on Channel 4 that examined the dichotemy that exists between a person's private life and their public persona. That's right. I watched "Britney's Redneck Roots." It was basically about how you can take the girl out of the trailer park but you can't take the trailor park out of the girl.I remember a time when Britney Spears was the shit, so to speak. She was everywhere. If you flipped on the television, turned on the radio, or opened a magazine you were likely to see or hear Britney and more than likely she was half dressed and panting to some bubble gum pop. She was a pop goddess. The good Southern Baptist girl who dressed like a stripper. The Virgin Whore. Seems like we don't mind that so much when the girl is 16 but when she's an adult it's trashy.
During the last year, Britney has reminded us over and over of her Louisiana roots. She smokes, drinks, does drugs (allegedly) and has bad skin! Her marriage to a childhood friend was annulled within 55 hours. Nine months later, she married a backup dancer who had a child with another woman and was expecting another. Britney was going crazy ... and we loved it! Now I'll admit to being a celebrity sadist. I've always said that laughter though someone else's pain is my favorite emotion, but even if I wasn't a meanspirited person, I would find it hard to feel sorry for the Britneys, Whitneys, and Mariahs of the world. They wanted fame and they got it. The good with the bad. They realized that you can't be America's sweetheart and a crack whore at the same time.
We love to set somebody up on a pedestal all the while looking for chinks in their armor. Tearing a celebrity down is just as fun, if not more so, than building them up. It's like Celebrity Bowling ... set 'em up , then knock 'em down.
