Thursday, May 08, 2008

killing a mouseketeer for the good of the state

"I'm Mrs. Lifestyles of the rich and famous
(You want a piece of me)
I'm Mrs. Oh my God that Britney's Shameless"


The news stories about Britney are increasingly grim – as those of you who faithfully follow People, Us, and the National Star know quite well. As you’ll remember, the hardest working mousketeer has been prosecuted for not seeing “the harm in working and being a mama”. Quite right, but as soon as she revolted, the machinery of oppression came into play, and she was publicly kidnapped. First act: her children were wrenched from her when she showed them some of the fun side of life (which involved the kind of minor pecadillos – not using the safety seat, etc. - that drive the denizens of the gated community crazy, for there is nothing the G.C. believes more than cocooning its brats in an environment of permanent and ruthlessly enforced invulnerability, hence the monstrous SUV, the soccer mom car par excellence, hence the crammed prisons of these here States, hence the insatiable borrowing to keep a country whose main manufacture is serial war afloat), and were handed over to her talentless and Tartufian ex. The court system, that cat’s paw of patriarchy, did its part to shame and injure Britney just as she was showing – finally – some rock n roll promise. Second act: after her kids are kidnapped, she is kidnapped – in this case, by her parents, who are given the power to control this twenty eight year olds assets before she pisses them away – a process that she could do for the next forty years and never reach the bottom of her cash pile. In the timeless fashion of stardom, when the star threatens the money machine, the star is plunged into a psych ward, then dried out by the use of available patriarchal agents, and finally made abject and humble by the same media that has eagerly profited by their much photographed fall. This isn’t hypocrisy, it is factory work, it is plucking the chickens before you cut them up and plasticwrap them. Which of course happened to Brit. No more flashing her pussy, no more harmless Vegas pranks.

Well, the symbol of everything naughties is succumbing to the pressure, as it was obvious from the get go that she would. This terribly sad dispatch from the Associated Press makes LI, for one, itch to start an Amnesty International campaign: surely Britney is being held hostage by the worst aspects of capitalism in the era of the Great Fly:

“Britney Spears will be allowed expanded visits with her two young sons following a low-key child-custody hearing in Los Angeles.

Commissioner Scott Gordon at the Los Angeles Superior Court expanded her visitation rights in a move which will allow Spears to see her children for longer periods, while her former husband Kevin Federline retains custody.

Mr Gordon closed the hearing to reporters moments after the two stars were sworn in following a request by Spears' lawyer Stacy Phillips.

The 26-year-old pop star's appearance at the hearing, which was held behind closed doors, was a far cry from the spectacle of previous appearances.
A sombre Spears, wearing a brown polka-dot dress and white sweater, arrived early for the hearing flanked by her parents and lawyers.

Dozens of people witnessed Spears' courthouse arrival as a front-seat passenger in a white Land Rover, but it did not compare to the circus that surrounded the troubled pop star's January trip to the courthouse, when she arrived in a black minidress and gold platform shoes, then left before the hearing began.
Federline, 30, was granted custody of the couple's two children - two-year-old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jayden James - at that hearing.

The court heard police were called to Spears' home after she refused to relinquish one of the boys to a Federline bodyguard.

During a break in proceedings, Spears left the courtroom walking hand-in-hand with lawyer Blair Berk to a lift before returning minutes later.
Outside court, Mark Vincent Kaplan, Federline's lawyer, said the longer visits were "recognition of the progress that has been made". Spears smiled briefly but did not address questions as she left the hearing.”

Ah, the prisoner smiles briefly to the unctuous photographers, may they burn in hell. This is what happens when, in a flash of good sense, she refused to turn her children over to the ex’s hired thugs. Oh, on this ruin they will no doubt build somemoney making structure, but remember – a Mouseketeer was sacrificed to build the foundation.
Although I am hoping she takes the opportunity afforded by the court to flee somewhere. I’d recommend Sweden.

10 comments:

northanger said...

that song is AWESOME! i should tell you about The Britney Hypothesis i've been developing since …baby one more time.

Roger Gathmann said...

Damn, North. You know everything! Britneyology! My god, finally, a field I can actually master.

But I totally agree about the song - it is smart, and the vid is smarter. More than that, I was surprised that Britney understood that she is, in a way, always anonymous - so photographed, and yet, who could really describe her? She so perfectly fits the bland blond template of generic American desire that she is the invisible woman.

So I'm glad you are with me on my new project: to get Amnesty international to intervene for Britney. This prisoner of patriarchy must be avenged! And also, give her back her kids, for christ's sake.

Roger Gathmann said...

PS - I'm tempted to put Britneyology on the webroll, but the author of it obviously favors the Non-Bataille Britney - the normal Brit. Whereas I, of course, favor the Mondo Britney, the outlaw. Hmm. Decisions, decisions.

Roger Gathmann said...

Okay. Okay. Okay. Done, light of my life.

northanger said...

aha! i found i!. 09.29.06.txt, something Dominic said: If I can't be an object for someone, I can't participate in the circuit of their desire. The right to be an object is the right to seduction (and flirtation too, for that matter).... then, The Objectification and Dismemberment of Women in the Media (maybe analogy for iraq war too, who knows? → operation of force → [USA rapes Iraq / subject verb object] ← male subjectivity). self-surveillance, self-objectification & intersubjective force.

Self-objectification among physically active women :: What impact does living in a culture that treats the female body as an object for consumption have on girls and women? Research has suggested that girls and women are negatively impacted by the constant onslaught of cultural messages that imply that the female body is a public domain for all to evaluate and "consume" (Bordo, 1993; Cusumano & Thompson, 1997). One consequence of living in a society that objectifies the female body is that girls and women are socialized to self-objectify (i.e., to internalize an observer's view of one's own body) (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). That is, girls and women learn to view their own bodies as objects.

there's more......[the mouseketeer (fuck if it gets sacrificed, it's not real) not human → not Britney → Britney ← needs to locate (what?) the thing that isn't her? that isn't human? in this loop. if there's such a thing as "authentic Britney" it is not in this loop → she can do this]

northanger said...

WARNING: britneyology cannot be "mastered" by the male gaze.

Roger Gathmann said...

Ah, North - isn't the subject-object distinction the oldest patriarchal shell game? First comes the hierarchy of subject over object, making an impossibility out of simple human embodiment - then comes the system of representation, which is all about the body objectified. It is either come to Papa or the male gaze. Going back to the subject is precisely what the music industry wants Britney to do - rumor is that they hated her last CD. Britney her self forged the solution to patriarchy's bad polarity for a brief flash of time, in which she was roundly condemned as crazy and a menace to her children - by becoming at once the most photographed woman in the world and the woman with the least recognizable features. The more she was photographed, the more she looked like anybody - which was the message in her Piece of Me video, I think. Alas, the scolds and snobs piled on her, and I am betting that even now, she is forgetting what a genius she was for that moment. She is normalizing. If she doesn't forget, she doesn't get to see her kids. The choices are that cruel.

This is my contribution to Britneyology.

Anonymous said...

LI, that is some song!
And the acts in the Britney play are a "repetition" of the longest running show on earth.
Gals are about sensuality see and Guys are all about spirituality see, cause Gals just don't know how to sublimate or screw up sublimation, which so so bad see, cause going from sensuality to spirituality which is the patriachial thing to do is progress, the history of progress, wouldn't you know.

So no surprise if the mouseketeer Brit is told, OK kid we were well pleased by your naughtiness and sensuality thing for a while, but there has to come a moment where you sublimate and get all spiritual and proper and such, cause that is how we know we're still in charge. And if you keep up with this stuff and have fun doing it oh no no no that would but bad bad bad - for us and our shell game - but really think of the kids!
In either case, La Brit has to exit the stage - either sublimate and become proper and dissapear that way, or we will say you are improper and you dissapear that way. And oh by the way, we get to keep your kids too, we know what's proper for them too.
Some choice, huh!
And perfectly exposed in the Piece of Me video.

This is my contribution to Britneyology. Plus, I do hope you get your kids back and your black mini-skirt and gold shoes. Down with brown polka dot dresses!

Amie

northanger said...

i don't know if Britney needs a No More Drama moment — but she's my girl! polka dots or no. i have high hopes for her (which, by the way, i had to sing to my sister in her office coz she was so tired tonight (plus this little light of mine too).

Which is my contribution to Britneyology! (among other things, here & there).

Anonymous said...

Have to tell you guys - there's already a very erudite site called Britneyology.com

Asking

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