Clever Girl... >> Writing >> Britney Spears
Britney Spears' autobiography Heart To Heart, cowritten by her mother Lynne Spears, simultaneously embodies and perpetuates popular discourse about celebrities and stardom. The book is presented as an opportunity for the public to gain an inside view as to what Britney Spears is "really" like. Claiming to contain the philosophies and morals that have driven Britney's life, the text of the book is set out as a 'heart to heart' between Britney and Lynne, so that one page covers Britney's stance on a topic and the next her mother's, and so on throughout the book, with occasional intervals devoted to others assumed to have an inside view - such as Britney's cousin and best friend, Laura Lynne, and her brother, Bryan. As the back cover promises: "Although this fabulous book charts the whole of Britney's life, it is also about the challenges facing all mothers and daughters, about success, failure, dating and relationships, fashion, self-esteem and body image."
Heart To Heart places great focus on Britney's family life - most of the book's images are supplied by the authors, ie Britney and Lynne, giving the reader the impression that they really are gaining an insight into what Britney is really like. The public's preoccupation with discovering the hidden truth behind tge media personae of celebrities is a signficant feature of media discourse and is particularly vital in gaining an understanding of Britney's celebrity. Britney's image is grounded on contradiction - her media persona of the innocent, perky, god fearing all-American girl is at odds with her highly sexualised photo spreads and music. Her Rolling Stone cover combines childhood and sexuality in a fashion that makes people uncomfortable, as she is shown in hot pants and a push-up bra, clutching a tellytubby. The video clip for her debut single, ...Baby One More Time, shows her dancing down a hallway in a sexualised version of a Catholic school uniform; and her song Oops! I Did It Again! features such lyrics as "I'm not that innocent". These contradictions entice the public to wonder what Britney is "really" like - is she a good girl pretendingto be bad? Or is she simply bad?
Books like Heart To Heart seem to give the public an opportunity to discover the "real" Britney behind the image. The irony, however, lies in the fact that the book itself is a carefully constructed media product working to consolidate Britney's more socially acceptable image - the 'apple pie' American. The sexual aspects of her persona are entirely ignored. The book provides us with no insight into any real troubles Britney may have undergone - she appears to be immune to the normal teenage insecurities about body image, self-esteem, or dating, and her "failures" are merely momentary obstacles on her path to stardom.
Instead, Heart To Heart chooses to emphasise Britney's adherence to the elements of stardom outlined in Richard Dyer's Stars. She is portrayed as being at once ordinary (indeed, the entire thesis of the book, which at times reads like a parenting manual on how to raise a child just like Britney, emphasises the attainability of Britney's lifestyle) and exceptionally talented, with Britney telling the story of how Lynne discovered her talent: "Miss Gigi's eyes got real big and Mama smiled, then said, 'What did I tell you?'" Emphasis is also placed on Britney's lucky breaks, including the Mickey Mouse Club and the Broadway play 'Ruthless', but not without emphasising Britney's hours of practice and years of auditions. Combined, these elements portray Britney as at once prettier and more talented than the average person, and refreshingly normal. Britney's success seems attainable to the ordinary person without detracting from her "specialness".
Despite Heart To Heart's promise to provide the public with an 'inside view' on Britney Spears, it is not significantly different to any of her other media products. It is a carefully constructed text organised to perpetuate Britney's desired image as the talented girl-next-door, thereby providing no insight into the 'real' Britney, whoever she may be.
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