This was a very interesting read for me as it was a the first, pure 'cultural analysis' (my designation) that I've ever really read. And to my Professor's credit, it was extremely well done. 'The Exile' explores the ways in which we, as consumers and as a culture, have contributed to the rise, downfall, exile, and comeback of Spears.
Perhaps the most interesting facet of this book was chapter 10, titled 'The Ease of Digestion.' We usually don't recognize our investment in our interests until long after they've come and come. Along those lines, this chapter looked at the way we took in Britney Spears and ate her up. She infiltrated us and we never really realized how overtaken we were, let alone how much we were contributing to the very person she was. Digestion is a natural process that just happens, and we rarely notice or pay attention to it. Our consumption with Spears just happened, without us really noticing.
Another aspect I found intriguing in this book was Smit's chapter titled, 'Motherhood.' He has some very insightful points here.
"Consider how we change the formula for her, and maybe other female child celebrities: things get tricky because we don't want her to mature, but we do want her to become a woman. We want to stunt the growth of her personality, we want her to stay innocent. But we also want her to have the breasts of a woman. We want to sexualize her but we want her to stay a child."
The way we have shaped Britney by our own desires for her has made her incompetent as a mother. We formed her in such a way that she doesn't have the skills (or desire?) to put in the work required to be an adequate parent. Its easy for us to solely blame Spears for her troubles as a parent. But then again, we didn't set her up to be a good parent in the first place!
My only criticism of the book, if you can even call it a criticism, is that Smit places the blame for Britney being who she is on us. I recognize that we, as society, as culture, as consumers, are largely responsible for much of her image and behavior. But I feel it is quite profound, perhaps too profound, to leave no responsibility to Spears. She is an actual human being, and we might even go so far as to say she's a grown-up. So why would we exempt her from her behavior and the choices she's made? It seems to me like it goes too far by not laying any 'blame' on Britney herself.
Questions to ask...
Why is Britney not responsible (at least partly) for Britney?
Do you (Professor Smit) believe culture's consumption shapes most celebrities into who they are?
Links to videos, articles, etc...
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/s/britney_spears/index.html
http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/179
-Dr. Phil gives his advice on how to get over an addiction to a celebrity (quite laughable)
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