The Britney Spears Documentary Netflix Subscribers Can't Stop Watching
Since Britney Spears made a bombshell testimony in June regarding her experience being under a legal conservatorship, the world has begun seeing the pop star in a new light.
Following her 2007 public breakdown, Spears was put under a conservatorship with her father Jamie Spears at its helm (via CBS). In recent years, investigations and a heightened interest in the #FreeBritney movement led to public questioning about the necessity of Spears still being in this conservatorship. And since Spears' own heartfelt testimony (via Variety), where she described her perspective about being "controlled" under the conservatorship, Hollywood has been doing its own digging into the truth underneath it all.
The New York Times first released the "Framing Britney Spears" documentary on Hulu to highlight moments from Spears' career and personal life that led to the conservatorship. The streaming service released a second episode, titled "Controlling Britney Spears" that provided more insight from inside sources regarding how Spears has been controlled throughout the past 13 years.
And now Netflix has released its own highly-anticipated documentary that gives an in-depth look into not just Spears' conservatorship case, but the legal concept of conservatorships in general.
Netflix's Britney vs. Spears is an over-arching look at Spears' conservatorship arrangement
Netflix released the documentary "Britney Vs. Spears" this week, created by filmmaker Erin Lee Carr and journalist Jenny Eliscu. Unlike other documentaries about Spears' life and career, this film takes the approach of looking at the conservatorship as a whole.
The documentary builds up to Spears' testimony by making her case using anonymous leaks and interviews with sources like paparazzo turned Spears' boyfriend Adnan Ghalib and her controversial ex-manager Sam Lutfi. Overall, it shows that Spears has spent the last 13 years trying various avenues to hire her own lawyer, remove her father as conservator, and ultimately get control of her life back.
"Britney Vs. Spears" already has a lot of draw due to the subject matter, which is both fascinating and horrifying at the same time. It's timely, considering the momentum the #FreeBritney movement has gained this year following Spears' own testimony.
Also, the film is downright informational. It gives a look at how the media portrayal of Spears has vastly differed from what's going on behind the scenes. And examines how the legal process of conservatorships was able to make a team of people, including her father, millions of dollars over the past. While the focus is clearly on Spears' particular case, it provides further background for a legal process that is likely not common knowledge to the average person.