[PREV - ALPHAVILLE]    [TOP]

CREEPING_SPEARS

                                            February 18, 2003
                                            
Britney Spears creeps me out.
                                        
I haven't heard any of her music to
my knowledge (or maybe I should say
"her" music, because she appears to
be up front with the fact that she
has no creative input into it).

I only see her pictures on occasion,
e.g. in the many Britney books on
the shelves of the mainstream
bookstores.

I first flipped though one expecting
that I would at least think she was
cute, or that there was something
interesting about the clothes they
had her wearing, or something like
that.

Instead I find that I'm immediately
turned off by her appearance.
Whatever image she projects, in
whatever photos she appears in, it
always seems like such a blatant
plastic overlay that I can't get
into it.

In many, if not most, of the photos,
if you just look at the expression
on her face, there's something
disturbing about it.  There's often       
that -- if you'll excuse the cliche --  
deer-caught-in-the-headlights look.     
The big wide grin never seems like a       
real smile.  The wide brown eyes
strike me as someone in a terrified
state of confusion.  Maybe she's
been living on diet pills for too
long.
   
And every single one of her outfits    
looks (a) terrible or (b) like it    
might look okay on someone else.    
Even the bleached blond hair she    
sports sometimes seems tremendously    
wrong somehow... phony in a sense                                      
far deeper than just artificial (any       But then I certainly 
punk on the street with hair died          haven't seen any of 
chartreuse looks more at home with         her videos.  I don't 
it).                                       know, maybe she can 
                                           dance or something. 
I don't know exactly why I find this                                        
so disturbing.  It's pretty obvious     
that insincere art has a powerful      
attraction these days and Britney is 
hardly the only example.  But           
there's something about Britney that
rings so extremely hollow...  don't     
those people have eyes in their        
heads?  Can't they see what's in    
front of them?                      

In a weird way she reminds me of 
Marilyn Monroe.  I've never really
understood the appeal of Marilyn                  
Monroe, either...                              Scanning the cover girls 
        	                               at the newsstand: maybe 
If I had to guess: the real appeal             they all look that way. 
of a Britney is that she's *completely* 
non-threatening... even more so than           This hint of 
Marilyn Monroe, who had to *act*               uncomprehending panic 
weak. Britney really *is* weak.                about to overwhelm them. 
 
        		                       Long photoshoots, 
Little lost lambs get wolves excited,          smiles plastered 
especially the weak and sickly                 on, living on 
wolves that can't even expect to               speed and heroin. 
take down a slow moving cow. 
                                               And they're not in control 
                                               of what they're doing. 
                                                               
                                               
                                          Madonna never    
                                          looked like this.
 
 
 
--------
[NEXT - ROLLING_A_MODEL]