For the Record--Crock or Doc?

I know this is a little bit delayed, but it actually took me a bit to process everything about this supposed documentary about probably the biggest star of our time. The marketing for the special Britney: For the Record claimed that "No topic was off limits. No question went unanswered." I knew that this wouldn't exactly be true because they aren't going to discuss any alleged drug use or medication, and thus went in with pretty low expectations. However, even with these quite low expectations, I was still horribly disappointed. What MTV had produced was not a documentary, but an incredibly biased, unrevealing special dedicated to promoting Britney's album, single and fragrances.
In her interview sections she seemed quite distant, confused, and not willing to really shed light on very much in her life. About the head shaving incident she just claimed that "people shave their heads all the time." Had I been interviewing her, I would have followed up with "why did you run into the salon and grab the shears from the hairdresser? why not do this at home?" They also neglected to talk about many of the incidents we, as fans and media consumers, really wanted to know about. I think TMZ was right in their calling this a "crockumentary."


The most revealing parts of the documentary were parts of the footage of her just being herself. You were able to see that funny girl that made most of us fall in love with her. The part of the special where they take you inside her dealing with the paparazzi and how overwhelming it is for her was also quite powerful. The heartbreaking part is watching her being interviewed saying confusing, weird, and vague things like "heaven is heaven." Even with all she has been going through, she still has over ten years of media training. It's really heartbreaking seeing this person that most of us are rooting for, though looking physically better, still mentally not being completely recovered. Not to say that she is exactly a "hero" per say, but she is someone that a lot of people looked up to growing up. I don't know many people in the late 90s that didn't want to be her, a member of BSB, or 'N Sync. Hopefully, she will get her confidence (and possibly sanity) back and really impress us all. The video for circus is quite "epic" in a sense, but her live performances and certainly her media appearance need a lot of work. More on this later!