{"id":4209,"date":"2011-03-31T14:20:07","date_gmt":"2011-03-31T21:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/?p=4209"},"modified":"2015-03-10T10:03:27","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T17:03:27","slug":"godstuff-oops-we-did-it-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/2011\/03\/31\/godstuff-oops-we-did-it-again\/","title":{"rendered":"GODSTUFF: Oops, we did it again."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Spears performing at The Circus Starring Britney Spears in April 2009<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Three years ago, the Associated Press<\/a> had written Britney<\/p>\n

Spears\u2019 obituary. Just in case.<\/p>\n

Spears was 26 and seemingly mid-freefall in an epic tumble from<\/p>\n

grace. A divorce. A custody battle. Barefoot trips into gas station<\/p>\n

bathrooms. Tattoos and Cheetos<\/a> and Big Gulps. Strange wigs, bizarre<\/p>\n

accents and even stranger company.<\/p>\n

And that was before she shaved her head.<\/p>\n

Britney circa 2008 was a train wreck, one that many of us couldn\u2019t<\/p>\n

ignore and some relished with voyeuristic glee.<\/p>\n

Images of the formerly \u201cperfect\u201d teen idol in a state of shocking<\/p>\n

dishevelment and acting in an increasingly erratic fashion plastered the<\/p>\n

front pages of supermarket tabloids and celebrity magazines.<\/p>\n

Video footage of her latest debacles \u2014 run-ins with police, visits<\/p>\n

to the hospital and to rehab, driving aimlessly around Hollywood for<\/p>\n

hours on end, flashing her private parts on an outing with Paris Hilton<\/p>\n

\u2014 made the evening news and racked up millions of hits on websites<\/p>\n

across the world.<\/p>\n

Spears\u2019 personal tragedy and public dismantling became a twisted<\/p>\n

form of entertainment. Commentators wondered whether the ultimate<\/p>\n

destination of her meteoric rise to fame was to crash and burn into<\/p>\n

oblivion.<\/p>\n

Today, Spears is 29 and her rehabilitation (and re-ascension to the<\/p>\n

stratosphere of superstardom) is in full swing.<\/p>\n

Collectively, we placed her on a pedestal, knocked her off, picked<\/p>\n

her back up and set her back upon it. Only time will tell whether that<\/p>\n

cruel cycle will repeat itself.<\/p>\n

In his new book, The Exile of Britney Spears: A Tale of 21st<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Century Consumption<\/em>, Christopher Smit, a professor of media studies at<\/p>\n

Calvin College<\/a>, examines the role we \u2014 the consumers of the product<\/p>\n

Spears is selling \u2014 have played in her creation, near destruction and<\/p>\n

re-invention.<\/p>\n

At once scholarly and eminently accessible, Smit\u2019s book chronicles<\/p>\n

Spears\u2019 creation as a cultural icon and analyzes what her story says<\/p>\n

about the state of our souls.<\/p>\n

\u201cBritney began as a member of a spiritual culture, one which cradled<\/p>\n

her, crafted her and called her out,\u201d Smit writes in a chapter titled<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Baptists<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Southern Baptist, young Britney would have been called to<\/p>\n

consider the world in a very specific way \u2014 in particular, she would<\/p>\n

have been asked to see the outside world as something which needed her<\/p>\n

\u2014 a world that needed Jesus to be seen through her,\u201d he writes. \u201cShe<\/p>\n

began her life with a mission, one which asked her to live for others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spears began her life as a daughter of the South, a middle child in<\/p>\n

a middle-class family in rural Louisiana, gifted with a powerful voice<\/p>\n

and an even more powerful desire to perform.<\/p>\n

Like Elvis Presley<\/a> before her, Spears began her journey to fame<\/p>\n

singing in the church choir. Seemingly overnight, she traded in her<\/p>\n

choir robe for Mickey Mouse ears as an employee of the Disney company<\/a>,<\/p>\n

and then for a midriff-bearing Lolita costume made famous in her first<\/p>\n

hit video, \u201cHit Me Baby One More Time<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe sings because she loves us, but also in order for us to love<\/p>\n

her; she sings for God, but also for heaps and heaps of money; she waits<\/p>\n

for the right man yet flaunts for all, wearing a Catholic schoolgirl<\/p>\n

outfit,\u201d Smit writes. \u201cThe hyper-public nature of Britney Spears the<\/p>\n

performer forced Britney the Baptist to deal with these issues head-on,<\/p>\n

in the cultural spotlight, way too early in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many 17-year-old girls are asked, on `60 Minutes,\u2019 to defend a<\/p>\n

worldview? Then again, how many 17-year-olds get to ask their friends,<\/p>\n

`What should I wear when all the world is watching?'\u201d<\/p>\n

Smit argues that team Britney was complicit in her rise to fame, but<\/p>\n

\u201cwe developed the picture\u201d of what she would become, \u201cshe offered the<\/p>\n

negative.\u201d In other words, we, as active or passive consumers of her<\/p>\n

public image, are equally complicit in all this.<\/p>\n

Charlie Sheen: Winning?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe have been armchair anthropologists speaking without conviction,<\/p>\n

articulating without consequence, marking without a map,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Consuming Spears as a product or commodity \u2014 chewing her up, and<\/p>\n

spitting her out \u2014 is a kind of \u201cunconscious cannibalism,\u201d Smit says,<\/p>\n

an act of dehumanization that is \u201cnot only mindless and effortless \u2014 it<\/p>\n

is also a \u2026 sort of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of us now are closely watching the public unraveling of another<\/p>\n

celebrity, Charlie Sheen<\/a>. His descent into madness and addiction is our<\/p>\n

entertainment du jour, one that the actor seems to be offering up with a<\/p>\n

certain relish.<\/p>\n

Spears\u2019 exile did not end with her demise. But it could have.<\/p>\n

As Sheen\u2019s story continues to unfold, we would do well to be<\/p>\n

chastened by the words with which Smit concludes his exploration of<\/p>\n

Spears\u2019 rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches story.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s left to us what we will allow her to do \u2026 what we will allow<\/p>\n

her to be,\u201d Smit says. \u201cThat is the result of breaking. That is the<\/p>\n

outcome of exile.\u201d<\/p>\n

This commentary originally appeared via Religion News Service<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Consuming Spears as a product or commodity — chewing her up, and<\/p>\n

spitting her out — is a kind of “unconscious cannibalism,” says Christopher Smit, author of <\/p>\n

The Exile of Britney Spears: A Tale of 21st Century Consumption<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[792,793,726,534,794,795,796,797,798,799,800,370,801],"class_list":["post-4209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-godstuff-2","tag-associated-press","tag-britney-spears","tag-calvin-college","tag-celebrity","tag-charlie-sheen","tag-cheetos","tag-christopher-smit","tag-consumption","tag-elvis-presley","tag-gossip","tag-hit-me-baby-one-more-time","tag-religion-news-service","tag-tabloids"],"yoast_head":"\nGODSTUFF: Oops, we did it again.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Consuming Spears as a product or commodity -- chewing her up, and spitting her out -- is a kind of "unconscious cannibalism," says Christopher Smit, author of The Exile of Britney Spears: A Tale of 21st 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