Pop Princess Power
Culture Wars: Is Britney Spears the new Madonna or just a talentless stripper?
Editor's note: In this regular series, CultureMap staffers, contributors and selected experts audio debate issues in the city.
When the subject is Britney Spears, the battle lines are quickly drawn. When Britney came up in one of our regular editorial meetings (it's not all abstract art at CultureMap), columnist Caroline Gallay and social media editor Fayza A. Elmostehi almost immediately started squaring off on whether Britney is the original late 1990s pop princess (Caroline's view) or just a largely talentless creation of handlers and stage parents (Fayza's opinion).
With Britney back in the news more than ever (see the Glee episode, the new neck tattoos, her latest comeback), the debate quickly turned into a Culture War where no one's feelings were spared — especially Britney's.
Fayza argues that Britney is "a horrible role model, the kind of woman who sets back the women's movement by 20 years" and notes how Britney "started taking her clothes off" once she began making her own decisions. Caroline counters that Britney is "a Madonna" type musical figure and clearly a shrewd businesswoman.
Listen to the whole debate and tell us whose side you're on. Are you suffering from "Brit Lash" like Fayza or are you sophisticated and secure enough to acknowledge that Britney's songs can put you in a good mood a la Caroline? There's no straddling the fence in this Culture War.
Even if that's something Britney would do in a video.
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