What we consume matters: a conclusion that is making more sense as sustainability and eco-responsibility become part of our everyday cultural conversations. What we fail to realize is that we consume – unconsciously, continually, and, at times, violently – much more than food. The Exile of Britney Spears: A Tale of Twenty-First Century Consumption explains that we have consumed, digested, and eliminated Britney Spears in a process uniquely characteristic of American popular culture. In Christopher Smit’s explanation of the sociological, aesthetic, and political outcomes of this new mediated cannibalism; he offers the idea of exile as a new metaphor for the outcome of popular consumption. By investigating the psychological, personal and social matrix of Britney’s rise and fall (and rise again?), he outlines the process of her inevitable exile from global taste and favour. While the book encourages the reader to see Britney’s volition within her narrative, it ultimately works to explain the larger practices bound up with our consumption of her life within the malleable context of new media and digital communication.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"In his new book, Christopher Smit examines the role we—the consumers of the product Spears is selling—have played in her creation, near destruction, and reinvention. At once scholarly and eminently accessible, Smit’s book chronicles Spears’s creation as a cultural icon and analyzes what her story says about the state of our souls.”
(Cathleen Falsani Huffington Post 2011-04-05)“This is not your typical what’s-up-with-Britney pop-gossip read. There are no Britney photos. Smit conducted no interviews with relatives or party pals or industry insiders, though there are plenty of eyebrow-lifting examinations of the singer’s turbulent life. . . . More than anything, this is a sobering assessment of pop culture and the way we as a modern society devour, digest, and expel celebrities.”
(John Sinkevic Grand Rapids Press 2011-04-10)
About the Author
Christopher Smit is associate professor of media studies at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His writings focus on the intersections between media, aesthetics, culture, and the disabled body.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By MTwain
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm a Britney fan (I became a fan after her breakdown, however) and I don't know much about sociology. It was quite readable for me, but it is more of a sociology text book. Anyway, I found it really interesting, and a fast read (it's only 127 pages). You have to know about Britney's history; the details are not given in the book. The book covers her chronologically, from her early ambitions up to the latest album release (Circus --- the book was published in 2011 but before Femme Fatale came out). Britney was following a dream, that was a social contract, that she would be loved for her talent and to the glory of God. Instead, she ended up playing a role that had little to do with herself personally, and more as a communal sex idol.
It really made me think, because it is true that those in the spotlight lose themselves. And about what we as a society have done to her and to other pop stars like Marilyn Monroe. We love and adore our pop princess, but only if she stays young, beautiful, sexy, and tantalizing. Britney entered the stage so young, did she ever really have a say in what she became? Be careful what you wish for. This really hit home for me because of the dreams that I had when I was young, I didn't understand what I was getting in to, and we do grow up with an unspoken social contract that if we do all the right things, it will all work out OK. But it doesn't always. And there's no going back.
The book also covers feminism, in the sense of the roles women are expected to hold --- and Britney was supposed to be both the perfect woman (Mary mother of Jesus) and the perfect sex object (Mary Magdalene). If you want to get a better understanding of how our society and our values are reflected in pop culture, read this book!
It really made me think, because it is true that those in the spotlight lose themselves. And about what we as a society have done to her and to other pop stars like Marilyn Monroe. We love and adore our pop princess, but only if she stays young, beautiful, sexy, and tantalizing. Britney entered the stage so young, did she ever really have a say in what she became? Be careful what you wish for. This really hit home for me because of the dreams that I had when I was young, I didn't understand what I was getting in to, and we do grow up with an unspoken social contract that if we do all the right things, it will all work out OK. But it doesn't always. And there's no going back.
The book also covers feminism, in the sense of the roles women are expected to hold --- and Britney was supposed to be both the perfect woman (Mary mother of Jesus) and the perfect sex object (Mary Magdalene). If you want to get a better understanding of how our society and our values are reflected in pop culture, read this book!
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