Britney Spears Workin It is a 2014 documentary based on the chaotic life of pop-star sensation, Britney Spears. While this documentary reminds us why we all know and love Britney, there are several factors that could have made the documentary more consumer-friendly.
First, I will start by saying the opening reminder of her much-earned success was a wonderful attention getter and trip down memory lane for those who grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s. Not everyone remembers how she came to fame, and the beginning part of the documentary did a great job of telling people just how amazing her rise to stardom was. Unfortunately, there are critical misses from that point on.
First, when showing a clip of someone speaking about Britney for whatever reason, the name of the person and their relationship either to Britney or their job title should be on a caption. There were many testimonies or opinions spoken by various people about Britney, but as they were speaking, there was no on-screen indicator of who they were. Normally in documentaries, news reports, and other such pieces, the name and title of the person will be captioned below the speaker. That would have benefited this documentary quite a bit, as I was unsure of several of the people speaking. I wondered many times why I should care what this particular person has to say as I did not know who they were in the scheme of things.
Secondly, a couple clips of other people speaking their opinions were repeated. That was unnecessary, as was the continuous accusation of her exploitation of her "image." I found that not only to be biased in the way it is mentioned, but an irrelevant implication consistently put in to represent her in the narrator's view.
The next issues I would like to look at focus on fact-finding. First, the documentary pointed out several times how she was rejected from the Mickey Mouse Club the first time she auditioned. It talked about how that must have affected her mentally, but it never mentioned why she was rejected. The fact that she was rejected due to her age, which I know as a Britney fan myself, I find to be relevant on the matter considering what they were using the concept of her rejection to insinuate. There was also a case where they played a clip of Britney speaking, and the caption simply said, "Voice of Britney." It would have been beneficial to state what interview or time period that recording was from. It gave no indication of place, age, or any reference point for when the recording was taken. The documentary also claimed that her last album was her lowest charting album. Considering this documentary was made in 2014, it really should have considered the possibility that she would have (and has) made more albums since its production. That being said, their claim of her "last album," is misleading. It's simply the last one she made before this documentary was filmed, not her last one to date. Instead, it should have listed the name of the album, which it did not.
There were many other minor issues as well, such as showing clips of Celine Dion and Rod Stewart, when discussing her Las Vegas Residency, which I found to be unnecessary. However, the aforementioned critiques would be my main focus. Otherwise, I did find the documentary to be quite informative as well as entertaining. I was very thankful for all of the pre-meltdown drama stories on her life. Nowadays too many focus on her breakdown and forget what came before all of that. I appreciate this documentary going back to the beginning of her story and possibly even contributing factors that lead to the breakdown. That was one thing I think this documentary did that none of the others before it have done justice to. It stands apart from the crowd in that way, and I find it much more appealing and accurate in those senses. Overall, as a die-hard Britney Spears fan, I really like it.
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