At the beginning of the winter, during an earlier period of craziness for Britney Spears, I wrote a piece called "Fragments from Death Comes For Britney Spears! The Musical" for Gawker.com, and later updated it for McSweeneys. In between the original and the update, the filmmaker and writer Erika Yeomans, the creator of the great "Chubby Buddy," decided to adapt the Britney musical into a short film. The premise is that I'm bored at my job and my thoughts turn to gossip, and then Death comes for Britney Spears. Many people have criticized me for piling on Britney, and I guess I'd have to plead guilty, but with mitigating factors. First of all, I wrote the piece before she actually entered a mental hospital. Second of all, even if the piece is meant to make light of her almost cartoonish downward spiral, it's also intended to make the whole celebrity cycle look ridiculous, even the part of the cycle that includes writers and satirists.
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Britney and the Grim Reaper
Posted Feb 5th 2008 12:01PM by Ben Greenman
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Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.
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Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 2)
16. I really do feel for Britney. Yeah she's rich and few probably feel sympathy for her, but as we can all see, money doesn't buy happiness. She really needs some help. Marrying that man was the worst thing she could do. Everything seems to have gone downhill after that. I hope she finds peace soon.
Maria at 10:42AM on Mar 1st 2008
17. Great job Ben, Erika, Christine and Hatch. This is well done and very funny. Anyone that tries to defend Britney or feels sorry for her should get over it. She calls the paparazzi herself and tells them where she's going to be. She is the attention whore. She is the epitome of the "if it feels good do it" mentality. That's her audience! Berate her parents, not the clever minds behind this short.
Justin at 1:44AM on Feb 6th 2008
18. Sam Lufti is the son of God, our father.
Save us, Sam...Save us.
Thomas at 10:44AM on Feb 6th 2008
19. Let's leave Brit alone,okay?
aniekan thomas at 1:56PM on Feb 6th 2008
20. ALL ARTISTS ARE NUTS!
All artists aren't 'right' or they wouldn't be so talented.
An actor/actress can take their minds and bend it to fit a movie, really get into their roles...it makes $ and wins academy awards.
Singers sing because they are talented artists, thus not quite right in thinking.
Painters, writers, you name the art-you'll see imbalance somewhere.
This leaves them all open for scumbags to profit off them, take over their lives, drug them, rule them until there is no more art left in them.
Britney is a future Anna Nicole Smith if someone doesn't step in and keep out the jackals who come to feed off her......like Lufti who drugged, controlled and otherwise manipulated Britney.
It was funny at first until the true scope of her illness came to light. Lay off Britney now.
artistic at 2:49PM on Feb 6th 2008
21. Well, Ben, you DID mock her. Seems I heard a long time ago about some road or another being paved with "good intentions".
The girl is mentally ill. There is nothing funny about making fun of sick people. Those of you who think it is are blissfully ignorant of life.
web jones at 3:21PM on Feb 6th 2008
22. web jones is a sick person...and IT IS FUNNY!
guess that means i'm "blissfully ignorant of life"...whatever the hell that means! get over yourself. that shit was funny.
Gary at 3:30PM on Feb 6th 2008
23. I don't think it's making fun of Britney, actually. I think it's making fun of the whole process. It's a ridiculous idea, right? To send Little Richard with death to get Britney Spears? Just great.
Paul at 3:30PM on Feb 6th 2008
24. you can "mock" her all you want. who would truly
be there for you when you fall, everyone has a turn eventually........
gina at 6:26PM on Feb 6th 2008
25. Nice going! I look forward to your Heath Ledger musical. Try developing some grace.
Kg
kevingerarrd at 10:40PM on Feb 6th 2008
26. We didn't do anything to Britney, although I'm sure she'd welcome the chance to once again dodge responsibility. I don't feel sorry for her and I didn't fell sorry for Anna Nicole, but I do feel sorry for their kids. For now, until they grow up and act the same way.
mary at 10:56PM on Feb 6th 2008
27. When you are at a stress level like she is, her two sons have been taken away from her to the point she can't even see them, it will drive some women to an emotional point, they can't deal with life or anything else. And as for her Psychiatrist, once they put you in a Psych unit for a 5150 for 72 hours, if she acts nervous for any reason or say, while sitting, shakes her legs in anxiety, they have the right to keep her for 14 more days and at that point, all she has to tell the Judge that is brought in, "I am sane", by law, she has to be released. I think perhaps she needs a new Psychiatrist. Psychiatrists have more power than people realize, having worked in a hospital and learned from Psych Techs what exactly goes on in a Psych Unit. Being locked up, with no phone, except for the pay phone they have for everyone to use, no television nor a private phone, for fear of a suicide is cruel. And to read she is in a padded room, from what was told in the news. they don't even have a bed. That's enough to make anyone crazy.
She needs to be in a warm, caring environment, where she can work on her problems with her parents support, not in a padded cell. But she has money, so they will find ways to keep her. I am not saying she doesn't need help, but she is not getting the kind she needs and the drugs they give her, may actually make her worse when reading about psych drugs. She is caught between a rock and a hard place and as a mother, my heart goes out to her.
RockyO at 5:55AM on Feb 7th 2008
28. If God were passing out diseases and you could pick one, I know I'd pick being "Bipolar." What is it? It's a cycle where your emotions are elated or depressed to the point of being out of control. When you are up, that's the greatest person in the world to be around or to be with. Sex is out of this world and if you are doing anything exciting, it's a natural high you won't forget. Now when that person is depressed, you don't want to be the focus of their wrath or anger. That's not a disease in my eyes. It's a person who needs to know when it's a good time to rest. God give the depression to make that person remember, they are not a God! They are a celebrity with limits.
Cecil Jones at 8:21AM on Feb 7th 2008
29. A perfect satire in every way. I especially like that it is couched as an office reverie. Nice distancing for an over-saturated story. The sad thing is that no one would give a shit if Brit weren't famous. She'd be just another drunk red neck on "Cops" instead of "Entertainment Tonight" and "CNN."
Piso Mojado at 4:26PM on Feb 8th 2008