Page 174 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

158 Audience, Performance, and Celebrity

career goals. Motherhood in the discourse is moralized; Spears ’ mother was
blamed for her daughter ’ s dysfunctional behavior. Because she supposedly
failed as a parent, her daughter spun out of control. In a move typical of
this moral discourse, Lynne Spears was portrayed as having over - indulged
her daughter instead of having set fi rm boundaries for her. The discipline
that capitalism requires of those on the bottom rungs is thus internalized
by those who inhabit those rungs and turned into a sign of virtue. Others
are judged by how well they align themselves with the ideal of self -

discipline and self - control, an ideal that identifies the requisite personal
identity of individualist capitalism with white middle - class values.
Consider this example of gossip that appeared shortly after Spears made
her comeback:

Gotta hand it to Papa Spears. He ’ s managed to find the right drug cocktail

(with a little professional help, of course). He makes sure she ’ s wearing
underwear when she goes out. He makes her wash her hair more than once
a week, and he keeps the Luftis and Adnans away. He can ’ t keep them all
away, though. With the release of Circus , all the parasites who fed on Britney ’ s
fame and fortune have come out of the woodwork to feast anew. Chief leech
and former husband Kevin Federline has even “ opened up ” to People maga-
zine. K - Fed still doesn ’ t have a job, but he ’ s more than happy to talk for
hours about life with Britney, life after Britney, and the two little people who
made it all possible: Sean and Jayden. He manages to portray himself as a
good father, but that ’ s not surprising considering all the hired help he has.
$20,000 a month buys a lot of nanny.
Also oozing her way out of obscurity is her loser “ cousin ” Alli, who scored
an interview with In Touch Weekly to bitch about how she was banished
from Britney ’ s life. Well, yeah. She was getting paid to be an assistant, not
an enabler. She now claims to be concerned about Britney ’ s welfare, saying,
“ How can they say Britney is sick and then shove her out on the road, with
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all that pressure? ” Hey, honey, somebody ’ s gotta pay all those people.

Notice how laced with value judgments this excerpt is, judgments that
mix morality in with even everyday events such as washing hair (bad not
to), wearing underwear (bad not to), taking drugs (bad to do so, at least
those of which this moral value system disapproves – alcohol not included),
and so on. Notice too that parents are portrayed negatively if they have any
other motive than that sanctioned by the discourse. This moral sensibility
is often associated with personal toughness (I can put up with hard knocks;
why can ’ t you?), and it is interesting that this hard - bitten cynicism of the