Is Britney Spears the new Madonna?

The pictures above come from Britney Spears song Someday and are a text book examples of being too obvious (the image of the Virgin Mary I put in as a comparison). I can see the director Guy Sigsworth sitting in his office explaining his visions to the big shots at Jive records in a very animated way. “I can see the second coming of the Christ” he says arms flailing wildly, mouth foaming in religious zeal.

Using religious symbolism in literature and movies are far from uncommon but this is a tad too much I think. There must have been some kind of competition of who could come up with the most religious refferences in the 3:32 minutes the video run.
Not only is the portrayed as the virgin Mary (first photo) but for those who missed that blatant halo behind her another chance is presented only seconds later as she, in a wide shot, holds her belly in front of a big painting with an angel reaching out toward her. Together with a camera views that looks down from the sky not very subtly hinting that someone is watching her from above make this video one of the more blatant shows of religious symbolism I have seen in a long time. She is indeed reclaiming her virginal image not seen since the days of Don’t let me be the last to know. The virgin and the whore is not a too uncommon religious theme either... I might be on to something here.

I have talked about Britney before and I probably will again. The whole machinery that is Britney Spears is too interesting to simply ignore. Indeed a force to be reckoned with within the media industry... Amen

• you can watch the video at Yahoo music or VH1