We’ve been inundated with Princess Diana content over the past few years. The renaissance of every attention-grabbing moment of the 1990s has created a kind of feeding frenzy that feels disgustingly appropriate for the era. Yet here we are, longing for another documentary event covering the late Princess of Wales because The Princess promises that the real subject is us. Namely, the British (and global) fascination with this one woman which, in its fervor and bottomless appetite, arguably doomed her marriage and sent her into the spiral that eventually led to her death. Supply and demand is a sick game in the world of paparazzi.
And guess what? It’s still wildly relevant today. We’re still doing this. Over and over and over again. Obsessing over celebrities (especially women) and building them up to tear them back down. We just spent another round in the barrel with the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial.
Where the first trailer for Ed Perkins’ archival footage doc gave us a glimpse of ourselves in the mirror, the latest goes for the throat. What does it say about us that we have this need?
We’ll face that question and more when the documentary hits HBO Max on August 13th.
