Here is a paper I wrote for a critical theory class in my junior year of college. I was 19 and I still love pop culture and plastic surgery. Its funny to read now and I hope to rework it soon.
KIM KARDASHIAN
THE BODY, THE IMAGE, THE CARICATURE
The Kardashian empire is not only an abject function of capitalism perpetuated by its own social power but also a micro simile for the American climate within capitalism.
Status of the American celebrity is a prime example of contemporary mass control. Performance of ambassadorship, influence, and trends become a clear array of the state of things. From an individual Instagram post of a high-end outfit to replicated plastic clothes made by child slaves, there is social value to the image of the Kardashians. There is a power imbalance in the relationship the public has with bodies of celebrity, though there is something to be said about the fire of their fame being fueled by the common person's pastime. If it weren't for our longing, there would be no one for the celebrity to gawk at other than celebrities. Though while attempting to understand one's personal relationship to fame, it is vital to completely digest the false freedom it may bring.
OBJECTIFICATION OF THE BODY
Filmmaker Alli Coates follows performance artist Signe Pierce around the Myrtle Beach boardwalk, while she wears a small club dress and a reflective face mask hiding her identity. Over the 15-minute short film, her silent strut down the boardwalk morphed into chasing mobs, water thrown, and closed with her being shoved into the concrete. Was it her silence that provoked them with such aggression? Or their fear of their own reflection.
Kim Kardashian has hidden her face for many red carpets or paparazzi sightings. The most notable being around the 2021 Met Gala where she and her (at the time) husband Kanye West are seen matching black morph suits turning them into shadows on the carpet. Around that time she was also seen covering her identity with a similar mask to that of the Alli Coates film, a full reflective face shield accompanied by a flashy dress, or a fully zipped leather bondage mask prohibiting her from sight or vocality.
What happens when the culture of objectification and commodification of the body is directly sent back, how does the reflective mask display the crowds as she walks down the street being beaten by a mob? (Beyond sexualization, for the context of this example, the body is an object separate from the psyche as the laborer is to production.) The treatment of performance artist Signe Pierce by the mob is a perfect example of how the body is treated in the circumstances of a celebrity. Where it is adorned, glistening with glamor and beauty- something to be objectified, to be loved. But when a small factor, i.e. the face being covered or the body acting to the part of its decoration, its adornment in action- it is torn apart. In the case of American Reflexxx, her body was literally tormented by this function.
Within the life and fame of Kim Kardashian and her equally bimbofied sisters, there is a level to which their success is accredited to their bodies and their ability to use such vessels as an avenue of income. To breed off of the inevitably severe sexual appetites of society. For their mutilation of self becomes an image, and in turn a stream of revenue that will never end. Just as the social desire for a sexy female body’s presence will never die. Similar to that of the laborer. Capitalism relies on humans as bodies for work. As long as there is low-paid labor there is capitalism, as long as there is capitalism the body will never lose its factory-set value.
No matter what the Kardashians say or do, they will always profit off of their image beyond their person.
Celebrities having the privilege to morph and mutilate themselves repeatedly with bare consequences not only create false images of self but allow an esoteric image of mental and physical thresholds. Of which are not only terribly confusing to that of the common person but fuel a fabricated narrative of possibility.
Kim Kardashian is currently up for a role in the next season of American Horror Story (AHS). The anthological series repeats actors through seasons playing entirely different roles. Giving Kim the ability to reflect herself as the “jack of all trades” personality that she has developed over the past 15 years. From playboy covers to SNL, to billion dollar companies and a law degree. Even to the extent of her own body she has morphed into many different people just as the characters of AHS. Not only is Kim expanding her resume but reflecting her own multiverse character. There is no way for Kim Kardashian to truly act as a character for many reasons.
1. She is already playing one every day.
2. She is Kim Kardashian playing a character.
There is no separation between her and the roles she plays in life and the roles she is performing as an actor. She has iconicized herself to a level in which she can no longer be separated from herself.
HER BUTT TOOK OVER THE WORLD
What seems to be the monthly transition of the Kardashian bodies as a whole runs such a large portion of their press. Their use (or what some would consider abuse) of the BBL (Brazilian Butt Lift). To not only spark controversy around their bodies and fights over whether or not they worked to that figure naturally or used cosmetic surgery or just plain photoshop would (and will continue to) go on for weeks on end until suddenly their butt would be gone. After Kim Kardashian's butt became an undeniable staple to her image around the time of the birth of her first child and her marriage to Kanye West, she will never be able to escape the association.
In turn, as her marriage to Kanye West ended and her relationship with Pete Davidson started, her iconic behind disappeared. Just in time for her new Hulu show to be released. Not only did she remove the thing that made her uniquely iconic, but she managed to schedule this to coincide with a large press moment in her career. In the 2 years since this moment in the Kardashian universe, her butt has come and gone a few times. Meanwhile the average person has been saving up to fly to Miami to get the procedure and get the Kim K body they've wanted since 2016.
Her butt became so iconic to her that it was undeniably recognizable to anyone with a phone. No face or outfit needed, her waist to butt ratio became an image of fertility in the world of plastic bodies leaving those too poor and skinny left out, and those with naturally big butt still insecure that it wasn't smooth and manicured with not a bit of cellulite in sight.
In 2020, fashion designer Beate Karlson fabricated a wearable silicone replica of Kim K’s butt, granting the common person permission to the unattainable. When asked the intention behind her creation in a New York Fashion Week interview for Office Magazine, Karlson states, “Kim Kardashian is the poster child of the clickbait era, and her butt is a driving force behind the attention economy. This piece redistributes attention by offering the wearer a fair chance of getting their 15 minutes.” By duplicating the most sought after accessory of the time, Karlson stripped away all value by almost mummifying its image forever. A memorial to the elusivity of the viral.
Kim Kardashian and her sisters managed to redirect beauty standards away from the usual petite, runway model-esque physique and transform hundreds of people’s image of not only their own bodies but the standard to which they must meet to be validated by society just as the Kardashians. The masses are fed these almost religious icons of beauty so that their bodies are starved and spliced to reach an unattainable goal. At times it feels as though the Kardashian empire is playing a dirty game of how far will the bodies of the masses be abused until they realize they are chasing a train that never stops.
ATTACHMENT IS THE ROOT OF ALL SUFFERING
What are the conventions of value placed over objects and our collection of them? How do we break from obsession? If obsession breeds pain- why does it feel somewhat instinctual.
The Kardashian family is notoriously known for their archiving skills. Beyond the money and time that is required to complete such a steep task there is something to be said about the value in which they hold themselves. Why hold one's personal history to such a high standard? For the celebrity- to repeat an outfit would be criminal. To go outside is to make money- whether that money is fledged directly to the brands that are paraded or instantly to them for their image use. For Kim Kardashian to archive everything she has ever publicly worn builds a private museum to commemorate her past.
When cheap fashion brands open up duped versions of clothes worn by the Kardashians we waste money on the commodity of obsession. To have freedom is to be free to obsess, for the sake of joy, a dire connection to something someone who is so deeply far, separated from the world in which its fans reside. Is fame the root of all evil- beyond politics- how can we relate the world of capitalism to the realm of media and fame? How are the top celebs like the old presidents of the US as the Youtubers are the local mayors? With power over the individual- but as they go up in office we find they are lost. How does one infiltrate this bubble- what happens when they arrive- why can't they leave? Is it personal, decided by the individuals for their own best interest or something deeply rooted in the idea of success with a dollar sign? Where do we draw the line between business and pleasure? How do we control ourselves in the face of a soul to be sold for a million dollars, where do we situate ourselves in a system where survival is nothing but the hope for a meal on a table?
REALITY TV
The Kardashian family's use of reality TV to not only grow their fame, but to continue their status as “regular people” not only grounds them to a specific demographic, it also allows them to abuse their power of fame to promote themselves and their brands. It is the common person's privilege to be able to see what the Kardashians are up to. As if it is a gift from them personally, “Oh to be allowed to see what the rich get to do.” To cope with the idea that the commoner will never be able to experience the treasures of wealth and fame, we revel in that of others in idolization and obsession.
To watch Keeping Up with the Kardashian 10 years ago, though never realistic, they allowed the viewers the illusion of honesty, of a true fly on the wall experience. Now, It is a 40 minute ad campaign for whatever scheme they have conjured up to continue their reign of Calabasas. The viewers have recognized this change, but they will continue to watch. There is a level of control to which the Kardashians have a hooked to them. Where there is no escaping them, to love or to hate, it is pure circumstance. The Kardashian Empire has built the relationship that masochists have with car accidents. You know that it's bad, you don't want to see it, but you cannot look away.
TABLOID
The function of tabloids as entertainment to be consumed by the common person for the sake of feeling included in something that is infinitely distant from their life. Does this boil down to the want to be included or to even the playing field between the upper class by reading fabricated stories of their lives of which we are not capable of ever truly understanding? To further separate those who live on top and those who get to watch from the daily paper. Deepening the gap in which we all will eventually be sucked in.
Cancellation had a rise and fall over the past 9 years, where it once functioned to remove celebrities which have been caught doing something deemed unlawful either socially or legislatively. In the recent fall of cancel culture, there has been a switch where cancellation has become a tool for a short moment of fame. To use the performative, hateful nature of the mass to weapon to boost cultural attention.
FREE TO FEEL DOOM
How to avoid the dooms-day mentality: Is it everyone's fault? Since we are all part of this system that success breeds on individual failure, how do we cope when there is nowhere to go? In capitalism we are nothing but such. We are capital, disposable pawns. We are under the illusion of freedom- freedom to control nature- to fuel our own mental existence.
The medicine of our society is the exertion of those alleged freedoms.
Whether one is aware of the contradiction between the feeling of freedom versus its legitimacy- it is nothing true towards the “real freedom.” Not a single person in bourgeois society understands true freedom. (Can't make any definite but) nor will they ever. There is no freedom in a post industrial capitalism bourgeois world. To be under the impression of knowing this true freedom would be delusional to the fact of its absence at all.
Just as Kim Kardashian plays puppet master with trends, both fashionably and socially, there are limits to which her power extends. Being one of the most beloved yet most hated celebrities, a large portion of her value and power on a given day is credited to that which we grant her. There is the “freedom” of opinion, but there will never be consent for her image. She will be everywhere whether we love her or hate her.
POST MORTIS
The true impact of the Kardashian family will not be known until they are no longer able to characterize themselves. Though it can be assumed that after death the will of their wishes as well as their children will control the image and history of these people.
Not only will their reality never be known, but not until the Kardashian family falls completely, there will never be a full understanding of what goes on behind their games. Just as the only way out of capitalism is through it. The only way to ever understand the Kardashians in full truth would be for the empire to collapse.
The idea of “truth” for the Kardashian may not be at all a reality even for the people involved. But it is impossible not to wonder who really is in control. Why is it so difficult to believe that a family of 6 women could build an empire that virtually controls all trends in the mainstream cultural media?
Author MJ Corey, speculates that one day there will very well be a Kardashian themed Met Gala. Commemorating the success of the family who “started from a humble house in Calabasas,” with a famous lawyer father and an Olympian stepfather, all with a mother who would rather die than allow her children to not reign supreme. The Kardashian Empire is something to be sanctified by the walls of the very institution that once denied them for their “none classy, reality TV star status”.
Not only would this be an untenable statement on behalf of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vogue Magazine, and the entire fashion and media industries which places these apotheosize-like figures on pedestals of social and monetary wealth- It would speak to the greater contradiction of the existence of the entire system to which a woman and her family could be commemorated at all.
Kim Kardashian and her empire of a family is an analogy for capitalism in the contradiction of bodies for profit, function and sex. To fall to the weakness of the mass, The Kardashian Family holds a power unique to the celebrity, one very few hold. To control the common minds, impulse and insecurity with a complex string of actions.
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CITED
Keeping up with the Kardashians, E! Entertainment, 2007-2021
American Reflexxx- Alli Coates Signe Pierce
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXn1xavynj8
American Horror Story https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/kim-kardashian-american-horror-story-acting-coach-1235600504/
Chronic Internet Use
Socialist Realism, Trisha Low
Beate Karlson, Kim K Butt
http://officemagazine.net/kim-kardashian%E2%80%99s-butt-now-wearable
MJ Corey, TikTok User, Kim Kardashian enthusiast
https://www.tiktok.com/@mjcoreywrites
