Are you keeping up with the Kardashians?

Source: https://ca.celebrity.yahoo.com/

On 14th October 2007, Channel E! debuted their latest smash-hit reality television show ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ which followed the personal and professional lives of the famous Kardashian and Jenner family. Back then, no one really knew who they were but what little was known, it was not positive. So how exactly did they manage to snag their own reality television show? The family’s notoriety came from one of the daughters, Kim Kardashian. Kim was best friends with hotel heiress and socialite Paris Hilton but made headlines when her sex tape with R&B singer, Ray J, was released to the public. Though this was negative publicity for the family, momager Kris Jenner decided to make the most of the situation as she believed she “had to make some lemonade out of these lemons fast. Real fast…” and that her “job was trying to take my kids’ 15 minutes and turn it into 30.”

Now 7 years, 9 seasons and 3 spin-offs (with 2 more set to air) later, with many appearances in tabloid  magazines, it’s safe to say that everyone knows who the Kardashian’s and Jenner’s are and all about their lives. The reality show is a excellent example of the mediated public sphere and its concerns in the 21st Century. The public sphere is defined as —

“A domain of our social life where such a thing as public opinion can be formed [where] citizens… deal with matters of general interest without being subject to coercion… [to] express and publicize our views.” (Habermas, J 1997)

Keeping Up with the Kardashians rose to fame in the public sphere as it not only explores the families’ personal and professional lives but also fame, sex, drama and materialism. The reality show exemplifies that the mediated public sphere and its concerns are accurate — it has become too trivialised, too commercialised, too spectacular (instead of rational), too fragmented and too apathetic about important public issues. It shows the little concern that we have for the political and social issues our world is facing, that we are so consumed by the spectacle of celebrity and fame that we only absorb what grabs our attention, what we want and like to hear such as gossip. Although viewers do not learn or gain much from watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians, it is up to the viewer’s discretion as to how they react and what they take away from the show because underneath all the layers of ‘show’, it does also portray a close-knit family bond.

Fun fact — President Obama bans his kids from watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians!

Reference List
1. Dimelow, G 2011, Keeping Up With The Kardashians: TV’s Face Of Evil, Sabotage Times, 27 June, viewed 7th April <http://sabotagetimes.com/reportage/keeping-up-with-the-kardashians-tvs-face-of-evil/#_>
2. McKee, A 2005, Introduction to the Public Sphere: An Introduction, Public Sphere: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press 2005, pp. 1-31, viewed 7th April