Have any of you ever wondered: Why is Kim Kardashian famous?
I definitely have. Although she has certainly made a name for herself beyond
the infamous sex tape made with then-boyfriend Ray J, Kim’s road to fame only
began because of said sex tape. Along with reality shows, social media, and
talent competition shows, scandal is just one of the paths to fame celebrities
use today.
Monica Lewinsky, Anna Nicole Smith, and Divine Brown are just
a few people who have turned scandal into success. According to Johnathan Lemonnier’s
article, “How scandalous celebs have fared”, Monica Lewinsky has been quite
successful since her affair with ex-President Bill Clinton put her in the
spotlight back in the 1990’s. Since, she
has signed a book deal, appeared in a Barbara Walter’s interview, signed a deal
for an HBO special, created her own handbag line, and became a spokeswoman for
Jenny Craig. As Lemonnier puts it, “Not bad for an intern”. The late Anna
Nicole Smith used her marriage to 89 year old billionaire, J Howard Marshall,
to her advantage. The scandal boosted Smith’s career landing her a slew of
cameo appearances and a reality television show. Divine Brown earned more than
1.6 million dollars in publicity alone after getting arrested for “servicing”
actor Hugh Grant in a parked car, according to Lemonnier.
Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton
also rose to fame due to their indiscretions on tape, but what kept them in the
spotlight was something even more people are using to reach celebrity status:
Reality Television. If it weren’t for shows like “Keeping Up with the
Kardashians”, “The Jersey Shore” and “The Real Housewives”, people would only
have raw talent to rely on to reach celebrity status. You know, like they used
to. I am not saying that Kim Kardashian (Keeping
Up with the Kardashians), Snookie (Jersey
Shore) and Bethenny Frankel (The Real
Housewives of New York) haven’t earned at least part of their fortunes due
to hard work- Kim’s clothing line, Snookie’s book, and Betthenny Frankel’s
Skinny Girl Margarita empire (Parade)-but I am saying that talent is not what
got them there. These reality television shows put us into these people’s lives,
making them celebrities for, well, doing nothing but letting the cameras in. I
wonder how many of us could say our lives would make great tv?
Though a lot of reality television
has left people (myself included) asking why some celebs are famous, some
people use television shows to actually showcase the true talent that they do
have. Competition shows like American
Idol, Project Runway, and The Apprentice have given many people a
shot at fame based on their talent. Some success stories include Carrie
Underwood and Kelly Clarkson (Idol)
who both have extremely successful music careers, Bill Rancic (The Apprentice) who is a successful
business man, and Christian Siriano (Project
Runway) who has a deal with Payless and his own fashion line (Parade).
One of the newest paths to fame is
social media. People are creating their own brands and making names for
themselves through the use of social media platforms like Youtube, Vine,
Instagram and Twitter. The phrases “youtube famous” or “vine famous” are used
all the time to describe micro-celebrities who have built fame and fortune off
of these platforms. People can now reach millions of viewers by simply
uploading a video of themselves performing a talent, tweeting a few funny
words, or making vine and Instagram videos of themselves doing something outrageous.
Steven Leckhart, in his New York Times article, “Finding Fame,
and Sometimes Fortune, in Social Media” says, “Social media have made it easier than ever to catapult from
obscurity to prominence. In recent years, the Web has blossomed into a more
egalitarian version of “American Idol,” where nobodies compete for attention
alongside somebodies. Today, a teenager posting webcam videos to YouTube
can get a movie deal (“Fred:
The Movie”). A 30-something posting one-liners onTwitter can land a TV show on CBS(“$#*! My Dad
Says”). Bloggers creating Internet memes are being offered book deals at a
dizzying pace”. With videos
and pictures going viral every day, the internet has allowed people to create
their own fame. The article, “To See and To Be Seen: Celebrity Practice on
Twitter”, describes why people use social media to become famous: “Reality TV
popularized a behind-the-scenes, self-conscious examination of celebrity
construction; online, this goes one step further. Theresa Senft defines
‘micro-celebrity’ as a technique that ‘involves people ‘‘amping up’’ their
popularity over the Web using techniques like video, blogs, and social
networking sites’. ‘Micro-celebrity’ describes a prevailing style of behavior
both online and off, linked to the increase in popularity of ‘self-branding’
and strategic self-presentation” (Marwick & Boyd, 141).
Now that it has become easier for people to
promote themselves, whether through scandal, reality television, or social
media, how do you think this will change the entertainment industry? I believe
the industry will start to see less “real” talent and will focus more on the
shock factor to gain people’s attention.
Works Cited:
Leckart, Steven. “Finding Fame,
and Sometimes Fortune, in Social Media”. The
New York Times. 26 Sep. 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Lemonnier, Johnathan. “How
scandalous celebs have fared.”Advertising
Age 79.12 (2008): 3-25. Communication
& Mass Media Complete. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Marwick, Alice, and Danah Boyd. "To See and To Be Seen:
Celebrity Practice on Twitter."Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New
Media Technologies 139th ser. 17 (2011): 139-58. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
“Stars Who Cashed in on Reality TV
Fame”. Parade Magazine. Parade
Publications, Inc. 05 Oct. 2011. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
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ReplyDeleteMelanie—
ReplyDeleteI have wondered why people like Kim Kardashian, Snookie or Honey Boo-Boo are famous. The attention showered upon them almost seems undeserved as their fame and success began with sex tapes, public drunkenness, and children’s pageants. None of these actions required significant skill or education. In my opinion, reality stars appear fake and superficial. Yet without a doubt, these reality stars gained fame and successfully built upon their celebrity and popularity to build their own personal business empires. It is difficult to look at these people without wondering about fame. When I was in high school, my friends and I used to joke that MTV or some other network should have based a show on our friend group as a red-neck, country version of Laguna Beach. I think the idea actually had a good probability of success. With the recent popularity of country redneck reality shows, a show based on ten girls living in rural Maine might have been a huge phenomenon. We would not be famous because of sex tapes, gold-digging marriages, or being the President’s mistress but some of our adventures snow tubing, four wheeling and wearing orange in the woods during hunting season might have gained an audience!
As you discussed in your blog, many reality stars did not become famous based on merit, and successful celebrities that remain public figures often find ways to expand their empires and promote themselves and their business interests. TV shows such as Keeping Up With The Kardashians is a prime example of the ways in which Kim and her family have remained in the limelight, while also promoting themselves and their products. As Marshall points out in “The Promotion and Presentation of Self: Celebrity as Marker of Presentational Media”: “Because of celebrity's centrality in what can be defined as self-production, the elaborate celebrity gossip can be seen as providing a continuity of dis- course around the presentation of the self for public consumption. The pedagogy of the celebrity in the twentieth century can be read as a very elaborate morality tale that mapped a private world into a public world. What we have described above is the ideal self that celebrities were able to proffer and ultimately led to their capacity to effectively sell a wide variety of products” (Marshall). The Kardashian family and the ways that they promote themselves and their business interests is a prime example of this type of self promotion for personal profit.
(Part two)
ReplyDeleteKanye and Kim have been all the rage the past few years. Between naming their baby a cardinal direction, Kanye’s Bound 2 video, and the couple’s public engagement, there has been plenty of discussion and speculation about the couple. Gossip about the celebrity couple is almost a daily occurrence. Whether it is gossip about their wedding venue (Versailles?), the pre-nuptial agreement, or their appearance on the cover of Vogue, Kim and Kanye are constantly making headlines. In the article, Anna Wintour Says Kardashian-West Vogue Cover Was ‘Entirely Our Idea’, written by Rachael Ellenbogen, Vogue editor, Anna Wintour is quoted stating: “Part of the pleasure of editing ‘Vogue,’ one that lies in a long tradition of this magazine, is being able to feature those who define the culture at any given moment, who stir things up, whose presence in the world shapes the way it looks and influences the way we see it” (Ellenbogen). It is clear that Kanye and Kim are seen as people who set the tone for what the public wants and that they are able to capitalize upon their notoriety in significant ways, both individually and as a couple.
With the rise of social media fame, I have continued to question why my high school friend group did not receive more attention. I see people who are famous on Vine, Twitter and Instagram, and often times they are less funny or interesting than my friends. My friends used to joke that Jenna Marbles (the YouTube video sensation, “How To Trick People Into Thinking You’re Good Looking”) and I were actually clones of each other. She appeared to repeat many things I used to say to my friends but she would say these things publically on YouTube. This is one reason why my friends and I did not attain fame or fortune for our ridiculous behavior (and probably many other reasons). We do not put our lives or silly ideas out front for public attention. We laughed hysterically at each other but our social media controls were set to private. We did not mind appearing silly to each other but we did not risk public scrutiny. People who become famous on social media usually seem to be in niche groups. Not everyone is interested in the same things so often people become famous among a group of people or by making one huge hit and developing a following for their work. For example, I have noticed a recent increase in the number of people who are famous on Instagram with a massive fitness following. This trend concerns me because often these people who are promoting fitness are not trained or educated about the information they provide. These people offer online training and diet plans to paying customers, and many are not certified, qualified or even running a legitimate business.
I have to agree that true talent is rarer in the world today. It seems to me that people simply need to make audiences laugh or evoke some sort of emotional response, whether rage, happiness, or shock, in order to catapult themselves into the limelight. With the right management of media and a little luck, they can create empires based upon a moment of fame.
Work cited:
Ellenbogen, Rachael. "Anna Wintour Says Kardashian-West Cover Was 'Entirely Our Idea,'" ABCNews.com 21 March 2014. Web.
P. David Marshall, “The Promotion and Presentation of Self: Celebrity as Marker of Presentational Media,” in The Media Studies Reader, Laurie Ouelette, ed. (New York: Routledge, 2012), 427 - 438.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMelanie, I am glad that you chose this topic. Over the past few years, I have become increasingly disgusted with the figures that have been promoted as “celebrities” in popular culture. Reality “stars” like Kim Kardashian are regarded as pop culture royalty, yet have not been able to prove that they have any significant talents of their own. As you said, celebrities who have gained fame from their sex tapes have capitalized on the idea that scandal (as well as sex) sells. Just the mentions of Monica Lewinsky and Anna Nicole Smith alone prove that point.
ReplyDeleteFor every time I express my distaste for Kim Kardashian’s popularity, there is always at least one person that defends her by claiming that she is successful because she is a smart businesswoman. This may very well be true; she and her family have built an empire through their television series and various product lines. However, if she was truly business-savvy, she could have become successful on her own merits instead of gaining recognition through a sex tape. She clearly was born into an affluent family, with her father being high-profile lawyer Robert Kardashian. By utilizing her connections and “business smarts,” she potentially could have made a name for herself in the corporate world. Unfortunately, this is the problem with the culture in which we live; her goal may not just be success, but fame.
A sex tape seems to be the “easy way out” for a woman to become famous in the media without having to prove her talents in other fields. In recent years, the recipe for sex tape success has been adding in a famous daughter of a high-profile figure, such as Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian. Whether or not these sex tape “leaks” were intentional or not, they undoubtedly propelled these women into the limelight. In 2010, actor Laurence Fishburne’s daughter Montana actually admitted that she leaked her own sex tape, saying that she “watched how successful Kim Kardashian became…and a lot of it was due to the release of her sex tape” (Gawker). This is a frightening reality; the stigma of a sex tape has changed in recent years and has seemingly become more normal for celebrities. Young women, like Laurence Fishburne’s daughter, see these types of figures being treated as cultural mainstays and emulate that in order to achieve fame in their own right.
(part two)
ReplyDeleteWhat may be even more concerning is the fact that the general public seems to have accepted these people as deserving of this fame, yet still claims that they have no idea why they are famous. According to OMG!, Kim Kardashian was a “winner” in 2013, citing that “you might not like her, but you have to admit that the woman knows how to stay in the spotlight” (OMG!). The article continued to state that Kim was a “winner” this past year because she “finalized her divorce with Kris Humphries, got slammed for her acting gig in Tyler Perry's "Temptation," dissed Katie Couric…dyed her hair blond and…showed off in a racy Instagram photo” (OMG!). These “reasons” are hardly merit for being a big celebrity “winner” of the year; these make up a series of unfortunate events that would equal the metaphorical death of any serious actor or musician. Yet for Kim Kardashian, they add up to make her a winner.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were featured on the cover of Vogue last month, which caused controversy because of a similar reason. However, in a recent ABC News article, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour defended this choice by saying: “There’s barely a strand of the modern media that the Kardashian Wests haven’t been able to master…Kim, through her strength of character, has created a place for herself in the glare of the world’s spotlight, and it takes real guts to do that” (ABC News). People rarely mention Kim’s sex tape origins, or the fact that her family’s reality show consists of mainly shallow themes and scripted drama. The fact that Wintour admitted that the Kardashian dynasty has conquered every stream of modern media brings to mind a serious question about why we accept these people as “famous.” It seems as if the mentality behind evaluating these figures has turned into “if you can’t beat them, might as well join them.”
Perhaps Kim Kardashian is smarter than we all think. She has capitalized on the idea of “being famous for being famous,” and has turned her sex tape and reality show fame into (horrifyingly enough) becoming some sort of a role model for young girls. Unfortunately, in our world where scandal and sex sell more than true talent, people like Kim Kardashian will continue to find themselves on top. As you mentioned, the “shock factor” will continue to rule and only get more outrageous as time goes on.
Ellenbogen, Rachael. "Anna Wintour Says Kardashian-West Cover Was 'Entirely Our Idea,'" ABCNews.com 21 March 2014. Web.
O'Connor, Maureen. "Laurence Fishburne's Daughter Releases Sex Tape Because of 'How Successful Kim Kardashian Became'" Gawker. Gawker, 30 July 2010. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Shewfelt, Raechal Leone. "Celeb Winners and Losers of 2013." OMG! 27 Dec. 2013. Web.
I liked reading about all the different and modern means of becoming famous you touched upon. First, I believe you are completely right by saying how anyone can become famous by means of reality television. There are so many shows that have existed and people always will ask, “How did they become famous?” The answer to that is because powerful media executives have the ability to make anyone they want famous. I agree and think this is ridiculous but it’s the honest truth. All the names of people you touched upon such as Kim Kardashian, Snookie and Paris Hilton are all prime examples of people with no specific clear cut talent, just people that either come from wealth or are marketed correctly. For instance, Kim K is known in present time for being married to famous rapper Kanye West. Prior to that she was known for dating a few famous athletes and musicians and of course her infamous sex tape, are these things that should make a person famous? I don’t think so but this is the world we live and apparently it’s what people will watch and enjoy keeping up on. I thought this was well put in OMG! By saying, “You might not like her, but you have to admit that the woman knows how to stay in the spotlight (Shewfelt 2).” This is a good representation of how we can’t say she became famous for a legitimate reason and that’s why a lot of people don’t like her, but she knows how to stay famous and be the topic of everyone’s conversation.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is something anyone can have easy access to if they want to use it. If it is used correctly for the purpose of promoting and marketing themselves they can become very successful. For example, I used to be an avid and frequent user of vine and as time progressed with the new and innovative app more and more people began to use it. I saw a base of about 20 “Vine celebrities” that began to take over the application. Soon enough I noticed they were featuring products in their vines occasionally. These “Vine celebrities” now became the marketing means of various different companies. Different from how I feel about reality television stars, people that became famous from social media applications such as Vine, I believe are truly talented in some way a lot of the time. The majority of all “Vine celebrities” either bestow a talent or skill making them unique and interesting to watch. I think it’s great that everyone has the ability to reach out and share their talents and skills with the world. This only makes it easier for people that deal with talent searching and looking for the next big thing. I think there are so many talented people in the world that go unrecognized and social media is a great way for people that may not be able to afford auditions and talent coaches to show the world what they can do and receive feedback. As far as social media being a primary source of how people can market themselves, it is not going anywhere. I think this will only expand with new social media apps being created and the ones that exist currently growing bigger. Overall I think it is a great way for people to get their foot in the door and who knows maybe the right person will see you and have the power to make you famous.
Works Cited
P. David Marshall, “The Promotion and Presentation of Self: Celebrity as Marker of Presentational Media,” in The Media Studies Reader, Laurie Ouelette, ed. (New York: Routledge, 2012), 427 - 438.
Shewfelt, Raechal Leone. "Celeb Winners and Losers of 2013." OMG! 27 Dec. 2013. Web.
Melanie,
ReplyDeleteYou have no idea how many times I ask myself the question why is Kim Kardashian famous. I also wonder how girls idolize her and how they even consider watching anything she is apart of. However the fact of the matter is that reality stars are what fame is now becoming. Whether you look at the cast of “Jersey Shore”, “Real Housewives of who knows where” or even “Honey Boo-Boo”, it just seems that with one simple thing you can make you famous. Kim, as most of us know did it through her sex tape. Yes, she also has her reality shows with her family and various product lines but her true fame wouldn’t be without that tape. You could argue that her father being high-profile lawyer Robert Kardashian (O.J. Simpsons friend and lawyer) helped her but what kept her in the limelight were her own actions. Reality stars like this do not deserve the fame and some don’t even have any talent at all. Yet somehow these so called “stars” are using the fame they gained to build successful business empires for themselves.
A great example of this would be cast members from the “Jersey Shore”. According to Forbes in 2012, “Paul DelVecchio’s résumé doesn’t scream “Master of the Universe,” at least not at first glance. The Rhode Island native never attended college, instead taking a job at a car dealership after high school. For much of the last decade, he spent the bulk of his nights and weekends DJing small clubs in Providence for a few hundred dollars a pop” (Forbes). But guess what that all took a change once Pauly joined the MTV reality show. “Three years later he’s got a slew of eponymous products, his own television show and a DJ career that earns him an average of $40,000 per show from club gigs, private parties and a stint opening for Britney Spears on her Femme Fatale tour” (Forbes). If you ask me that’s a really nice turn around for just acting like a drunken fool on a TV show and one can’t help think it’s underserving. It may even cause you to think if you get famous by acting like they do maybe you’ll get famous as well but do you really want to read what or listen to what you see about them really being about you?
People like this are walking away with millions of dollars for something any college student could film on a regular weekend. But to make matters worse, these people are making fools of themselves and people are idolizing them for it. “You might not like her, but you have to admit that the woman knows how to stay in the spotlight” (OMG!). That line came from an article written by Raechal Leone Shewfelt about the 2013 celebrity winners and losers. And I bet you guessed it right, Kim was certainly a “winner” according to the rest of the article. Even though it said winner, what the article said didn’t really make her sound like one. “She finalized her divorce with Kris Humphries, got slammed for her acting gig in Tyler Perry's "Temptation," dissed Katie Couric, and vowed that Nori would not be featured on her reality show” (OMG!). If you ask me, that’s not really winning.
ReplyDeletePart 2
It kills me knowing that all the hard work people do they still won’t be able to make what these reality stars do. People look up to these reality stars and think of them as such idols, that it just isn’t right. Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, told us something that I thought I would never hear. “Part of the pleasure of editing ‘Vogue,’ one that lies in a long tradition of this magazine, is being able to feature those who define the culture at any given moment, who stir things up, whose presence in the world shapes the way it looks and influences the way we see it, I think we can all agree on the fact that that role is currently being played by Kim and Kanye to a T” (ABC).
Well I will certainly tell you that those two people don’t influence anything I do on a regular basis and Melanie, it shouldn’t influence your daily life either. The expression “we love to hate them” can almost solely apply to reality stars and even though you might highlight the wealth and the attention, think also about the criticism they constantly receive. The world gets fed a lot of media putting reality stars on pedestals because it’s simply entertaining. Whether it’s criticism, or about what new car they’ve purchased it’s a never-ending newsreel of what useless thing they’re doing. But at the same time reality stars give us a dose of fake reality we sometimes need and Melanie, you should use it to make yourself feel even more satisfied about your life and yourself. They need cars and cameras to be happy where I’m sure you have true family and friends who wouldn’t let you be exposed to what reality stars are exposed to.
Work Cited:
Ellenbogen, Rachael. "Anna Wintour Says Kardashian-West Cover Was 'Entirely Our Idea,'" ABCNews.com 21 March 2014. Web.
Greenburg, Zack O'Malley. "Gym, Tan, Money: Inside Pauly D's $11 Million Payday."Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 02 Aug. 2012. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
Shewfelt, Raechal Leone. "Celeb Winners and Losers of 2013." OMG! 27 Dec. 2013. Web.
Melanie,
ReplyDeleteI found this to be an extremely interesting blog post. I have always pondered some of the questions that you brought up, therefore I wanted to post my personal feelings on the subject. In my opinion, there are many celebrities that are famous, but lack true talent. Personally, I am not a fan of reality television at all, therefore I constantly wonder why average people get paid such high wages to act dramatic on television. I also wonder why these television shows have such high ratings, and why people feel so connected to these characters. It baffles me, but people can find their way to fame quite easily nowadays.
Social media is certainly a leading way in which many individuals find their way to fame today. We can conveniently promote ourselves as celebrities, whether due to scandalous cases, attempts at talent, or many other reasons. I like to think of Justin Beiber as a great example of how we can use modern day technology in order to reach fame. Although Beiber was actually born with musical talent, he may not have been discovered without the Internet. When he was quite young, he would post videos on YouTube of himself singing, dancing and playing various instruments. He was discovered by both Usher and Justin Timberlake, and the two apparently battled over signing the talented upcoming start (MTV).
“Social media technologies let people connect by creating and sharing content. We examine the use of Twitter by famous people to conceptualize celebrity as a practice. On Twitter, celebrity is practiced through the appearance and performance of ‘backstage’ access” (Convergence). The article goes to show that social media connects people. Apps such a Twitter are made for people to get themselves out their at communicate with others. People love the idea of portraying themselves as celebrities, and in some cases, those people actually end up getting discovered. People who gain a big fan base of many followers and friends often get discovered.
But many people have similar feelings about people who get famous just out of lock of based on social media. I am certainly not the only one who is not a fan of reality TV. The entire industry gets a bad reputation because it is viewed as a trashy genre. Many of the people who get chosen to be on shows such as “The Real World”, are simply chosen because they can party, fight, sleep around and cause drama. “It’s a concern that negative stereotyping promotes critics to disparage the genre.” It’s no surprise that reality TV has so many people against it, but it truly makes me wonder why it also has so many supporters as well.
Whether or not you are a fan of these new wave of self-promotion that leads to fame or not, it’s difficult to argue that it has truly changed many industries. There are even bloggers on YouTube who post their opinions and own daily routines online, and have millions of followers. Some of them even end up being rich on top of being famous, because people truly admire them. It makes me wonder what medium will come out next in order to promote individuals and ultimately give them the spotlight.
Work Cited
MTV "Usher And Justin Timberlake Battled It Out For Justin Bieber." New Music Videos, Reality TV Shows, Celebrity News, Pop Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
Marwick, Alice and Danah Boyd, “To See and Be Seen: Celebrity Practice on Twitter,” Convergence 17.2 (2011): 139 – 158.
P. David Marshall, “The Promotion and Presentation of Self: Celebrity as Marker of Presentational Media,” in The Media Studies Reader, Laurie Ouelette, ed. (New York: Routledge, 2012), 427 - 438.