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In Defence of the Kardashians
Posted: 01/05/2016
by Emma Kelly
There's a story currently on the Independent's
Indy100 site which has been tweeted and retweeted from their account countless
times over the past week. The article,
entitled "Everything that's wrong with celebrity culture in one 10
second video of Kylie Jenner", features a
video uploaded to Instagram by Rob Kardashian of his 18-year-old half-sister
Kylie taking selfies.
The
article's intro is as follows: "This generation created the 'selfie'-- a
trend of narcissism particularly favoured by people who appear on TV just
because why not? " Now, I love the Independent, but I have
never eye-rolled this much. No, Kylie Jenner taking a selfie is not endangering
the future of humanity. Neither is her big sister Kim taking a naked picture,
or posing with a champagne glass balanced on her backside. I reckon politicians
banning 3,000 refugee children from the country, or taking away free
healthcare, is more likely to endanger humanity, but that's just me.
The
Kardashians and Jenners have become a dartboard for over-30s,
"serious" people, those who are clearly better people and more
intelligent than a family famous for reality TV and selfies. Even President
Barack Obama couldn't help but question "what exactly Kendall Jenner
does" at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, before joking that his
Twitter mentions were about to go through the roof.
Kim
Kardashian has become a one-woman brand, first capitalising on the betrayal of
a man to make millions on a sex tape. She then patented an app which has made a
ridiculous sum of money, started a fashion line with her sisters, and started a
conversation on feminism, sexuality and slut-shaming by simply posing for a
naked selfie censored with black bars. Meanwhile, her younger sister Kylie, who
is just 18 years old, has become one of the most famous people on the planet by
using the teen market's interest in her selfies to get ahead.
Meanwhile, Kendall is a supermodel who has taken her role on Keeping Up With The Kardashians and has
transferred it to the runways of Chanel and the billboards of Calvin Klein and
Estee Lauder. But whatever, they're all vapid and clearly not businesswomen,
right? Fair enough. But when did creating an empire become something easy, that
is done by people with no talent, no smarts, no business sense? Selfies are
their bread and butter. While a businessman may go to a meeting and discuss
spreadsheets and profits, the Kardashians - amongst countless other celebrities - take a selfie, adding more promotion to the brand that keeps money flowing
into their empire. Don't try and kid yourself into thinking that this family is
stupid when they've managed to take over pretty much every industry in a decade
without even rousing suspicion.
Don't be
silly enough to think that reality stars, in particular the Kardashians, are
dumb and narcissistic and are ruining generations with their selfies. The fact
is that teens look up to them, and I can think of far worse people to look up
to. Yes, there are issues, as with everybody, but what is the issue with a teen
model who is telling fans to vote, a la Kendall? Or Kim, who tells her
44million followers about the history of the Armenian genocide?
The new
generation like selfies. They like social media. They Snapchat every element of
their lives. That is what is happening, and that's not the fault of the
Kardashians. Journalists might be annoyed that young people are using Snapchat
and Instagram more than ever and leaving certain areas of the industry
flagging. But the Kardashians are making an empire from it. Replace with men in
suits who don't know what contouring is in any other industry, and you would be
praising them as geniuses. Get off your high horses, and stop blaming teens and
celeb culture for the way the world is. Just because someone is taking a pouty
selfie filtered to the gods, doesn't mean they're not smart and can't make a
difference.
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