"Some Of You Asked Us To Stop Writing About The Kardashians — This Is Our Response"

"We write about the Kardashians and Jenners because they are a fascinating cultural phenomenon. They're loud, brash, and attention-seeking in a way that's decidedly American. Andy Warhol would have been transfixed by them. They’ve managed to not only run down the clock on his assertion that, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes," — but also hurl that clock out the window and smash it to pieces. 

These five women — Kim, Khloé, Kourtney, Kylie, Kendall — and their mother, Kris, have completely redefined what it means to be famous. In their case, no, they didn’t come to prominence because of any particular talent. Khloé even admitted to this in 2011 on Barbara Walters’ annual "10 Most Fascinating People" special. They don't really do anything except...exist. In what should henceforth be known as the Kardashian Paradox, the Kardashians and Jenners are famous because they’re talented at being famous. The New York Times put it a bit more bluntly in its May 2015 profile of family puppeteer and brand engineer Kris Jenner: "They are famous for the industry that they’ve created, the Kardashian/Jenner megacomplex, which has not just invaded the culture but metastasized into it."

It’s true: The snake is eating its own tail, but the world is watching — quite literally... when the show premiered, E! was a middling cable network that ranked 13th in its target demo of 18 to 49-year-old women on Sunday nights. By season 4, KUWTK was the No. 1 broadcast in that time slot for E!'s core demographic...

 Just like Marcel Duchamp once upended a urinal and Andy Warhol painted Campbell’s Soup cans, forcing the world to question what does and does not constitute art, Kim has somehow elevated the ordinary, now-everyday act of turning a lens on oneself into an art form."

http://www.refinery29.com/2015/07/91473/kardashian-family-pop-culture-relevance?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=post

 

I've never seen an episode of the show, but the virulent dislike for the Kardashians has made me kind of on their side. Or, just opposed to the cultural phenomenon of hating them as a way to indicate that you are cultured and classy? You know, not a part of the mob mentality that gets fed ideas without critically examining them. 

 

^I hope you can read that as acerbic.

 

There is a certain amount of classism and elitism that is present in critiques of reality TV (but, also, in the construction of reality TV I guess)