The Kardashians

I'm pretty sure we have all heard about the sensational Kardashian family. Not only do they have their own clothing, their own makeup, their own workout regimes, and their own television shows, but they also have all the fame. Normally, I am not one to keep up with these sorts of shows or give them glory, but I found it relevant to our previous topic of Jennicam. Also, my roommate insists upon watching it every morning, so I may as well put my knowledge to good use!

As we learned with Jennicam, it had a large influence on the webcam culture we have today, and it was definitely a sensation itself. Anybody could watch it at anytime and see exactly how she lived, and she did not change herself or her life in anyway (so far as we know) so it was very authentic, which made it such a desirable thing to have and watch. Kardashians isn't necessarily a form of webcam because they are more than likely told what to say and they have producers and directors and all of those, but I feel that it is today's version of webcam. Today, some people crave to be something different than what they are, so watching the life of a realistic person and see what they normally do everyday too boring. People want to see what the life of celebrities is like and they want to know how celebrities act in "everyday life" so they can try to be more like them. However, the Kardashians do not live a practical way of life, so trying to be like them is unrealistic. Why do we watch them if we know we will never be them? Or do we think we will be them someday?

I think most people know that they won't be like the Kardashians someday (others might argue), so the reason behind watching the television show is much less superficial than that. I believe that people watch these shows in order to live the Kardashian life through television. It's almost like internet surfing as a form of travel; you aren't actually becoming the Kardashians, but you can feel like it by watching how they live and gaining knowledge about them. You're closing the distance between you and them, and, although you will never be them, you feel that you could be them because you know everything about them.

Other examples of this notion are shows like Duck Dynasty, Honey Boo Boo, and probably hundreds of others. What all of them have in common is that they delve into the so-called "everyday life" of families and people who may not have talents or anything going for them, but they are considered celebrities because they are on television. Despite the fact that most of these are likely scripted and not true in some way or another, they have something in common with Jennicam: there is nothing that these people can do that any normal person can't, but people worship them and crave to know what their life is like. Maybe it is true that they want to be more like these people, like I stated earlier, but maybe it's also true that we crave reality tv shows to simply prove to ourselves that we are normal and we relate to these people in one way or another. They just have more money.

They even have their own website!
http://www.eonline.com/shows/kardashians