Do you have what it takes to be a V.I.P.?
Culture (1850): The best that has been thought and said in the world.
Culture (1950): The body of intellectual and imaginative work, in which, in a detailed way, human thought and experience are variously recorded.
Culture (1970): A way of life: [i]n contemporary parlance, culture consists of four sorts of elements: norms, values, beliefs, and expressive symbols.
Culture is hard to define because it's everything, and so specific. In our case, examining celebrities, our guiding idea is that through engaging with celebrity media, we can make observations about the culture it comes from as well as the culture it represents.
Since we know that the celebrity represents the idyllic presentation to society, we can engage with celebrity media as a means to understand the culture of society. Everything that society thinks is culturally important is emphasized through celebrity media.
And no one marionettes the media like The Kardashians.
When Keeping Up With the Kardashians premiered in 2007, it made celebrities of a D-list, affluent family known for their late patriarch, an Olympian who married in, and a daughter, a friend of Paris Hilton's, with a leaked sex tape. Now, through multimedia lifestyle platforms, phone apps, clothing collections, books, shapewear, cosmetic lines, and even personalized emojis, they are among the most influential people on the planet. Kim alone has recently become a billionaire.
According to British sociologist, cultural critic, and author of Kardashian Kulture, Ellis Cashmore, Kim Kardashian's genius is in her primitivism; "her clear understanding of the value of what's simple, uncomplicated, though not necessarily unchallenging" (Cashmore 2019). Kim Kardashian understands how to capture the attention of her audience, even if it's harmful.
Kim Kardashian has been called out for cultural appropriation on numerous occasions. Oftentimes, it appears that her skin has been digitally made to appear darker. This is the exact inverse of instances of black women being made to appear lighter in magazine covers. For instance, the then-Editorial Director of Adweek owned up to "minimal adjustments, solely for the cover's design needs" for this cover featuring Kerry Washington.
Blackfishing and appropriation is not a new thing for the Kardashian empire, Kim, specifically, to be called out for. Acts like these are a deliberate performance of branding. Cashmore claims that scandals like these act as "Kardashian shadow-playing Kardashian playing us" (Cashmore 2019).
Appropriation, injections, and alteration of any kind shock audiences with an electrified cattleprod. As a result of the most powerful family in the country exemplifying and marketing such actions, many follow suit. In addition to blackfishing, this has also been the case for popularizing extreme contouring, and cosmetic surgery. They call this The Kardashian effect. For industrialists who make the rules, intentions are not always guided by logic or what's morally good, rather, what will deliberately impact and engage.
Many people are surprised or confused by the Kardashian empire. Even if they fall, their power is seemingly impenetrable. However, Kris insisted that by the second season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians that she could tell that they were going to be something massive. "I knew we had something, and Kim and I really sat down and made a list of our goals," she said.
When asked if the sisters had lived up to their mother's expectations, Kim didn't hesitate. "Everything she wanted happened."