A complete and scholarly guide to an upcoming Kimposium (which we know has been done) on Keeping up with the Kardashians.
By Marcial Parraguez and Palo Valencia
Back in those years when millennials didn't know they were millennials and writing with x was not fashionable, television was still the benchmark for millions and the Internet was not seen as the great community of people it is today, a group of women took show business by storm. The Kardashian clan arrived ten years ago on the cable channel E!, creating controversy for minimal things, positioning important issues such as the female body, transsexuality and personal endeavors and other things with little depth, issues that only happen in a reality show. show of millionaire girls who live dramas.
It all started with Kim, the middle sister, who worked as a stylist for Paris Hilton and gained notoriety for being part of the hotel heiress's entourage. Everything exploded with Kim's sex tape with singer Ray J and the mind of a mother who knew how to capitalize on porn and turn it into one of the most profitable industries in history.
Ryan Seacrest, himself the host of the talent scout show American Idol, took over as executive producer on the project. “Everyone was talking about The Osbournes and I said to my executive producer Elliot Goldberg, 'Let's try to find something in our world and bring it to E!,'” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
With a glass of sparkling wine in hand and a perfect tan, we will review the ten most iconic moments in the life of the family that redefined the concept throughout the United States.
I. Keeping up with…O.J. Simpson?
The last name appeared on the radar when Robert Kardashian, the father of the family, Kris's ex-husband, defended as a member of the O.J. Simpson, after being accused of murdering his wife Nicole Brown and her companion Ronald Goldman.
Nearly 95 million people followed Simpson's case on TV, and 145 million watched the sentence. Robert was also a "victim" of speculation: n the Netflix documentary Kardashian: The Man Who Saved O.J. Simpson, it is hypothesized that the lawyer eliminated the evidence that would leave his client guilty.
Jenner did not agree with Rob revalidating his law license (which had expired for three years), since she herself suggested that Brown report him when he told her that he had hit her. Despite this, Rob and O.J. they stayed close throughout the trial, like great friends.
The K clan expressed that this documentary was not authorized and they consider that the statements (most) are false, since they leave their father as a puppet of the athlete. They argued that his father was a respected lawyer and a good family man, according to Infobae. In addition, according to Kim, another of the false facts in the documentary is that O.J. he tried to kill himself in his room and it was in Khloé's.
Kim said in an interview with GQ “I know people said at the time [when her father joined Simpson's defense] that she did it so he couldn't be called as a witness, because he had that bag. Louis Vuitton who supposedly had the gun and things like that (…) But that bag was in my dad's house. I remember walking past her. The news said, 'Where's the Louis Vuitton bag,' and I'm like, 'Oh, it's upstairs. Kim explained that there were only toiletries and golf clothes in it: "I'm pretty sure it's still inside, probably in my dad's storage room."
However, the claim to fame would not occur until more than a decade later. In the first instance, the show was supposed to be about the sisters and the mother selling clothes in their Dash store; an idea that was later discarded by the format that we all know today, even unintentionally.
II. A sex tape later
Before 2007, Kim was just another student, a woman who was having a moment of fame thanks to her father. In 2006 and at the age of 14, Kim appeared on The Simple Life, a reality show by Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, and her idea was to become a stylist for her billionaire friends.
Some time later she was contacted by Nick Lachey, Jessica Simpson's ex-husband, for a photo shoot. They had a date and according to Lachey Kim would have called the paparazzi to keep track of her date. As Kevin Dickson told Oli Coleman for his Page Six column in the New York Post: his desire to find fame is "notorious and explicit."
Let's go back to 2007, when the rumor began to circulate that there was a sex tape of the model with rapper Ray J. The couple had recorded themselves in 2003 for her birthday at a resort in Mexico. On March 21, 2007, the porn film Kim Kardashian Superstar was released by Vivid Entertainment. What follows is history. It is the most viewed homemade porn video in history, with more than 100 million views, with 5 million dollars for her and 90 thousand dollars for him in earnings.
III. Immediate success
Seven months after the premiere of Kim's porn video, on October 14, 2007, the first episode of the series aired. Today, more than 160 countries around the world broadcast the love life of the sisters, Kendall's modeling heyday and Catlyn Jenner's transition.
Two million viewers watch KUWTK weekly, according to People, and today they are signed to continue the series under a lucrative $80 million contract. Kim grossed just $45.5 million in 2016 between her ventures and the show, according to Forbes.
IV. Monager
It's clear that without Kris Jenner, a former flight attendant, the K clan wouldn't have done much. Neither had an ideal of the "talent" with which they could forge their empire. Mother and manager: momanager, a term that she has tried to patent, although without success.
In fact, Ian Halperin, a writer on the lives of famous Americans, assured in Kardashian's Dynasty that Kim and Paris Hilton had a friend in common and that he advised them to publish their sex tapes if they wanted to be famous. After this, in the same book, it is said that it was Kris's idea to publish the video and that she engineered the master plan for it to see the light, according to Us Weekly. “When I saw the video of Kim I wanted to kill her, but as her manager…”
V. Marriages and motherhood
The chapter of the wedding of Kim and Kayne West was one of the historic moments of the program, although, however, the most watched chapter was that of her marriage to former soccer player Kris Humphries. With three marriages, Kim was also married to Damon Thomas between 2000 and 2004, between 2011 and 2013 (although she was really only married 72 days, only that the divorce came out years later) with Kris, and from 2014 to the present with West.
According to TMZ, the couple's third child will be born via a surrogate mother, since Kim could not carry it due to health problems. They paid $45,000 and the terms of the contract were strange: she can't eat raw fish, dye her hair or take hot baths. The birth date is for January next year.
But that's not all, since for a couple of weeks the gringo and world press have been speculating about the possibility that Kylie Jenner, the youngest of the clan, would be more than 5 months pregnant by her boyfriend and rapper Travis Scott, and that for her part, Khloé would also be expecting a child from Tristan Thompson, a basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Also, Kourtney Kardashian, who has three with Scott Disick, is rumored to have a child with former boxer Younes Bendjima.
Kardashian Obsession
Maybe it's not fascist, discriminatory and misogynistic, but it is pure and simple pop capitalism. The Ks have been taught a lot about gender barriers and roles, how to break them and build relationships, debating between taking charge and being themselves while facing comments that shame them for who they are: wealthy straight women who from their context make What they want.
Women in positions of power, like them, who speak for women and work for and for them position a discourse of acceptance, which, although it could be questionable, exists.
Everything the Kardashians make sells. All of his endeavors turn out to be shining gold.
In 2011 the sisters launched their line of face care, sold exclusively online. There were three lines in which they were dedicated to helping people with oily, mixed and dry skin and were sold in packs. It also has a moisturizing and eye contour mask.
At the same time, they injected their forces into a low-cost makeup and hair line. They have false eyelashes, nail polishes, compact powders, eye shadows, lipsticks, and eyeliners.
The latest thing they've launched as a family is a line of hair products: straighteners, blow dryers, and curling irons. The idea is to texturize and give volume. Also at a low price.
In 2010, Kim launched a line of perfumes (there are already five), which cost her a family fight that was televised.
Kourtney is the oldest of the sisters, mother of three, and co-owner of several DASH clothing stores. She went to college and her life revolves around motherhood and business.
Khloé has her own Talk Show where she interviews celebrities while drinking alcohol: Kocktails with Khloé. She also launched her own line of jeans.
Kendall is the face of advertising campaigns. She worked with the Paris brand for Chile. He has walked for Dior and Chanel, among others.
Kylie launched her own line of cosmetics and hair extensions, with which she adds and adds fortune.In 2014 she unveiled her hair venture, in 2015 together with Kendall they created a line of sweets and the other year two sisters sold two clothing collections for an Australian brand and TopShop. She collaborated with the shoe brand Steve Madden and is an ambassador for Puma.
Interracial Marriages
Kim has been married to two black men, has two mixed-race children. Khloe has never dated white men, and Kylie has a black boyfriend. Kris dates a black man.
There is no vestige of a white America. In her country, this topic continues to be a taboo, it continues to be frowned upon and interraciality is radically criticized, despite the fact that the Ks are of Armenian descent.
Shallow, seemingly talentless and famous for being famous
By showing her life for ten years on television, she realizes how ordinary they are. From how common it can be a divorce, a pregnancy, a breakup, eating healthy and going on to eat fries and milkshakes, but with money.
Their bodies have been the territory of judgment throughout their lives, for the surgeries that have been done and the ones that are “missing”, the ones that have not. Because of their image and their clothes, because of how they are and because of the way in which their personalities are marked.
Hardly criticized for not having apparent talent, for not knowing how to dedicate themselves to the world of art -as if it were the only one where people can have talent-. However, they are present in all other worlds: business.
They certainly know how to manage their lives, and that makes them famous, for being famous.
“I used to love to say 'I love being underestimated,' but now when I hear people say about my family 'they're not that talented', 10 years in the industry, I'm like 'okay, give this girl some credit.' If I'm not that talented, if I don't do anything, then how come my reality is my career? And I also make fun of it, like when I was on the cover of Forbes and I put the hashtag #NotBadForAGirlWithNoTalent (#NadaMalParaUnaChicaSinTalento). I don't mind being underestimated, because that gives me energy, although after a while I'm like, 'Come on, you've got to own up to what I do a little bit,' Kim told Interview, you can read more about that interview here.
Caitlyn Jenner
She wasn't even a Kardashian, but she rocked the world when she made it known she wasn't a man. The news was received with love in the K. house and they all embraced each other with love.
The before and after of this moment not only marked the series, but also contributed to creating a stronger and more visible trans activism throughout the world.
Originally dedicated to the world of athletics and motorsports, she won gold in the Montreal decathlon and thanks to that she boosted a career in film and on TV, until reaching KUWTK, to later have her own reality show: I am Caitlyn.
Kris and Caitlyn separated in 2013 and the following year they signed their divorce amicably.
“Love is the courage to live the best and truest version of yourself. Bruce is love. Love you Bruce," Kim tweeted in 2015.
“When I first met Bruce, he told me that he had taken hormones in the 1980s. This was a conversation that took place in the early 1990s. So what he was telling me happened a decade earlier, and he never explained it. really. There was no gender issue. No one mentioned a gender issue,” Kriss said, according to Vanity Fair.
“For the first 15 years I felt that she needed me more because she was the breadwinner. Then came Keeping up with the Kardashians and she ran the whole show and had her own money. He didn't need me as much anymore. The relationship was different. I think in many ways he became less tolerant of me…a lot of times he wasn't very nice. People would see how I was mistreated. She controlled the money... all that kind of thing," CJ said in the interview that brought her out of the closet and where she asked to be called Caitlyn from now on.
After the cancellation of his reality show after two seasons with low audiences, but an entire event was mounted behind the cameras. CJ badmouthed Kriss, according to the sisters, setting off a wave of negative comments. What she said in question was that she believed that if the matriarch had accepted her they might still be married.
“We don't care what you're doing, which means we don't care if you want to transition, we want to support you and be there for you. But we don't think that means you talk bad about mom. In our opinion, you don't even need to mention our mother. Let's focus on what's important here and don't drag mom through the mud (…) I thought you would come from a more compassionate place, especially when you have two young daughters who are very affected by all this, "said Khloé, People consignment.
For Kylie's birthday in August 2015, Kim, Kriss and Caitlyn were seen together.
Kriss told him “I'm just asking you to live your life as happy as possible, that's all that matters. I hope you can find the peace you have been looking for for so long. What he later forgot and told him "Now you are very popular and you have many friends and you no longer remember those who used to be part of your life."
On the radio Caitlyn said referring to this particular episode “I didn't know what to say. So I looked at her and thought 'wow, she's so pretty'. I stared at her eyebrows and said 'you have the most beautiful eyebrows'. He looked at me like I was crazy (…) I still miss Bruce. It's very confusing and complicated when you go through a process as intimate as this with someone."
After this, she was not invited to her daughters' graduation, the interview in Vanity Fair continued to distance the family. Kris called Kim a fucking traitor for lending clothes to C.
Now Kris is writing a book that purports to tell her truth.
Kim to the White House
Another of the most iconic moments was when Kanye said he would run for president. Days later Kim, on The Ellen Show, said that she had no idea that she would do it.
If West runs and wins, a very likely scenario after Donald Trump's victory, Kim would become first lady and the Kardashian family the first family in the US.
He was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for about seven months due to a mental collapse. On West's part it was clarified that it was due to extreme fatigue.
According to El Espectador, at the last concert of his tour he insinuated that Jay-Z hired hitmen to kill him.
“Call me bro, you haven't called me yet,” adding “Jay Z, I know you got killers. Please don't send them over my head. Just call me. Talk to me like a man."
This because Kim was attacked at a luxury hotel in Paris. The assailants disguised as policemen took nine million euros in different kinds.
“Stunned, but physically unscathed,” Kim said when questioned by police. For this reason she immediately traveled to New York.
Also read our interview with the even more fantastic Kardashians in Chile
