Who is kim kardashian? It can’t be an entirely ridiculous question since it’s hard to give a simple answer to what she does for a living, and in any case, a lot of people really don’t know.
Kardashian is one of the world’s biggest celebrities, but she emerged at a time when social media and multichannel TV were fragmenting and compartmentalizing pop culture, making it possible to be super famous without affecting those who aren’t actively involved . A pithy introduction might be needed then, and Channel 4’s two-part documentary The Kardashians: Billion Dollar Dynasty provides one.
We start with 16-year-old Kardashian proclaiming in a home video that she will be famous one day. This is a story of fame for its own sake. Kardashian isn’t a singer or an actor, and while she’s had millions of photos taken of her, she’s not a model — instead, she’s one of those 21st century celebs known for being herself. The template for that career was set by the heiress of the hotel empire Paris Hilton, for whom a young Kardashian worked as a personal assistant: archive footage shows Hilton posing for paparazzi with Kardashian, slightly more glamorous than the average PA, and making sure she’s also in the shot.
In 2007 two things happened. The second major event was the E! Network commissioned and broadcast Keeping Up With the Kardashians, a reality TV series following Kardashian, her sisters, and their parents that became an era-defining hit and is essentially still running as The Kardashians on Hulu/Disney+. Earlier in 2007, a video shot four years earlier showing Kardashian and her then-boyfriend having sex was made public, greatly increasing her profile.
While it gives us plenty of reason to cynically speculate, the program remains neutral on whether Kardashian might have taken inspiration from her former boss, whose own stock had spiked due to the release of a sex tape, apparently without her consent. Kardashian has always strongly denied being involved in the leaking of her own tape, just as she has always rejected the idea that her marriage to basketball pro Kris Humphries was a publicity stunt: she filed for divorce in October 2011, weeks after their wedding had turned over. the season six finale of Keeping Up With the Kardashians to a rating winner.
Billion Dollar Dynasty reminds us that if these life events were not orchestrated, they certainly were beneficial. Kardashian reportedly earned $18 million from the wedding, while a former E! executive reveals that Kardashian’s mother, Kris Jenner, a formidable negotiator on behalf of her daughter, secured a better deal from the network because the reality show hadn’t made Kim famous — the sex tape had already.
Being famous for being famous requires one’s life to be constantly eventful, and another contributor confesses to a minor case of outright cheating: Former Kardashian publicist Sheeraz Hasan says the 2012 incident, when Kim was floured by a mysterious assailant, covered, was an inside job. Kardashian launched her new True Reflection perfume and Hasan realized that while the launch itself wouldn’t generate coverage, the event that would be ruined would.
However, the main interviewees are Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, whose stormy courtship was featured on The Hills, a reality TV prequel to Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Montag and Pratt are very much the Salieri from Kardashian’s Mozart. It seemed they were good at selling a realistic version of their ridiculous lives to an audience that was going crazy over its love for meaningless celebrities – the former editor of People magazine illustrates the common phenomenon by telling us about the time when he knocked Barack Obama off his front page and instead led with Montag’s new boobs — until Kardashian and co came along and made them look like boring old nobody almost overnight. Their bitterness oozes: when the Billion Dollar Dynasty dips, Montag and Pratt pop up to throw some vinegar on it.
“Kim was more thirsty than any of us,” says Pratt, recalling the early days when Kardashian went to other people’s fashion shows, dressed more beautifully than anyone else there, preparing herself to become more famous than she actually was. Pratt is in his element as the program covers the time period when Kardashian was first introduced to stardom and said yes to every recommendation, including the face of a new upscale toilet in New York sponsored by a leading toilet paper brand. “She was at the opening of the new hottest toilet in town,” says Pratt with a straight face. “Good for her because it looks like she got paid.”
Src: chof360.com
