The Kardashian Phenomenon: News Interpretation

                This article focuses on what the media calls the "Kardashian phenomenon" where their empire is everywhere and inescapable, creating spin-off after spin-off full of drama and family life. While the Kardashians started off from humble beginnings, over the years they have created and maintained pop culture dominance from their reality show, appearing on cover after cover of national and international magazines. Although, the media coverage they often receive is negative and paradoxical to their popularity, but why?

                This article mainly focuses on the Kardashian's life in 2011, the year where Kim got married and divorced, when Kourtney announced her second pregnancy, 3 different Kardashian series were on TV, the family was featured on Barbara Walter's annual Most Fascinating people special, and Rob Kardashian was on Dancing With the Stars. Khloe and her husband Lamar's show, Khloe and Lamar, garnered attention not only in pop culture media, but also drew attention in sports media and raised many questions about Lamar and his basketball playing.

                The article raises the question of why are the Kardashian's popular even though they "lack talent" and are "popular for doing nothing," phrases often found in articles talking about the Kardashians. Viewers discuss their liking of the Kardashians because their lives are real, but so lavish and extreme that watching their show is like a mix between reality TV and primetime dramas. The article then discusses how body image plays a part in the Kardashian empire. Kim herself has been praised over the years for embracing her curvy body type, which contrasts to the stick thin women we have grown used to seeing on TV. Khloe is now being praised for her curvy body, both of these women making body acceptance normalized and also a way to relate to their viewers. While their bodies are curvy and fit, they're bodies more closely resemble the bodies of other women, more so than the stick thin women. Kim has been looked up to as a role model for body acceptance and sex appeal. Over the years, Khloe has been the butt of negative comments about her weight, yet again showing their relateability to their viewers that have dealt with negative comments as well. The article discusses the Kardashians and their familial bond, which, long story short, is pretty much the same as any other family. The article then discusses how the Kardashians are moguls in the social media world and are incredibly popular in business and branding today. Their name is a brand and they raise money by being themselves and releasing products they know people will buy because they made them.

                To some, the Kardashians represent the degeneration of American society, a focus on a lavish lifestyle that people believe was handed to them, an increase in plastic surgery and beauty, and general depravity. Positive characteristics the Kardashians exhibit, like ambition, industriousness, and family, are downplayed by the press and instead portray the Kardashians as famous, fashionable, and self-obsessed. One cannot deny however, that because of their extreme popularity and ever increasing empire, the Kardashians are here to stay.