Is it worth it to “Keep up with the Kardashians”?

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This poster from the hit TV show, Keeping up with the Kardashians, displays the sensuality that the Kardashians exemplify as their public image. The show follows their home life - including the family tiffs, dramas, and fights - airing it for all the world to see.
This poster from the hit TV show, Keeping up with the Kardashians, displays the sensuality that the Kardashians exemplify as their public image. The show follows their home life – including the family tiffs, dramas, and fights – airing it for all the world to see.

For some people, life revolves around the doings and actions of celebrities. Many follow them feverishly through grocery-store gossip magazines, hungering for the latest news about their favorite celebs.

One Hollywood family in particular has somehow captured the attention of both the media and the country through their family tiffs and dramas.

The Kardashian family has been a presence in Hollywood as a socialite family ever since the Kardashian father fought on O.J. Simpson’s behalf in his 1995 murder trial. Relatively well known since that time, they pushed that final barrier into celebrity when Kim and R-Jay, R&B singer, filmed a sex tape that exploded across the web.

To honor her father and clear her name, Kim went on a “tour” of sorts, visiting TV studios and news centers to talk publicly about the incident and explain. This culminated in the creation of the hit TV show, Keeping up with the Kardashians.

Remarkably, this show has spread their fame even more, making “Kardashian” a household term used in everyday life. These days, it doesn’t take much effort to keep up with the Kardashians.

Claire Coward, senior, is among the many avid Kardashian followers that pervade society. “I love them,” she said. “I just think they’re really funny and entertaining, and while I don’t agree with everything they do, I think they are good role models because they are savvy business women.”

Many critics claim that the Kardashians are not really famous for anything except for their looks and the infamous tape, despite the status of their deceased father, but Coward believes it went much deeper than that. “People always complain that they are famous for nothing, but I think it takes more talent and skill to be more famous for your personality than for really doing anything,” she said, defending them fervently.

With such a sudden rise to fame, will they fade from spotlight just as quickly? Sure, the TV series has been a hit success – now going on eight seasons – but will it ever dry out in the eyes of America? The opinion of the people is easily swayed and diverted; will a new socialite come to take away the Kardashian “throne” and shove them from their fame?

Although it is altogether possible, Coward believes that they will slowly fade from the media spotlight, rather than going out with a bang. “I think that once they start settling down with their families, they won’t try to publicize themselves as much, and so I think they’ll just slowly fade,” she said. “Yes, I’ll be disappointed, but I will respect them, and I will follow them wherever they are…I [already] follow them on Twitter and Instagram, and I follow the whole family just so that I can keep tabs,” she added with a laugh.

The latest Kardashian news buzzing through the country has become a major topic of conversation among their followers; Kim getting pregnant with boyfriend Kanye West. Many members of the Kardashian cortege were thrilled at the prospect of a “Kimye” baby, and are hoping that this announcement will precipitate a marriage proposal.

Why do people follow these celebrities? Perhaps it is the hope that they, too, can one day rise to stardom. For example, people admire those celebrities who have worked to get to where they are today; the underdogs and nobodies that made something of themselves to become some of the most admired people in the country.

Maybe people enjoy feeling that sense of connection with the dramas and strifes that many celebrities go through, such as heartbreak, betrayal or love. They like to think that those statuesque figures – whose visages pervade society – also have a heart, just like the rest of mankind.

Therefore, it is possible that the Kardashians have garnered such a large following because they publicly air their laundry before the masses through their TV shows and magazine interviews. They like the sense of camaraderie that arises when the peoples’ outrage at their troubles reaches a climax.

There is obviously a universal truth that not everyone will  become famous. Perhaps it is through that unspoken fact that the people desire to strive to touch the stars.

Do the Kardashians deserve the headliners and focus that they receive? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps one day, though, they might finally do something to earn their spot in both television and gossip magazines. Until that time, they will, impossibly, continue to make their home in the hearts and minds of the American people.

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