Hating Kimye – An Exploration

Let’s have a toast for the douchebags,
Let’s have a toast for the assholes,
Let’s have a toast for the scumbags,
Every one of them that I know.

Let’s have a toast for the jerkoffs.That’ll never take work off.
Baby, I got a plan Run away as fast as you can.
(Runaway, Kanye West)

1) Celebrity Couple Branding

Celebrities are here to sell. They sells products, brands, musics, movies, clothes, political views. etc. But what makes them still stronger than ever, is their capacity to tell compelling stories, stories that never ends.

The labor of celebrity-production, then, is to make you like—or at least be compelled by—the celebrity’s presentation of self. Gossip is itself just as much of a product as a movie is. _ Anne Helen Petersen. the baftler

Actual people’s life are turn into a story for us to consume. Each of the people was given a role to play. Celebrities are meant to embodied the american dream in every facet of their life. They recreate meaningful archetypes in order to strongly connect with the consumer.

Brand couple is the contraction of two entities that become one in itself. 

Hollywood couple = two strong images + good fit => create strong fictional/real story we can relate to.

Some couples benefit from a very great fit and reader reception, take Brangelina for example. But for Kimye reactions are . The apocalyptic  reaction of internet to the Kimye Vogue cover this month gave us an example of how this couple image is badly perceived.

Again, it’s not about a relationship between two people, but a relationship between two images — and the way we feel about the resultant image, the “relationship” image as it were _ annehelenpetersen

Let’s do a quick run-down of their respective images.

2) The douchebag and the reality Tv star 

Celebrity is a direct product of media coverage and the elevation to public attention it provides. (Rein, Kotler, Hamlin and Stroller, 2005)

Kim and Kanye as Kimye plays the societal function that classic stars did, their image is of a particular type of perfect mixed couple, under spotlight,  extreme wealthiness, all shape in an idea of success story.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are a match made in marketing and PR hell.

“Stop bitching….nobody embraces capitalism, consumerism and crass commercialism more than Kim and Kanye.”_ “Yeezy Rising,” 

The Douchebag

Kanye “is the artist America wants to lynch.”

Kanye West has made his way from being the most criticized douchebag in america. From the taylor swift incident at the VMA today to his song and his very arrogant apparition in the media.

The writer of the hiphopocracy Tessa Brown, one of my favourite writer and blogger on hiphop studies, wrote a piece on understanding mainstream media reception of West’s image.

West stands at the center of a huge amount of discourse. Everything he does—the lyrics he writes, beats he produces, films and music videos he’s behind; the fashion lines, whatever you think of them; the tweets, the constantly changing website, the public presentations of his work and the well-employed SNL appearances; and, lately, his increasingly frequent media appearances—spawns its own small universe of media coverage. _ “Yeezy Rising,” 

Kanye West is an absolute paradox. He writes strong lyrics called on the legacy of black protest music, but at the same time he depicts himself in the most capitalist brand.

The Devil in a new dress

Celebrity no longer requires some particular merit or ability. Couple persona is constructed largely via stories that appear in the media and that are interpreted and reacted to by stakeholders (e.g., Fournier & Herman, 2004)

She is the star of a reality show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, which means she is famous for being herself. On the show, and in life, she has defined that persona as a glamorous It girl who is close to her family, a wealthy but hardworking beauty who is not skinny, a single woman (almost 30!) looking for her soulmate. Kardashian takes her role seriously. [7]

Kardashian is an exponent of postmodern celebrity. Kim’s (and that of the rest of the Kardashians) is often characterized as a simulacrum of talent: she’s famous for being famous (you can thanks Paris Hilton for that).  or, to get specific, she’s famous for appearing in a sex tape with a B-list celebrity. (The Baftler). This can also be called ‘famewhoring’ (= contraction between fame and whore).

Kim K. isn’t just a celebrity, but a reality star—the lowest of the cultural low.

The Kardashian family brand : a sinking ship or a growing empire ?

What is interesting in the Kim and the Kardashian brand is that through all their activities they successfully grown a huge community of fans and followers. And this fan base continue to insanely grow (until it explodes!).

From a marketing point of view Kardashian worth a lot in terms of publicity and branding potential. They have now a very wide consumer target from the young teenage fashionista (jenner), the 20 something wannabe (Kim & Khloe) to the ultra connected mom (Kris).

More than any other figure, Kardashian reflects the realities of media production and labor. (Baftler)

3) The Kimye Storyline : a public media spectacle

“Stop bitching….nobody embraces capitalism, consumerism and crass commercialism more than Kim and Kanye.”_ Richard Roeper in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Now we need to ask : Why are they so irrelevant? Why am I reacting so badly to all of their interviews and image, image they try to sell to me? Why we were so enraged by that Vogue cover? It’s because of their lack of authenticity. Which is the roots of the Kardashian brand. Which for instance had worked for a time but not anymore.

Here’s 5 thing I hate the most on the Kimye idea of love.

1) Relationship is only about bounding

2) Traditional love is the ultimate happiness

- Wedding & Motherhood are strong american conservatorship value. The couple has explicitly helped to embellish the “strong family values” aspect of their family brand biography.

“He’s one of the most romantic guy I have ever met. Better than every movie and romantic nobel”  (Vogue).

“Putting your child as a brand tools to communicate with is a very common action . It’s all about how you handle the commercialization.”

4) Kim is all about her super-hot body

(Okay here I am just jealous)

5) Everything has to be about deep love.

 6) That the guy should treat you as a Princess

No, women doesn’t always have to be some BS princess and doesn’t always need to be saved !

More :

On Ethos (or, White Woman Writing Kanye West)

Beyoncé, Kim, and the Politics of Celebrity Labor

Kim Kardashian: The Art of Reality

Loving Kimye: An Exploration – Part I

Loving Kimye: An Exploration – Part II

“Race, Sexuality, and the Kardashian ‘Phenomenon’”