I'm still not entirely sure who Kim Kardashian is or why people know all about her

in many respects she's become a shorthand for vapid and idle decadence in the way that paris hilton was a little earlier, an instance of this very common move on the left and right alike of locating 'everything that's wrong with the world today' in a particularly feminine-coded form of self-definition under consumer society, as if picking on individual women and girls is the way to combat what's wrong with consumer capitalism

"kim kardashian" really is a stand-in for "celebrity culture" in complaints about its vapidity tho. this is the #1 context i hear her name in actually. this job has belonged to lots of other people women in the past, obv, but kim is progress from paris on multiple fronts imo.

xp.

I feel like if you're most famous for being the subject of comment and much of that comment is that those commenting don't really know who you are, that must be relevant somehow though. But then the culture of comment in these fora is precisely what puzzles me

I mean celebrity culture is super vapid also.

dunno about you but i instantly assume people who call celebrity culture vapid are, like, super-deep people themselves who think really deep thoughts a lot

But if you want unsolicited, I just looked at People Magazine's "celebrities" page and I guess the people I'd have a hard time saying I know who they are are:

Pink (though I know this is a woman and feel 90% sure she's a recording artist)
Dakota Fanning (90% sure this is an actor but have no idea what she looks like or a movie she's been in)
Kristin Cavallari (no idea)
Whitney Port (no idea)
Pete Wentz (no idea)

Though the "no idea" people are people whose names aren't even familiar to me. There are a bunch more of these. The question is, are there people where I definitely know "this is a famous person" but nothing else? That's harder. I think the closest are Ryan Gosling and Ryan Phillippe. I am pretty sure Ryan Gosling is the guy who when there's a picture that says "Hey girl," that's Ryan Gosling, right? But are these Ryans actors? Models? Singers?

But this is not to get on a high horse, I am certain I would do much better saying something meaningful about people on the People celebrities list than I would about a list of classical composers, where I would mostly be like "um, that guy's from France I think"

in many respects she's become a shorthand for vapid and idle decadence in the way that paris hilton was a little earlier, an instance of this very common move on the left and right alike of locating 'everything that's wrong with the world today' in a particularly feminine-coded form of self-definition under consumer society, as if picking on individual women and girls is the way to combat what's wrong with consumer capitalism

― Merdeyeux, Monday, July 6, 2015 9:33 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is otm, i feel like one maybe-interesting difference is that kim doesn't code "gay icon" in the way that most of these women usually do whether overtly or not? she's not really camp or OTT and the people who love her the most seem to be women. (i think this is a positive, probably)

I don't have any real opinions about that but celebrity culture is super vapid

it is true that making a point of not having heard about kim kardashian (or what/whoever) is predicated on knowing enough about her to know that not-knowing her might earn you some cred

so in most cases it's kind of disingenuous from the start

see also http://www.theonion.com/article/area-man-constantly-mentioning-he-doesnt-own-a-tel-429

a lot of this seems like crossover from other industries tho. i know who pink and pete wentz are bc i know their music. i know fanning, gosling and phillippe bc i've seen films w/ them. i didn't know who cavallari or port were but i looked them up and that's bc they're reality show celebs and i don't watch any reality shows.

if only there was a site that discussed movies or culture that we could search that was familiar, in order to get a reference point for what these apparent celebrities are about and how they relate to our corner of the world

There is nothing interesting about celebrity culture except how it operates as part of the world. The content is entirely meaningless

like maybe kim seems unique bc she's not really tethered to a specific industry as a gateway to celebrity

There is nothing interesting about celebrity culture except how it operates as part of the world. The content is entirely meaningless

― plax (ico), Monday, July 6, 2015 4:44 PM (38 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/jaden-and-willow-smith-exclusive-joint-interview/?_r=1

There is nothing interesting about celebrity culture except how it operates as part of the world. The content is entirely meaningless

― plax (ico), Monday, July 6, 2015 4:44 PM (52 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that is a weird thing to say. there is nothing interesting about anything except "how it operates as part of the world"

being a famous socialite used to be its own thing, now you have to have a trail of reality television and iPhone games to keep relevant

She was on one of those reality shows you don't watch, Mordy.

was kim famous in this way before the reality show? i think of her as a reality celeb; she has "transcended" it i guess but the whole point of the category is to make a run for transcendence, become a brand, etc. paris was basically a reality celeb too.

isn't it tautological to say "she was not famous in this way before..."? i mean, the whole point of her is that she continually finds new ways of being famous.

i will be continuing to build my own brand itt by making people's points 30secs after they make them

Lots of cultural products are uninteresting to watch or listen to but have certain historical interest attached to them for example

what "cultural product" are you referring to?

I think leni Riefenstahl's films are very bad?

Entrepreneur.com is mad as hell about the idea that Kim Kardashian is an entrepreneur.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/248045

This is what a real entrepreneur looks like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pcugHrsCFo

whatever you do, don't make a drinking game where you drink every time he says 'entrepreneur*"

KK is more of an enterpren-flaneur

consumable chunks is the name of her dog

in many respects she's become a shorthand for vapid and idle decadence in the way that paris hilton was a little earlier, an instance of this very common move on the left and right alike of locating 'everything that's wrong with the world today' in a particularly feminine-coded form of self-definition under consumer society, as if picking on individual women and girls is the way to combat what's wrong with consumer capitalism

Merdeyeux very otm here. at the same time vapid and idle decadence of this sort is p much always gross so I don't have a lot of sympathy for her

tbh I don't think Kim is looking for your sympathy

She's probably the most well-known proponent for the US recognition of the Armenian genocide

― too young for seapunk (Moodles)

this is one of the things I knew about her, thanks to ILX I believe

Merdeyeeux OTM x2

lol how in the world is this not a thread from 2008

Kristin Cavallari is married to Chicago Bears Quarterback, Jay Cutler. We all know that!!

As far as I can tell the lamest thing she's done is wear fur. I don't know her & don't really want to speculate about her worth as a human being; I know we're supposed to hate rich people but really I don't care. Maybe I'd be actively annoyed by her if I lived in southern California. I'm more inclined to direct my ire at the people who leaked her sex tape.

lol how in the world is this not a thread from 2008

― call all destroyer, Monday, July 6, 2015 7:11 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark

i had this thought too

She's probably the most well-known proponent for the US recognition of the Armenian genocide

I thought Serj Tankian was tbrh

i like dreaming of things to buy when i look at instagrams

use snapchat for people typically

dont really care about kimmmy kard. dont feel like this is a relevant position or anything. i like that ppl like that dont exist at all in my world. maybe there is a tv show called 'lacuna beach'

whoa now the thread jumped back another six or seven years! xp

anyway i do think that at one point opening the instagram app and seeing like

a pic by schlump a pic by crut a pic by kim karadashian a pic by lex'

was maybe unsettling according to the (now old) standards of celebrity culture

you can @ POTUS and tell him you would like to fist him or take him out to a nice dinner and maybe a cool french arthouse movie or both idk it's wild =]

'lacuna beach'

lol

i don't even own a television

was maybe unsettling according to the (now old) standards of celebrity culture

there was a point where most of my followd were for consumer products and seeing my friends stage-y instagram photos of like beach parties and shows and stuff was sortof queasy but then i didnt think about it

i feel like instagram cld be a powerful expression of my truest self because i think and connect via images of things but the app is really hard to use on my phone so i never bother and my account is dormant and unpopular

i think this explains all u need to know about instagram btw you're welcome in advance plax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvoCqYB6t3w

I was in LA a couple of years back and a bunch of people on our sightseeing bus tour went completely mental at me because apparently I stood next to Rob Kardashian when I was taking photos on Rodeo Drive and didn't take a photo of him. I had no idea who he was. He seems to have made somewhat less of an impression on popular culture than his sisters, possible because his mother couldn't think of a boy's name starting with K for him.

All I know about even Kim is shes the one with the arse. I dont know shit about the rest of them.

No mention of the whole Bahrain thing?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/03/why-people-are-so-upset-about-kim-kardashians-odd-visit-to-bahrain/

most people know her as 'kim k' from gucci mane's immortal "making love to the money" (2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46TmSTjLYJw