(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Whether you loathe, love or love to loathe her, Kim Kardashian has become a staple in contemporary pop culture. She is, for whatever reason, the most talked about and one of the most photographed women in the world. Her social media following would equate to the populations of many countries and her influence on young minds is undeniable. This makes Kim Kardashian's fame an issue of public opinion, of politcs.
Unlike other characters from the celebrity sphere who have migrated into politics and those who have threatened to use their influence and following to run for office (her husband Kanye West for example) Kim Kardashian, from what we understand, is not directly interested in politics. However her name, her brand, her all encompassing existence in the mainstream has forced us to look at the politics of the public gaze and the collective human consciousness that with unapologetic fickleness will champion, empathise or crucify anyone with the same swift ruthlessness that those fame hungry individuals executed to gain that spotlight initially.
If anything, Kim Kardashian has shown us that the politics of fame, one we all assumed she'd mastered, is as merciless and unpredictable as a plague of locusts, as equally complimentary and destructive as mother nature, and funnily enough as true as one of the most ancient fairytales of our time. Think of Aladdin and his genie. Sounds a bit ridiculous I know, but bare with me.
Depending on which version you read, upon being deceived to retrieve a magic lamp and stumbling upon a powerful genie, Aladdin was granted three wishes. He wished for money/stature and the girl of his dreams. His natural desires is to become, like any of us would probably want, the best version of himself for the world to see. But when all should be pristine and perfect Aladdin finds that his one illusion, his lies, his unnatural existence in a world that he had willed from nothing, is turning against him, destroying him from the inside out. Aladdin wishes for it all to go away, he wishes to return to anonymity, to a street life's existence. It's the anti-fairytale.
If you hadn't heard, Kim Kardashian is here in Dubai to teach a master class in makeup alongside celebrity makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic. This is one of her first public appearances in the professional sense since her terrifying robbery at gunpoint in Paris, France in October of 2016.
Despite her and the Kardashian brand's once hot hunger for exposure, we have found that it is practically impossible to get an interview with her. Not one question, in person, over the phone over email. One of the most accessible people is taking a break. I can't help but recall the legendary words of one of the first universally famous women, Greta Garbo from the film Grand Hotel, where her character Russian ballerina Grusinskaya is on the verge of a breakdown. "I want to be alone."
Kim has been alone. Alone and away from her followers. Things have apparently changed for her. Not after her 72 day marriage, not after marrying one of the most famous rappers in the world, not after having two children and experiencing mother hood. No, things changed when her own brand of flaunting vulgar wealth almost took her life. And now, slowly she's becoming famous for wanting to, for the time being, escape her fame, to be ignored, to be invisible. I for one was relieved at the thought of an invisible real Kim we only hear of, than an accessible marketing image.
When Kim's initial talents went viral in 2007 and the LA socialite found that she was the hottest thing since her ex BFF and blonde counterpart Paris Hilton, she held on to her 15 minutes of fame and built an empire. Using the formula of over-exposure that made her both a household name, a joke and a curse word, Kim exposed everything in her life. Love, family, secrets, sex, business. We see it funnily enough in her style too. Short hem lines, cheap looking fabrics, shiny, body hugging, vulgar colour coordination and cheap cut outs. Nothing is left for the imagination when everything was revealed to start with.
No opportunity to extend and expand was ever turned down. Books, merchandise, makeup, spin off shows, a failed attempt at a music video, magazine cover after magazine cover, a televised marriage, we, the public, were never denied a glimpse into her life. No matter how real or rehearsed, we watched until the closing credits.
Another milestone in her career and personal life, which is practically the same thing, is Kim's marraige to Kanye West and her "elevation" from reality TV star to modern muse. In a more extreme and radical version of when Posh Spice transformed herself into Victoria Beckham, Kanye West who had established himself to some degree as an "A-Lister" in the world of music and fashion, was Kim's clutch and the gate keeper to the elite of Hollywood. She allowed him to transform her. And boom, there they were on the cover of Vogue. From the baby hair around her forehead to the crude hair extensions, the painted on makeup and the relatable Jersey Shore-ish sensibility we saw, thigh high boots, plain shapes, sheer material, clean muted colours from greys, beiges, blacks and white. And sophisticated bling. From that monstrous engagement wring, to necklaces and grills and diamonds - they all made a grotesque appearance on social media. Where her anthem was once, look at me, you can be like me, you can build this, the tune took a drastic change after Kanye. Look at me, you can never be like me, you can never be like this.
"We'll always have Paris," Humphrey Bogart told Ingrid Bergman in the 1942 classic film Casablanca referring to their brief and intense romance before the Nazi invasion of France. When and if pop culture scholars, biographers and scriptwriters delve into the life of Kim Kardashian, the Paris incident will be a decisive plot line. Paris was where Kim's intense love affair with fame may have changed forever. Kim disappeared from our news feeds and when she emerged with a surreal strange video depicting images of her children and Kanye, we noted a marked change. She was depicted as statuesque, with less makeup, clean, minimal, muted colours and words. The "humorous" one with a funny Snapchat filter, uncharacterestically depicted less of her wealth, once flaunted naively, now hidden from view. A gothic sensibility has now possessed her style from the simple gold necklace and a diamond choker to the gold lip ring, worn in the center of her bottom lip.
Kim's Instagram newsfeed has seen a radical change. Images of her wealth and self promoption have been replaced with unstaged family shots. Nostalgic, vintage, her face doesn't feature, her gaze isn't direct. But we know it's Kim. It might be a simpler Kim attempting to show us the minimum but like all people in the public eye her existence now is far from simple. In fact, it's more complicated than ever.
There was almost hope for the thing that Kim Kardashian represents. We for one, thought that perhaps the lesson, the silver lining from the robbery might force her to look at her life - analyse, scrutinise and re-organise her priorities. How much fame does one need? How much money does one want? How many followers can one collect? We were beginning to like the reclusive, the mysterious Kim Kardashian. What a beautiful narrative we thought. But then the latest season trailer of Keeping Up with The Kardashians premiered. In one of the clips we see a tired looking Kim crying, retelling parts of her robbery to her family. I fear that fame is, as we've learned from the age of the Internet meme, relentless, all consuming and unforgiving. Most of all, especially in the case of Kim Kardashain, it's also addictive, rewarding and most of all seductive.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.