Why is American culture fascinated by the Kardashian family? Their family dynamics are a bit extreme. They verge on being dysfunctional. We like drama and they give us plenty. Maybe watching their excessive drama, gossip, and backstabbing allows us to believe ours is less severe.
Those are the obvious reasons, but there is a more significant reason. Mimetic anthropology tells us that cultural desire is never natural, but must be created. For example, take the title of the show: Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The title’s implicit message is: You want to keep up with the Kardashians. You desire to watch this show.
Cultural desire is not only created, but must also be manipulated. So our desire to watch the Kardashians doesn’t fade, the producers must inflame cultural desire by creating dramatic advertisements of the ever increasing tension in the family. Thus, advertisers repeatedly tell us that we want to keep up with the Kardashians – and, so, we continue to watch.
Frankly, I don’t want to keep up with the Kardashians. I have nothing against the Kardashian girls, or their randomly appearing brother. But we’ve seen this drama unfold before. Few families graduate from reality T.V. unscathed. And yet, we can’t get enough. We’re hooked into the message that we want more drama, scandals, and gossip. “Of course you want to keep up with the Kardashians.”
Personally, I’m hoping the next reality T.V. show will be called Staying Behind with the Ericksens.
