Ok, I know that’s not a bookish topic but just hear me out.
Over Thanksgiving, my family and I got into a conversation about reality TV. As we were rattling off the shows that we loved, I told them my guilty truth. I love Keeping up with The Kardashians.
My cousin who isn’t a big fan of most popular things asked me why I loved it. “I’m really curious! A lot of people like that show and I don’t get why.”
I’ve gotten this question pretty often, but it wasn’t until Thanksgiving that I really thought about it. If you haven’t seen KUWTK, it’s a reality TV show based on the sordid Kardashians and their life. I mean, hopefully you haven’t been living under a rock for the last 10-11 years as the show’s been airing.
It’s kind of funny when I think about the people I know that love the show. Every single person I know that loves the show is a strong, independent, and extremely intelligent woman. Women you wouldn’t expect to see watching the show are sitting alone on a Sunday night watching whether or not Rob will delete all the photos from his Instagram account. How is it that all these women, all these strong women, are so in love with the Kardashians? It’s actually a good question and I honestly don’t know.
But I got to thinking about it. What is it about the show that makes me enjoy it? I can’t speak for everyone, but I think as a woman who reads a lot and spends her time mulling over my existence and struggling with depression and anxiety and possibly OCD it’s kind of fun to watch the show knowing that there are people and reality. I spend so much time in my own head that when I watch TV, I’d rather watch a bunch of overprivileged girls talk about how to raise their daughters to be strong women. It’s like taking a break from the crazy going up in there and seeing how the other side lives.
There’s a strange attraction to celebrity. While the Kardashians aren’t well known artists or musicians, they’re somehow rich and famous. And creating a show where we can see what rich and famous looks like is genius. You’ve basically put the most average and mundane of human beings into the living room of the 1% and seeing that kind of life will either make you completely distraught by their extravagance or infuriated.
However the honest-to-God truth of it is that I don’t care what you all think. I love watching the sordid lives of the Kardashians play out on television. It makes me laugh.
Simone and Her Books 