Rituals and Stereotypes: Keeping up with the Kardashians ~ Assignment 1-4-3

Keeping up with the Kardashians: Rituals and Stereotypes

            Popular culture has a way of getting the attention of and gaining acceptance in the society even if a culture under consideration is full of innuendos, half-truths, and false opinions. It is synonymous with the ‘elite’ or the celebrities who create a different way of living. Their followers are somehow inclined to copy and spread the ‘new’ way of living or doing things. Keeping up with the Kardashians is a reality television show starring the Kardashian family, with Kim being a de facto leader and a figure of the show. The program films the Kardashians as they go about their daily lives. After every event, each of the characters explains how he or she feels and wants of the other person or the situation.

            The show has nothing substantial to offer both ideologically and intellectually, but it appeals to the masses, especially among teenage girls and women in their early adulthood. Therefore, the mass culture theory can explain how the show permeated the American society to a wide acclaim. The Frankfurt school can also outline how the show manages to captivate the audience’s consciousness and how it shapes their views of living. The ‘hooks’ of the show are the little family dramas pitting family members and couples. The semiotic theory could also explicate how the show codifies the language and style of the characters, a significant factor in its wide reach and universality (Petracca & Sorapure, 2009; Browne, 2005).

            The feminist theory also comes in because it is, largely, full of women trying to argue out their case. It is so because the audiences are women who are influenced by Kim, her sisters and the mother (Browne, 2005). The show excludes, or so seems to diminish and downplay, the patriarchal order in the society. In my opinion, the show has no real theory behind it; no single theory can fully explain the storyline or the effects of the show on the audience.

References

Browne, R. B. (2005). Profiles of popular culture: A reader. Madison, WI: The University of

Wisconsin Press.

Petracca, M. & Sorapure, M. (2009). Common culture: Reading and writing about American

popular culture. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.