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Rebekah Trudgeon
James Dyer
EN 111
November 19, 2014
Gotta Keep Up
How did a Kardashian girl, who became famous initially for being filmed by Brandy’s
brother, transform herself into one of the most lucrative brands ever? Although Kim’s father is
nationally recognized for friending and defending O.J. Simpson during his murder trial in 1995,
Kim first became known by hanging around with Paris Hilton, who some call the sex tape
goddess. What set’s Kim Kardashian’s sex tape apart from the rest of the sex tapes out there? Not
only did she become famous, but her whole family did too. In 2007, the Kardashian’s starred in a
show called Keeping up with the Kardashian’s. The show Keeping Up With the Kardashian’s was
a hit for E! television. In its first month it became the highest-rated series on Sunday nights for
ages 18 to 34 and was seen by 1.3 million total viewers according to Nielsen Media Research.
“The buzz surrounding the series is huge, and viewers have clearly fallen for the Kardashians.”
Their reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, has a lot to do with getting America to
move past the scandal. In popular culture, we’re famous for having a selective memory. We latch
on to certain things that we choose to embrace and forget others. As a society, we are nosey and
love relatable drama. If it’s not relatable, we don’t care and simply forget about it.
The Kardashians, to me, are an intriguing example of society’s willingness to forget.
Most people forgot how Kim initially got famous. Critics often refer to her as the woman who is
simply famous for being famous. Some celebrity’s get remembered for every little thing they
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have morally done wrong, but why not Kim Kardashian? I think we can all agree that the
Kardashian/Jenner family is a highly attractive family. This enables society to forget all of the
wrong things they have done simply because society is distracted by their beauty.
This reality show captures Kim hanging out with her crazy family and dealing with
relatable drama. The family’s dynamic closely resembles that of a scripted sitcom. Everyone in
the family plays a major role in the show, not one of them ever being left out. By spreading the
attention to the whole family, it took away from Kim and her provocative past. “Together, we’ve
watched them grow up, struggle with the press, get DUIs, endure break ups, get married, and
have kids. There’s not a moment when they’re not on our TV” (Celes). By watching this family
grow, we have forgot about Kim’s past and fed them exactly what they want, attention and fame
