Dekonstructing the Kardashians A new media manifesto

Corey, founder of the social media account Kardashian Kolloquium, debuts with an avid, painstaking postmodern evaluation of the Kardashian-Jenner family. Delving into the reality TV matriarchy's "two-decade-long construction of an American media empire," the author unpacks the family's ongoing spectacle, from memorable Keeping Up with the Kardashians episodes to breaking-the-internet cover shoots, along the way drawing on theorists like Walter Benjamin and Michel Foucault. She begins with a detailed exploration of the fluid figure of Kim Kardashian, who has seamlessly evolved, in multiple stages, from a socialite with a sex tape to a criminal justice reform advocate squaring off against her fellow reality TV star, President Donald Trump. Corey shows how Kim's media domination is, in part, related to how she "aligns herself with countless cultural myths," including those of Marilyn Monroe, the Kennedys, and the Spice Girls. In addition to this accomplished close read, Corey tacks on shorter, disjointed passages that whizz through a dizzying array of topics, from the family's emulation of mid-20th-century sitcoms like The Brady Bunch to the "unusual word sequences" of catchphrases like Kris Jenner's "You're doing amazing, sweetie." While the information overload can at times mimic the inescapability of the family itself, this avalanche of analysis is nevertheless a critical tour de force. Kardashian obsessives will be thrilled. (May)

A media-driven appreciation of one of pop culture's most-watched families. Corey, a psychotherapist, was spontaneously introduced to a Season 6 episode of the TV reality seriesKeeping Up With the Kardashians in 2018, and in that viewing's wake, admitted to feeling an "uncanny sensation" that drew her in as a casual fan, then, almost hypnotically, into an obsession that has endured for nearly a decade. The author skillfully condenses her years of observation and evaluation as a Kardashian analyst into this obvious labor of love, one that has garnered her a successful personal Substack, a recap magazine column, and a legion of Kardashian-crazed TikTok and Instagram followers. Paired with a personal fascination with the Kardashian family's collective talent for narrative mastery, a postmodern sense of reality, and catchy episodic arcs, Corey cleverly and effectively fuses celebrity scrutiny and deft analysis with the famous family's personalities and creates a whirlwind of themes, abstract ideas, and some very solid truths about their roles in modern society and their impact on feminism. Interwoven into the analysis are more easily digested details, including Kim Kardashian's iconic Halloween costumes and her video games, the family's sartorial and corporeal trends, their entrepreneurial ventures, eccentric behaviors, and rise to influential fame, along with a parade of narrative divergences featuring Kanye West, O.J. Simpson, and Paris Hilton. The first of the book's two sections incorporates referential material in addressing how and why public attention spans and tastes have evolved over the past several decades and uses the Kardashians as a prime example of a responsible change agent. The second section features a biographical chronology that proceeds through major milestones in the Kardashians' lives as collective influencers. In examining the show's catalog of highly produced episodes--"edited to achieve a near-perfect narrative structure"--Corey digs deeper into the meaning and the message of the "pixel-perfect" family's popularity, intelligently assessing how their tabloid-worthy, sensational fireworks keep the fires of celebrity culture and viewers' addiction to reality television consistently stoked. An exhaustive and entertaining look into the Kardashian media machine. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.