- "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" is coming
to an end next year, after 14 years and 20 seasons.
The reactions to the show ending have been seriously mixed,
like old commentary around the family.
But regardless of people's opinions of them,
the Kardashians have had a massive cultural impact.
I wanted to figure out why the show became such a phenomenon
and how it helped the Kardashians revolutionize pop culture.
"Keeping Up With The Kardashians" first aired in 2007,
the show was and is incredibly divisive
and the Kardashians have always been critiqued
as being a family that are just famous for being famous.
- You don't really act - [Both] No.
- You don't sing, you don't dance,
you don't have any,
forgive me, any talent - Talent.
- But we're still entertaining people.
- Despite that they have been incredibly successful.
And while most of the reality TV stars of
that decade were left behind, for some reason,
"Keeping Up With The Kardashians" just really worked.
- I think there's a number of factors
that indicate why they worked and others didn't.
- That's Dr. Lauren Rosewarne
from the University of Melbourne.
She's an expert in how pop culture meets
and reflect society.
- They offered an aspirational lifestyle,
but did it in a way
that wasn't as though they were rubbing it
in people's faces.
So they weren't coming at it as elites
but they were showing that this was a lifestyle
that was glamorous, that you'd like to partake of,
but they still made themselves seem accessible
and I think the accessibility part was really crucial.
- The Kardashian's used that accessibility
to build their success on social media.
And they were really at the forefront
of what we now see as pretty every day,
in terms of how celebrities present themselves
on those platforms.
- Kim would you stop taking pictures of yourself,
your sister's going to jail.
- This idea of being able to monetize lifestyle
in order to generate an income, they pioneered this.
They weren't the first,
but to the extent in which they've been able
to do it is incredibly important to this story.
- The fame and success
that the Kardashians have managed to establish
on social media meant that the TV show started
to matter less and less to their visibility.
And now, even though the leaving the E! channel,
their content is still going to be incredibly present
in the lives of their audience.
So, what legacy does the show leave behind?
Not everybody likes the Kardashian and Jenna families.
And there have been a lot of legitimate criticisms of them,
including offensive displays of wealth,
appropriation of black culture
and some extremely public embarrassments.
But Rosewarne thinks that overall,
the show has contributed to some big cultural conversations
in its time on air,
like Caitlyn Jenner's transition.
- I think we under play the fact that that was really
an example of bringing trans stories
into the mainstream media.
I'm not saying she invented the concept,
but the idea of a mainstream hugely popular family,
being connected to this story,
put that on the agenda and the way that it hadn't been.
- And while the beauty routines of the Kardashians
and Jenna's has been steeply criticized for being fake
and cash intensive,
Rosewarne believes there's something to be said about
how they revolutionized female beauty expectations.
- If you look at the slew of models now
on Instagram as an example,
we are seeing so many different shapes and sizes and colors
of women in a way that prior to the Kardashians,
it was a much smaller market.
- As for how it affected reality TV in general,
Rosewarne believes that audiences have become too savvy
about what's happening behind the scenes
in shows like "Keeping Up With The Kardashians".
Ultimately it takes a lot more for reality TV show producers
to hold an audience's attention today
than it did back in 2007.
- I've got to find out whether I'm pregnant or not.
- And besides the family dramas
that people believe are contributing to the shows
and the format
of "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" simply might not work
as well anymore.
So, "Keeping Up With The Kardashians"
was a seriously divisive and heavily criticized show,
but it was incredibly influential for pop culture.
And even though the Kardashians themselves,
aren't always the best role models,
they opened up the doors for a lot
of important conversations
and their impact shouldn't be ignored.
(upbeat music)