Because famous: Are talented people "without talent"
IN 2011 THE HEROES ANNUAL PROGRAM "Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People" about the most interesting people of the year were Chris Jenner and the sisters of Kardashian: Chloe, Courtney and Kim. "You do not play in the movies. You do not sing. You do not dance. You - I'm sorry - there are no talents," - asked Walters directly in the program, which should be devoted to the merits and influence of the heroes of the list. “But we entertain people,” Chloe replied. "I think this is a serious challenge - to take part in a reality show and make people love you for who you are. So, I think, those who are famous for being a person are under much greater pressure," she added. Kim
The question that Barbara Walters asked seven years ago still takes up so many. How is it that people who seem to have no particular “talent” or “ability” - be it Kim Kardashian, Olga Buzova, or numerous lifestyle-bloggers - become an appreciable part of pop culture? Is it true that a huge number of people earn millions of fortune by doing almost nothing? How did it happen that in the list of the highest paid people from the entertainment industry, as many as ten people fell into the “Personalities” category - and not all of them, such as Gordon Ramsay, became famous for their particular profession?
Of course, the people who are now called "famous for being famous" (that is, "famous, simply because they are famous") did not appear yesterday. One of the most famous examples from the relatively recent past is the secular diva Zha Zha Gabor. The authors of her obituaries spoke directly about this: “A bright, luxurious blonde hails from Hungary, Zha Zha Gabor is a sample of a star,“ famous for her fame. ”She was bright, witty, expressive - and at the same time absurd, conceited and temperamental. was better known for a vast collection of jewels and eight husbands than a sporadic career as an actress and TV show participant. " The same applies, for example, and close attention to members of royal families. Of course, they have a more specific "occupation", and not least the public is interested in the transfer of power by inheritance, but also those who most likely do not receive the right to the throne receive no less attention. Remember how everyone watches meticulously at every exit of Megan Markle or Kate Pippa Middleton’s sister.
And yet the current scale of the opportunity to gain fame "without talent" has reached relatively recently - first, thanks to a reality show, and then social networks. The first global star of this new format was Paris Hilton, a rich heiress who literally turned her lifestyle into a way of earning. Even before her own reality show, when she first came to the center of attention, Paris started earning money from the love of clubs: at first she was simply invited to parties, and then offered to pay for what she appeared on them. With the advent of the reality show "Simple Life", Paris gained a new status: the premiere of the show about how the rich heirs Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie do the "simple" work - they help on the farm, work in fast food, become interns in different companies, etc. - watched thirteen million viewers.
At the same time, Paris herself says that she deliberately exaggerated the image of the “spoiled rich girl”: she spoke in a subtle “childish” voice, which she hardly uses in everyday life, came up with provocative phrases like “What is Walmart?” and so on. The message of the show can be treated differently (in 2018 this would hardly have been possible), but it’s difficult to argue with one thing: both heroines turned themselves into capital and built an image so as to evoke a maximum response from the audience. Paris later recorded an album, launched several of her own fragrances, a line of cosmetics, a line of clothes for Boohoo and much more. Even now, when she has much less attention than in zero, Hilton continues to earn: she has a whole office staff in Beverly Hills, who are engaged in her business operations.
“Most people don’t understand what reality shows are: this is work. The shooting lasts for months, the team works for many hours every day,” said Will Rebein, director of the documentary film “Famous for Being Famous,” dedicated to this phenomenon. “Society likes to generalize and drive such people into the framework - they don’t want to think that perhaps a reality TV star actually has a business acumen. " Probably, it is this that explains that out of the total number of participants of the reality show (just remember how many there were in Russia and in the world), very few have turned their fifteen minutes of fame into thirty.
The most striking example here, of course, is the Kardashian-Jenner family. The reality show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" has been going on for more than ten years, and over the years the family under the leadership of the matriarch Chris Jenner built a real business empire: not so long ago Kylie Jenner got on the cover of Forbes because of the nearly billionth state, the other sisters also successful. To say that all this happens simply because they use their “fifteen minutes” means at least to simplify the situation. “As for Paris and Kim, they grew up in wealthy families, so people think that the businesses they created are given to them without any difficulty. They think that they get millions just for what they are, but everything are engaged, requires strategy, marketing analysis and promotion - like any other business, "says Will Rebein.
Kim herself years after the interview, Barbara Walters is also ready to argue with the established image. “I used to say:“ I love when I am underestimated. ”But now when I hear:“ They have no special talents ”- ten years later - I want to say:“ Okay, can I get some respect? ”If I’m not so and talented, if I don’t do anything, how then does my career exist? I laugh at this, for example, when I got on the cover of Forbes, I posted the hashtag #NotBadForAGirlWithNoTalent ("Not bad for a girl without talents." - Approx. Ed.)- she told Interview. - Much can be said about me, but I cannot say that I work very little. I do not sing. I do not dance. I don't play movies. But I'm not lazy. "
Talking about Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and any other star of the Instagram era often forget about one important element of success without talents: for a career to be stable and contracts permanent, it’s not enough just to get everyone’s attention - you have to keep it, almost To work as an advertising agency, promoting oneself as a brand, not just to save money, but to earn more. "Her personality is her skill," says Helen Peterson, author of BuzzFeed and a Ph.D. specializing in celebrity culture, about Kim Ann. "She found a way to present her personality in such a way that it interested people, captured them. Her life is and it's a matter of her whole life. When people say that she has no other talents other than being herself, that means she made herself interesting to others. "
The same can be said, for example, about Olga Buzova, who this year hit the sixth place in the Forbes Russian celebrity rating. Starting with a rating reality show, she now uses Instagram as her main platform. The account provides her with advertising contracts (according to Forbes estimates, it is almost 90% of her income), here she advertises new projects and talks about her personal life: she shares experiences because of a divorce, talks about a reality show, where she is looking for a couple, and about how disappointed she is in the heroes who claim her hand and heart. "I am at a glance for you ..." she writes to her fans.
“A star becomes a star when it expresses what matters to people — ideas, ideologies, whatever — says Ann Helen Peterson.” An example that is often given here is Marilyn Monroe: her image, what she meant to other people , reflected tension, anxiety, hopes, dreams of sexuality and, at the same time, purity and innocence. " The images of celebrities "without talents" can be treated differently, you can love their products or, conversely, criticize their business - but you can not deny that they cause us a sharp reaction and work with it. The audience "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and Olga Buzova's instagram are much smaller than those who discuss them - and this is not indifferent, from love to hate, and helps them move on.
Photo: Pop Films LLC
