Kim Kardashian has a television presence marked by control, at least since in 2007 she learned that a sex video of her, recorded with singer Ray J in 2003, was going to be marketed without her consent. His way of profiting from the scandal is history of the show: before its publication, aware that the images would not disappear as the experiences of Pamela Anderson or Paris Hilton had shown, he reached an agreement with the production company that was going to sell the film. Five million dollars.
The video premiered after the release of the first season of Keeping up with the Kardashians. Kris Jenner, her mother and manager, understood that this was going to consolidate the incipient fame of a daughter who until then was considered a celebutante, that is, a daughter of a relatively famous person (Robert Kardashian, O.J. Simpson’s lawyer) who was in the right Los Angeles events. And, season by season of her reality show, where Kim rose to executive producer having greater control of the program, she translated her frivolous and capricious image before the cameras into an operation calculated to the millimeter.
It cannot be interpreted as a coincidence that her fortune amounts to 1.7 billion dollars while her sisters, by sharing family and reality, set up their own network of multimillion-dollar companies and contracts. Kim Kardashian is, in reality, a woman who subjects her body, her own flesh, to her will and to the scalpel, as if she were performing a decades-long performance or were an extreme character from Nip/Tuck, with the added bonus that she offers a manipulated view of his personal life through television, Instagram and statements to the media.
This obsession with control and such an unnatural approach to his own physique, a priori, was the main obstacle to validating himself in front of his detractors. It has always been said, in fact, that models are the worst actresses because they are too attentive to every angle of their face, to convey that ideal of beauty, and Kim did not even appear confident in the confessionals of Keeping up with the Kardashians or, currently, in The Kardashians, its sequel after signing a contract with Disney. How could she be a good casting for the new season of American horror story called Delicate?
Her participation in the parody film Disaster Movie in 2008, when her career was taking off, demonstrated a lack of comic relief even when her character was crushed to death by a meteorite. With the single Jam (turn it up) released in 2011, copying another page from Paris Hilton’s style book, she practically earned a restraining order from any recording studio.
Time gave her security as could be seen in How I Met Your Mother or Saturday Night Live, although above all due to the ability of the scriptwriters to use her person and Kim Kardashian to laugh at herself (her monologue on late night was bright). And, against all odds, American horror story, which returned on Wednesday on Disney with the first part of the new season, has managed to go further: apply the clichés and elements of pop culture led by Kardashian to create a character that does not It is herself.
In Delicate, Kardashian plays Siobhan Corbyn, a publicist with one goal: to take actress Anna Victoria Alcott (Emma Roberts), until now chained to a series of teenagers, to the Oscar, after starring in an independent film. The problem is that Anna, after undergoing fertility treatments, begins to be harassed by someone who even enters her home and suspects that something is wrong with her pregnancy. Cara Delevingne, Matt Czuchry, Julie White, Denis O’Hare and Michaela Jaé Rodríguez complete the cast.
Kardashian’s character is a queen of appearances willing to do anything to succeed among New York agencies and, in turn, lead her clients to stardom. The reality star can wear outfits that fit her image as she challenges the viewer as a disturbing being as the episodes progress. And, by releasing her viperous phrases as an expert on the entertainment industry and the pacts that must be made with the devil in order to succeed (yes, more parallels with her life or the rumors attributed to her), the viewer can perceive how she has fun, how comfortable she is.
American Horror Story, which this time is written by Halley Feiffer, embraces its careful and artificial approach to body expression, which serves as the character to become a scene-stealer in the production (she is much luckier than Delevingne with her role as a stalker). and the actress to shut up the detractors.
In the most feminist season to date, the horror franchise has given Kim Kardashian a gift: offering her a vehicle to show off, where she can convey that she has a valid talent for traditional cultural criticism, which until now could look down on her for its connection with the tabloid press, Instagram, cosmetic surgery, media marriages and a reality show of dubious reality.
It is impossible to predict whether the producer of AHS, Ryan Murphy, will be able to repeat this achievement with the series of lawyers that he has expressly created for him and where Kanye West’s ex-wife, who is pursuing a law degree following in her father’s footsteps, will play to a very glamorous divorce lawyer.
Just in case, a piece of advice: that no one bet against Kim Kardashian because she does not usually make a false step, especially in this last decade where she transformed superficial popularity into fame that is as unquestionable as it is legitimate.
