Who Wants To Be A Kardashian?

There is an Internet phenomena of which most of us have little exposure (including me) ..... its self-filming or video blogging via YouTube. This is where families or groups of people, detail their lives in a reality TV style, but on the Internet.

The Walton's - Role Models For YouTube Families

 

Some of these shows apparently have many followers, but the majority less so. Many in the US exhibit or promote particular lifestyle choices, such as a deep Christianity, but others have more mundane concerns, such as promoting both themselves and certain products (which are either sponsored or the show makers want to get paid to sponsor). Some of these families make a bigger splash in the wider world, mainly when they step over some taste boundary and into the consciousness of the wider world. One such is the apparently hugely popular 'Bratayley family' YouTube channel, which documents the Bratayley family lives and deaths .... 'Bratayley' by the way is not their real family surname, but other than that, it’s a fly on the wall kinda fame. 

 

They apparently broadcast videos of themselves going on family trips, playing sports, and doing science experiments in a 'Walton's' type of viewer experience. However when 'Caleb Bratayley' died suddenly, aged 13, of an inherited heart condition, they chose to broadcast his funeral and associated events ... this attracted some criticism.

A similar family are called the 'Nulls' (yes really), who actually earn a living just filming themselves and their day to day Christianity. Apparently its via the number of visitor hits they get, which earns them money from the YouTube's advertising revenue-sharing model called vlogging (short for "video blogging"). The aim of course is to reach a critical mass of interest levels, that then cause a big TV player or production company to pick up the Internet casts, professionalise them, and broadcast them to the world.

Basically to mirror the Kardashian's .... only the UK's libel laws prevent me from actually stating how totally inane the Kardashian's boring little self-centred lives really are, but I can't, so that’s that. However I can at least say that anyone who sits and watches this crap really needs to consider where their life is leading them, because their present path is displaying evidence of it being deeply inadequate, and unsatisfying.

These viewers are making incredibly talentless individuals very rich, very easily .... Paris Hilton, Kim and the other Kardashian's, and Snookie to name but four.

Snooki Reality Role Model or Not?

Its not even as though we in the UK can smugly ignore these US 'reality celebrity stars', because:

(a) We watch their shows over here on one of the countless TV channels that need to be filled up 24/7, 365 per annum.

And

(b) Then of course we have our own numpty reality stars .... 'all growed here'.

I haven’t watched any of these either, but I understand that they are, Big Brother, Gogglebox, TOWIE (the only way is Essex), Made in Chelsea, Geordie Shore, and The Valleys to name but a few.

Some of these shows have made some deeply stupid people into rich celebrities, ranging from Jade something or other, to a real dingbat called 'Joey Essex' .... don't ask me what they did or do, I am aware of them as aspects of the modern culture, in the same way as I was the tele-tubbies ... only less so. The most successful of these vbloggers by the way is 'Zoella', aka 'Zoe Sugg', who has become a millionairess on the basis of her product endorsements at the age of 24 .... she’s even had a ghost written book out ....

Its all a vaguely depressing indictment of how shallow and baseless our culture has become, and that all I can think to say to all of these shows full of talentless wannabes is, "nul points".