Geesh
people, she’s not YOUR mom!
Kim
Kardashian is a pinup.
And
I suppose throughout the history of the modern world, pinups have
always been judged and shamed...except most of them don’t feel the
shame you feel when you see their beauty on display, usually
beautifully enhanced by the set, the makeup, the clothes (or not
clothes) and photographer who dreamed up the image. They are hardly
embarrassed by the ogling your man and every other one does, whilst
you clutch your pearls in judgment and envy. No, not shame because if
the chatter of her is the reaction, then she did her job. And
oh, her job, makes all the money.
Pinups get rich, play dress up in the finest clothes (or not clothes), get invited to the fanciest parties, just because, yanno, they made a business out of their sexuality.
Someone
pitched Kim Kardashian this photo spread in Paper, even convinced her
to show full frontal. (Which I recall an episode of her reality show
when she swore never to do that. But, oh well, you can change your
mind, especially when you make...all the money.) As for the magazine,
yeah, that was a money grab for them, the photographer - the whole
lot of them. (And me writing about her - a money grab, too! See how
that works?)
It
should be clear to you by now, what she does - what she has, makes
money.
And,
she can even trick you into spending your little coins on her
virtually through a video game that just made $43 million in a quarter.
But
here, her latest venture, she went back to the basics.
And
only to you it matters whether her assets are faux or enhanced. But
to them, it doesn’t matter. It’s an image and she's a fantasy.
As soon as humans learned the technology to print photos, pinups started making their rounds. When we learned to mass produce photos, that's when our first celebrities were born, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the pretty girls made the cut. (Hehe..."bottom dollar")
 |
| Betty Paige, "Queen of All Pinups" |
Those
photos were “pinned-up” on walls.
They
were also called “cheesecake photos”, and the glamour models were
often drawn to where their assets were exaggerated. According to some,
they’ve been doing that since the 1890’s.
Later
on, burlesque dancers...okay, strippers, used them as business cards.
That’s how the sailor going off to war would have a sweet little
image to post above his bunk.
You’ve
heard of Betty Boop. She’s a cartoon.
Betty
Paige, she was the real thing.
They
drew Boop, and Paige was as close as they could get to Boop's
exaggeration. (They call her the “Queen of Pinups”, and this was
before all of this enhancement technology.)
Kim
Kardashian...well, enhanced or not, I’m not here to judge that, but
her features are definitely exaggerated.
 |
| Betty Boop |
French
photographer Jean-Paul Goude took these photos of Kimmie, and some argue that
he is no stranger to exploiting beauty under the guise of art. He
often uses ethnic models, and most famously Grace Jones, in various
primal animal forms. One jarring image is Jones on all fours in a
cage. But here, he decided to repurpose a photo he took in 1976 “Carolina
Beaumont”
that was recently on display a couple of years ago at
Les
Arts Décoratifs
in
Paris.
Paris!
France! Of all places, is the wrong place to show off exploitative naked photos of black women. The memories are hurtful...ehem...Sara Baartman.
%2C_%C3%A9tudi%C3%A9e_comme_Femme_de_race_B%C3%B4chismann%2C_Histoire_Naturelle_des_Mammif%C3%A8res%2C_tome_II%2C_Cuvier%2C_Werner%2C_de_Lasteyrie.jpg) |
| Sara Baartman |
As
for Kim K. knowing this history, I’ll assume that she didn’t. And
I’m not mad at her for not knowing or even not caring. That’s not
her job. That’s not what she is here for. She is a pinup.
This
is for perspective, if you realize that, then you won’t care that
she’s a mom, because that part doesn’t matter.
 |
| 1976, “Carolina Beaumont” |
Wow! Way to break everything down. Perspective is correct.
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess. Beyonce is wearing the same things as Betty Boop
ReplyDeleteI thought I was the only person who was not upset about Kim K's pics! I mean, big deal. Her job is to be fabulous and show it off. Job done.
ReplyDelete