Why we care about The Jersey Shore cast and the Kardashians
20 years ago I would have said – “Hell, no one cares.”
That was 20 years ago.
Now, it seems everyone cares. Well, not quite everyone.
Let’s break this down a little bit. We have two groups of folks who consistently make the top headlines in all news mediums. Both groups have had their own reality shows, videos, products, spin offs, and in one case – porn.
So, everyone knows the whole “Kim Kardashian Wedding” debacle. Even I – the guy who isn’t plugged into reality TV knows about this. I’m force fed news about the wedding through commercials on TV, radio spots, magazines on display at Target. Then I got to thinking to myself – “what am I missing?”
Why don’t I care about this?
It could be my self-diagnosed aspergers . However, if that was really the case then I don’t think I’d be excited about the new Underworld movie coming out in January.
For me there is an answer to everything. The old parental saying “just because” or “I feel like it” doesn’t fly in my book.
I started comparing entertainment values and news that I found interesting and try to apply it to the Jersey Shore and Kardashian camps.
I asked myself: “Self, why do I have a subscription to Entertainment Weekly?”
Self responded: “Because you like movies. You like to see what’s coming out and who’s going to be in it.”
That’s a good starting point I thought. I like movies. And movies have actors (even animated ones). I find it interesting how a actor prepared for a role (Jonny Depp), or the hard ships in working in foreign country (Hang Over II), or even how they got in shape (Castaway).
Pretty sure the Shore and Kardashian folks don’t act. I don’t think they have been in any movies (notable and entertaining movies that is).
Ok, so they don’t have any movies type talents. That’s ok. I can’t be narrow minded and I have to look at other fields that can bring fame. I seen a blurb on the news about Rihanna doing some sort of half nude video.
Self said: “You like music.”
Maybe there is some music talent in the groups. After a quick internet search and watching Kim and her mom’s music videos – I shot that idea down like a U.S. spy plane over Iraq.
Then I figured that maybe ‘their’ entertainment value fell into the ‘other contributions’ type category. I remember seeing the cover of a People Magazine with Steve Jobs on the front.
I told my self: “I wouldn’t mind reading about Steve. He built up Apple, had cancer, left the company and came back, reinvented the cell phone.”
After a few more web searches I really came up with nothing on either group that would register as a ‘contribution’.
I think Bruce Jenner (husband of the mom kardashian) HAD some talent. He won the decathlon in the Olympics years ago and was on the cover of a weaties box. That’s cool in my book.
Then I thought maybe these folks all fell into the comedy category – however it’s a reality show and not a sitcom so I ruled that out.
Then the answer hit me.
All this time, I was wondering how these talentless people rule the news. The answer really has nothing to do with ‘talent’ or for that matter any thing else THEY do.
The answer is simple: supply and demand.
Over the past 20 years our ability to get up to the minutes news has increased at such a rate – that I believe our demand for news (sports, world, health, ENTERTAINMENT, etc) has far surpassed the supply.
There is a limited bandwidth of actual “useful” and “interesting” news as individuals we consume (that fits our taste). The rest is filled with the never ended useless and uninteresting stuff like no name weddings, reality shows, and who lost the most weight.
It’s easier, cheaper, and ten faster to serve up shows and entertainment news like Jersey Shore and Kardashians along with useless news about teen girls marrying 50 year old men then it is to deliver something more palatable.
This brings up an interesting correlation – a majority of Americans are over weight. The right food and exercise is available however most folks go with the easy and less healthy choices that are presented to us.
I guess the same goes with entertainment.
