Portrayal of Kardashian/Humphries divorce in the media

ALLY: The biggest topic right now on facebook is Kim Kardashian’s divorce. Status updates are happening all the time to express people’s reactions to her hasty decision. Danni Star, a radio personality for 96.3 NOW in Minneapolis, says on 10/31: -"Kim Kardashian is filing for divorce after 72 days...No wonder people think marriage is a joke! This makes me sick! ABSOLUTELY SICK! and gay people can't get married?!?!? WOW! What is wrong with the world?” Danni would get over sixty comments on this status and over ninety “likes”. Danni, being a radio personality, is obviously inclined to speak her mind and say what she wants. Being a local celebrity, she has no reason to stick up for Kim, because Kris is a Minnesotan. The majority of the people in Minnesota do not stand by Kim and are outraged by her decision to divorce Kris. A comment on Danni’s status: “The sad part about it is that everyone kept sayin it was only for publicity and money and she jus proved them right.. I'm sorry when I get married its gonna be a one time thing. Til death do us part. Some celebrities make marriages look like a joke. They do it cuz its the thing to do. And as far as gay marriages go. I don't feel its any ones right to tell someone else who they can and can't marry. Seriously this country needs to grow up. Its really sad to see how shallow america has come. Becuz the things that really matter ppl don't pay attention to.”

#ThingsLongerThanKim’sMarriage is “trending” on Twitter. Hundreds of people are posting jokes on their Twitter accounts every minute. #WeStandByKim was a “trend” started by Kim’s sister, Khloe, and doesn’t have half as many supporters as the first “trend”. FacebookTwitter, and other social networking sites since the split happened, and the comments about it are purely public opinion.. Anyone can say whatever they want on the Internet, and have no outside reasons for voicing their opinions a certain way.

RAINA: Star Magazine portrays Kim as the victim and that Kris treats her poorly. The articles talk about how Kris is using her for money and that he goes out to clubs and dances with other girls. It also shows pictures of Kris without his wedding ring. Star is most likely portraying Kim as the victim so that she will continue to sell her story to them because Kim Kardashian sells magazines. In the past 5 issues of Star Kim Kardashian has been on the cover four times either has the main picture or on the side. Star’s articles about Kim are half pictures appealing to the reader and making the article more readable. The articles also talk about Kim’s sister to appeal to the fans of Keeping up with the Kardashians. Every Article from Star Magazine about Kim Kardashian’s marriage show her as the one being mistreated. I think Star would portray Kim as the victim based on the their readers because many of them are probably Kim Kardashian fans and that’s why they read the magazine.

http://www.starmagazine.com/news/kim-kardashian-kris-humphries-split

CONNIE: Over the past week, The Frisky, a blog about “Love.Life.Stars.Style,” has posted numerous stories about Kim Kardashian’s break-up with soon-to-be-ex-husband, Kris Humphries. All of the posts portray Kim as an evil, spoiled, fame-whore who always gets her way, saying that she decided to file for divorce because Kris wanted to relocate to his home state, Minnesota and she refused to move out of California. Another post stated that she blames Kris’ family for the divorce. In that post, it describes Kim’s anger towards Kris’ family saying that they “constantly belittled her and were nasty to her.” It was also stated that Kim told her friends that “Kris’ family is actually partly to blamed for the failure of the marriage.” Both of these posts make Kim look bad- refusing to compromise and blaming Kris’ family for their downfall, but one post takes a hard hit at Kim. This post really brings out the true colors of the Kardashian sisters. Kathie Lee, a co-host of “Today,” shared to the public a part of her experience at the wedding. Lee reported that during the reception, Kim’s sister, Khloe, walked by her and said, “I give it six effing months.” Even Khloe didn’t believe that the couple would last! This just goes to show that if the people closest to Kim didn’t think it was going to work, her marriage was hopeless and headed for divorce since the very beginning. Overall, The Frisky portrays Kim as the “bad guy” in relationship.

http://www.thefrisky.com/

MEG:http://www.eonline.com/news/Kim_Kardashian_Didn_t_Profit_From_Wedding__Never_Had__2_Million_Ring_mdash_Now__About_a_Reconciliation___/272936Kim Kardashian is a “character” on Keeping up with the Kardashians, a reality TV show on the channel E!. E! is an entertainment and celebrity news channel which has a website containing their top stories and video clips from the show. After news of Kim’s divorce, E! was filled with numerous articles and clips defending her and portraying her as someone that made a mistake. One video clip on E!’s website had Kris Jenner, Kim’s mom, talk about the divorce and “clear up” some of the rumors. The style or mode in which the video is created leads the viewers to believe it is truth because it is a live interview with a person heavily involved in the issue. The way that Kris naturally defends Kim’s mistake guides viewers to see her as a victim, which is relatable to viewers and they can then find personal meaning behind the event. As Hegel describes,the media has constructed this fixed ideology of the typical Cinderella story, and when it is broken, it becomes a popular and enticing scandal. This event may not have been staged, however it was chosen by E! and interpreted to send a message.

SAM: The divorce of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries has “rocked pop culture” and, in the process, has gotten a lot of attention from gay marriage advocates and several activists that think this divorce is “reason enough to reconsider the sanctity of traditional marriage.” The Christian Post (CP) is the largest Christian newspaper in the world featuring Christian news. It states that the wedding was the traditional Christian service but also clarifies the the couple sought little or no pre-marital counseling before being married. The article begins with seemingly non-bias news, offering sources such as the The National Organization for Marriage Equality quoting, “If you think gay marriage cheapens the institution, two words: Kim Kardashian.” but offers much more on how same-sex couples are just as prone to divorce. It does not mention once that gay marriage is not yet universally legal to even have the opportunity to divorce in the first place. CP goes further to say that Norway and Sweden both offer same-sex couples “registered partnerships”, subtly suggesting this is the answer rather than re-defining “marriage”. The only time the article talks specifically about the two people actually getting divorced are in the following quotes: “Reality TV stars probably have a special difficulty in staying married... so I don’t want to pile on Kim Kardashian, personally.” from National Organization for Marriage Chairwoman Maggie Gallagher, and also a quote directly from Kim that you need to “listen to your intuition and follow your heart.” This last quotes comes toward the very end of the news piece and leaves us trying to consider Kim’s decision as the rational one. They never once speak of Kris’ actions or quote him, but aim only to defend Kim’s filing for divorce and, ultimately, defend the institute of marriage as is.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/kim-kardashian-divorce-ammo-for-gay-marriage-advocates-60328/

Jordan: The story of Kim Kardashian’s plans to divorce her husband Kris Humphries has been seen all over the news. Nearly every news outlet has something on the big divorce. The very well-known Fox News even had something to say. In their article covering the divorce, the author states that the whole wedding scenario was a big hoax. It was a way to make big money and gain the attention of the public eye. It was reported that Kim, herself made nearly $18 million from just the wedding, as it aired on television. The article goes on to quote others who say that “many people will feel used,” and that “she’s become sloppy.” Despite dealing with the divorce, Kardashian found time to make big money by hosting a Halloween event. A leading divorce trial lawyer of Hollywood was quoted saying, “[Their] marriage was always a business deal.” The author of the article quick closes with the view by some that the wedding and divorce in such a short amount of time enhances Kim’s brand, keeping her in the public eye as she may truly want.

This article definitely is shaping the way we feel and read news. To start off, the title of the article is “Kim Kardashian’s Marriage: Publicity Stunt, Plain Pathetic, or Both?” Right away audiences have a negative idea about the Kardashian marriage. Pathetic and publicity stunt both carry negative connotations, making some suddenly lack pity for the divorcing couple. The article really stresses how much money the couple made off of airing the wedding on television (millions) and spends most of the time quoting people on how they believe the whole wedding was a publicity stunt, nothing more than a way to make money fast. The fact that most of the article is presented in this way suggest that this media outlet does not want us to see this “event” in a positive light. Calling Kardashian “sloppy,” “over the top, “and “even reckless” does not help the audience of this piece see Kim or the wedding and divorce, in a positive light.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/11/01/kim-kardashians-marriage-publicity-stunt-plain-pathetic-or-both/

Comparing and analyzing the differences/ offering a position: This event is represented in many different ways because it is a very popular topic in the media today. Each representation is a biased version of the divorce that is aimed at a specific group of people. Each has a different intent to lead viewers to relate to the story and derive personal meaning so that the event will be remembered. Having an exciting and opinionated narration of an event can actually mean more for the viewer than straight facts. For example, when Danni Star related the issue of gay marriage to this event, she was taking a particular position on the subject and grabbing the attention of a whole new group of people that may have otherwise been completely uninterested in the topic. The objectivity of the subject matter is immediately distorted by the perspective of the individual performing the recreation. The owners of the E! network want their client to be happy with the way he or she is represented, so their story will be biased toward their client. But for media outlets such as blogs, creators of the blog are not worried about losing business when they interpret the event and their opinions illustrate that. As Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky describe in their article ‘Manufacturing consent; a propaganda model’, Our news is filtered by the people interpreting the story in order to fit with what they want to portray or how they see society. Therefore it is necessary to examine the style in which the event is presented, how this representation impacts us and our view of the event; the intertextuality and what we can derive from it. When looking at the different media outlets and how they recreated the divorce, it is extremely apparent that certain representations’ aim was to grasp attention and create meaning for a certain “type” of viewer. Because networks like E! and Fox news have this power of wealth and a certain fan base, they choose a certain way to portray the event to viewers in order to fit with what their network is all about.

By: Meg Pearson, Jordan Burrell, Sam Tetzlaff, Raina Dwinell, Connie Du, and Ally Turnberg