Kim Kardashian: A study in self-creation

I only became consciously aware of the person named Kim Kardashian about a year ago, at the time of her “marriage” (remember her marriage?) and its instant break-up. The thing that most struck me about her was her amazing hour-glass figure, so extreme it seemed like something out of ancient myth, and the inevitable question, was it real? Also her face seemed too smooth to be real. Then, last April or May, I saw this photo of her at the Daily Mail, was struck again by the astounding hourglass figure and wondered if it was real:

So I googled kim kardashian plastic surgery and quickly came on a site that, by displaying many before-and-after photographs of Kardashian, made the issue crystal clear, while the author also played coy by acting as though there was an open question whether Kardashian had had plastic surgery.

In the below photographs (which I saved to my computer last May, but am only posting now), we see how she changed by stages between 2006 and 2010. She started out as a pretty but unexceptional young woman with ethnic features. Then the breasts get noticeably larger, the nose gets a bit narrower, and the thick lips are thinned. (Instead of being happy with her fashionable Angelina Jolie-type thick lips she was moving in the opposite direction.) Presumably her buttocks and perhaps her hips were also being enhanced to create the extreme hourglass figure.

At this point she has been much changed, and is quite pretty, yet she still looks like a normal young woman. But that was not enough for Kardashian. As long as it still seemed that her face was a product of nature and heredity and had normal imperfections, she had not achieved her goal, which was that her face would be, and would seem to be, the product of nothing but her own will. At that time, which appears to be in late 2009 or 2010, her nose was radically thinned, and something was done with her eyes, making it look as though her cheeks went up in a smooth plane right to her lower eyelid, so that the normal bulge or curve of the lower eyeball/eyelid no longer appeared. This made her eyes appear as if they were cut out of her face, or as though she were a cat, a cat from Pharaonic Egypt. At this point she looked entirely artificial, but also, in a strange way, perfect, cosmetically perfect, consummately sleek. Especially with the radical thinning of her nose, her face was no longer the face she had inherited from her parents, it was a face that had been sculpted by herself. This is what she had been seeking. She had achieved her aim. Her face was now the product of her own desire and vision. Even her facial expression was changed in the post-2009 photographs, showing complete composure, self-satisfaction, self-assurance. She had fufilled the liberal (and Randian) ideal, which is to be self-created, not determined by forces—such as nature, heredity, ethnicity—that are outside of and alien to one’s will. She was now godlike, the master/mistress of herself.

- end of initial entry -

Kidist Paulos Asrat writes:

Well done, Larry. :-)

You beat me to it! I had an article on Kim Kardashian in my files, and I was going to do just what you did.

One of the points I was going to make is that she is getting all sleeked out, as you say, but she still wants to follow something of the contemporary pop culture, namely the black-centric obsession of many non-black pop stars.

For example, Kardashian keeps getting married to, and divorcing, and having affairs with, black or mulatto men.

I think that related to this is her huge behind, which I think she has had surgically enhanced.

So, today’s young women are a mish-mash of their designs, picking from what they think are the reigning images and groups.

Kidist continues:

Here she is in a blonde wig for Halloween with her black “captain” boyfriend.

Mermaids don’t have to be blonde.

Even the popular cartoon mermaid in The Little Mermaid was a redhead.

Also, one thing that got me to plan a post on Kim Kardashian was her “Asiatic” eyes. I kept thinking it must be her Armenian/Asian background—her father is Armenian. I think you figured it out that it is the cosmetic surgery that gives her “cat eye” look!

But, I’m sure if I looked at past photos, as I planned to do, I would have come across her younger look.

Look how much prettier, and younger, she looks in the 2008 photo compared to the 2010, and only a two year difference. And in the 2006 photo compared to the 2010.

Joe S. writes:

Kim Kardashian had work on her face but it’s not clear she had work on her body. The only picture you show where her breasts are noticeably smaller is from when she was in her mid-teens. And there is an infamous sex tape of her from 2003, nine years ago, well before any of her facial work was done, where her body looks much the same as it does today.

Rick Darby writes:

I’ve heard the name Kim Kardashian for several years and still don’t know who she is—model? Actress? Professional celebrity?

Anyway … what’s wrong with using modern technology to reshape one’s body? Is it different in principle from choosing clothing with the goal of looking more attractive? From women wearing makeup or getting their hair styled?

Sure, aesthetic surgery can be carried to grotesque extremes, just as fashion can. The results can be off-putting, or they can be a boon to a person’s attractiveness. (I suppose I should add here that I have never had any kind of elective surgery.) But some people feel very bad about their body or features. There are those who cannot stand to look at themselves in the mirror.

Concern for personal appearance may be superficial compared with the importance of our souls, but I think God permits us to have some tolerance for human weakness (or vanity if you prefer). If a few hours in a surgeon’s office can give someone more self-respect, where’s the harm?

LA replies:

Rick,

Is this a parody or serious?

Larry

Rick Darby replies:

I am serious. It’s not about KK, it’s about the principle. Publish it and bash it if you want.

November 1

LA writes:

Kidist Paulos Asrat has further observations on the Kim Kardashian phenomenon.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 29, 2012 11:38 AM | Send