‘The Kardashians’ on Hulu and the future of ‘keeping up’

Kris Jenner makes a solemn warning in the pilot of the new “The Kardashians” reality show: “Never go against the family.”

It’s a motto that has kept the six stars of Hulu’s new reality show (now streaming weekly) – matriarch Kris Jenner, 66, and daughters Kim Kardashian, 41, Kourtney Kardashian, 42, Khloé Kardashian, 37, Kendall Jenner, 26, and Kylie Jenner, 24 – dominant forces in the celebrity world for years. The women of the Kardashian empire have grown into their fame since their first series, E!’s “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” premiered 15 years ago.

“The term ‘famous for being famous’ was really invented for the Kardashians and specifically for Kim Kardashian,” says Christina Binkley, a longtime journalist covering the business of culture. “It’s vaguely insulting: ‘Famous for being famous’ means you haven’t really done anything to earn your fame … But I think it’s gone beyond that. They’re certainly famous for a lot more than ‘being famous’ now.”

Now, as they transition into a new show a decade and a half after we first met them, the Kardashians remain more relevant than many detractors would care to admit.

“Their reach is unstoppable,” says Holly Baird, a crisis management and branding expert. “You can’t open a magazine, go online or watch TV without hearing a reference of the Kardashians.”

Sure, they became famous for being famous, but they’ve parlayed that fame into myriad business ventures and a celebrity empire that has already endured for longer than many in the spotlight.

Ultimately, “The Kardashians” is a vessel to promote their varied and lucrative businesses and their flagship storyline: No matter the drama, controversy or criticism, the family is an unwavering unit. And that Kardashian kinship reigns supreme in the new series, providing a continued inside look into their lives in a time when they’ve scaled back on some of the public antics that made them household names.

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How the definition of ‘keeping up’ has evolved

The way we’ve kept up with the Kardashians through the years has changed – namely how the digital age has shaped the volume and pace of our celebrity news – but that doesn’t make their new reality show obsolete or behind the times. It makes it more interesting.

When “KUWTK” debuted in 2007, it made sense as a way to ignite their stardom. Twitter was in its infancy, Instagram was still three years away and TikTok wasn’t even a song by Ke$ha yet, let alone a social media platform.

Now, the Kardashians hold some of the biggest social media follower counts in the world. As the show evolved, so did the ways fans kept track of their lives. Rather than waiting for the latest episode, followers knew what Kim and co. were up to in real time through posts and stories.

That changed in 2016, when Kim was robbed at gunpoint in a Paris hotel room. She’s since said the traumatizing incident upended her entire social-media strategy: Safety trumped constant fan connections.

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Others have adopted a more selective social process, too. Kendall rarely makes public appearances or comments about her personal life and Kylie has gone through two pregnancies – the former quietly, when she suddenly revealed her daughter Stormi’s birth.

But even when the Kardashians aren’t posting, there’s plenty to be said about them. Tabloids, gossip purveyors and must-know celebrity accounts such as celebrity gossip Instagram account @deuxmoi – a New York-based woman who has remained anonymous while amassing more than 1.4 million Instagram followers – and fan parodies such as @norisblackbook – a tongue-in-cheek satire account posing as Kim and Ye’s daughter, North West – keep the conversations going.

It seems a week can’t go by without a headline about Kim and Pete Davidson, Kourtney and Travis Barker or Kylie, Travis Scott and their new baby.

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Those relationships have helped keep the family relevant, argues Natalie Franklin, the mastermind behind @norisblackbook. Franklin’s account, which boasts 1.5 million followers, is so well known among fans that the Kardashians dedicated an episode to “investigating” who ran it, and even welcomed Franklin on the show.

“The Kardashians have done a good job of … getting into these high-profile relationships so there’s visibility,” says Franklin, 35. “And then anything they do will get picked up by tabloids. And then by the time all that bubbles to the surface, the show premieres. This is the formula they’ve captured throughout all these years that seems to keep them in the news cycle and on the brain.”

As does the show, which offers the family “more money, more overall growth and brand visibility,” Baird notes. Between Skims, Kylie Cosmetics, Good American, 818 Tequila, Poosh, Safely and other Kardashian brands, the new show offers a behind-the-scenes peek at “the empire that can be built by an influencer,” as Binkley describes it.

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Kardashian controversies: cultural appropriation, Ye’s social media, more

Beyond the guise of privacy the family claims, there are other controversial reasons for their more strategic sharing. The Kardashians are no strangers to backlash, be it for tone-deaf comments (remember Kim’s viral “nobody wants to work these days” quote?), excessive Photoshopping and cultural appropriation.

Their power in the fashion world is undeniable, though the Kardashians’ influence on beauty standards is complicated. “Most women of color don’t tend to jump on the Kardashian bandwagon and (tend to) sidestep their attempts to market their ‘curves’ to those that were born with them,” Baird says.

Kim’s larger behind and Kylie’s oversized lips – both of which fans swear have been shrinking as of late – are beauty ideals often associated with and set by Black women, though the Kardashians largely get credit (and criticism) for appropriating those features and making them an American beauty standard.

“There’s a bigger issue with Black women not getting the recognition,” says Franklin. “Should the Kardashians be giving that (recognition)? Probably. When Kim gets called out for (wearing) braids, maybe don’t call them Bo Derek braids – call them Fulani braids.”

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That appropriation goes beyond beauty standards into the family’s business practices. Kim apologized for originally naming her shapewear brand “Kimono,” and Kendall faced backlash over her 818 Tequila brand.

The Kardashians are skilled at the art of being just open enough about issues they can discuss on their own terms when criticisms build high enough. See: when Khloé addressed fans calling her out for plastic surgery and photo editing.

Kim has also spoken out about her ex-husband Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and his public social media outbursts about disdain for their divorce, Kim’s new boyfriend Davidson, and the way their children use social media. (As beneficial as their romantic relationships can be for fueling publicity, they can also cause major PR headaches.)

“I’d rather my family not comment on someone that’s not really a part of the show. It’s difficult enough to go through personal things, and I just love that I have the support of my family, always,” Kim told USA TODAY. “But Kanye and I are always family also, and there’s a lot of love there. No matter what, we’re all supportive and all just have a lot of love for him.”

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Keeping up with the legacy

The Kardashians’ staying power in Hollywood is unmatched. This new show helps them solidify their reign, remaining in the zeitgeist while giving fans the chance to feel like they’re getting the inside scoop as the ever-busy family plots their next moves.

Will we still be keeping up with them in 20 years? Likely to some degree, Binkley predicts. They’re experts in finding new ways to keep fans watching. Even when the core six get tired (Kendall in particular is already leaning out of the spotlight), there’ll be a new generation to follow (looking at you, North West).

“Considering the number of years that the world has been fascinated with the Kardashians, I feel like we’ll see them growing gray and walking with walkers,” Binkley says. “That’s kind of bizarre if you think about this incredible longevity that they’ve had. We used to talk about how stars were getting too much attention, that they had to not be in the public’s consciousness every single day or we would get sick of them. But somehow that rule does not apply. There’s no ability for the Kardashians to be overexposed.”

No matter what the future of Kardashians fame looks like, they have been able to endure in the pop culture realm through scandals old and new, including the current lawsuit they’re facing from brother Rob Kardashian’s ex Blac Chyna, because of their tight knit family.

Khloé told USA TODAY the secret to their enduring legacy is “always being united.”

“We’re more powerful in numbers,” she said. “We’re stronger together and not letting anything divide what we are, and that’s family, at the end of the day. It can get really diluted and murky easily if you allow the outside voices or outside players to want to try to break us up, but you can’t break this monarchy up.”

Contributing: Charles Trepany