Baby Kimye

In this week's TOW, Hadley Freeman wrote a biting "letter" to "Kimye," aka Kanye West's and Kim Kardashian's future baby, in which she gave advice for growing up in such a materialistic and egomaniacal world. Interestingly enough, Freeman writes for The Guardian, a British newspaper, when  Kim and Kanye are primarily American "royalty." In fact, her outsider's perspective may have been the driving factor in shaping the piece, as it enabled her to criticize the lifestyles of Hollywood celebrities today and lend the work the tone of absolute disgust. In a world where TMZ and In Touch Weekly devote so much time and energy gossiping over potential names and outfits for the baby-to-be, Freeman manages to question why the world cares by mocking the genre of "trashy" tabloids thematically.

Her article is set up as an open letter to the future baby, as if the baby can read it within Kim's womb to prepare for its entrance into the world of fame and fortune. This format is explained very clearly by Freeman, who writes, "The open letter is a crucial part of the British journalist's arsenal, only deployed in the most arrogant of tones and for the most important of issues, such as when a journalist does not like a director's recent filmor when the journalist is concerned about Kate Middleton's diet. So feel the validation here, Baby Kimye." She continues each paragraph by discussing the baby's tabloid-dubbed name and its reflection of the parents' selfishness, the low-class drama that follows around Kanye and the Kardashian klan, and her expectations for the birth of the baby to be televised on E! for the sake of entertainment. Moreover, each observation of the family is followed by lines of praise towards the baby and its family, although this praise is very clearly ironic and meant to show the faults of others for worshipping these "talentless" people. 

Freeman ends her letter by writing, "Kimye, you are no mere baby. You are the climactic epitome of all that US culture has been headed towards for the past 20 years, combining as you do reality TV, musical talent, fame with no talent, famous for being famous, celebrity, the debasing of hip-hop, a bottomless need for attention, sex tapes, hip-hop, bad fashion, Twitter, Instagram, tmz.com, the E! channel and OJ Simpson. You are America's Golden Child, Kimye. We bow before you." I sincerely think there are no more insulting words towards the vanity of Hollywood's stars and their worshipping public, and the use of words such as "culture" and "America's Golden Child" only highlight the disappointment Freeman has in the modern world. 

I occasionally enjoy watching KUWtK, as I find it entertaining to watch the mayhem of such a superficial lifestyle, but after reading this I realize that even watching the show as a joke is feeding the public image and hype over these people, and I have made a resolution to stop caring about this poor baby, except to recognize the tragedy of having to grow up with these selfish people as parents. For that, I think that this "letter" was very effective in accomplishing its purpose.