14 DAY TRIAL // Until not long ago, the only couple or, better yet, triangle that could hold the headlines even after more than a dozen covers with the same photo came out was that made of Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and ex-wife Jennifer Aniston. The fact that a simple family with no “education” in the ways of stardom could actually become one of the hottest phenomenons of this year (with no hope of dying out too soon either), Jon and Kate Gosselin, stands as proof of the fact that the media does, indeed, create monsters, Vanity Fair says.
The iconic magazine has set out to the impressive task of taking a closer look at what exactly makes Jon and Kate so big. Of course, it fails to provide a definite answer – but it also manages to offer what must be the first thorough analysis of a cultural phenomenon that continues to sell like hot cakes. We all know the Gosselins, of course, but what we might sometime overlook is that they get more media coverage than the Jolie-Pitt couple, make more money than respectable actors and singers, and, furthermore, show no signs of going away anytime soon.
Jon and Kate, either together or separately, are doing media rounds like others would do a business meeting. Their public divorce and their even more public dispute over money might shock many and comes accompanied by countless exclamations of “woe me!” from either side, but the truth of the matter is that every step is carefully planned and thought through beforehand. This is entertainment in its highest – and latest – form, the kind that spans more than one platform and, at the same time, the kind that makes the big bucks flow in.
“How did Kate Gosselin become a reality superstar? What perfect storm made ‘Jon and Kate’ this year’s tabloid obsession?” Vanity Fair asks, knowing too well that, when they started with the TLC reality show, the two were nothing different from a regular married couple that simply happened to have eight kids running around. The answer is complex, although obvious, as several media representatives also point out, some of whom have also been taken by surprise by how quickly it blew out of proportions.
“It surprised the hell out of me. Watching a woman push a wagonful of kids up the street is just not interesting to me. But then when it started to unravel, it became interesting in a different way.” TMZ honcho Harvey Levin says in the VF piece. Ginia Bellafante, a TV critic at The New York Times, agrees. “It became a show that was completely suited to a multi-platform world. You can’t just watch ‘Jon & Kate’ on television and understand it anymore. You have to participate in it on all these different levels – tabloids, news shows, talk shows, the blogosphere. ‘Jon & Kate’ became unintentionally brilliant because it demanded so much other consumption to find out what was ‘real.’”
Even if some predict the demise of the “Jon & Kate” phenomenon in the near future, it could very well turn out that this is far from happening, Vanity Fair further argues. See here for the full piece.