[On June 17th, 1994, O.J. Simpson was arrested by the LAPD. The subsequent trial featured a number of individuals whose stories have a great deal to tell us about America, then, now, and overall, so this week I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of Simpson trial figures. Leading up to a special weekend post from one of my favorite young AmericanStudiers!]
On how the
trial shaped two forms of celebrity culture, and an important alternative.
The OJ
trial was such a media circus (to the point that the very phrase “media
circus” has become almost synonymous with these events) that it not only
featured a celebrity client and celebrity defense attorney (both of which I
wrote about in yesterday’s post), but also spawned a number of additional celebrities.
There’s plenty of competition for which was the nuttiest—a list that includes
the judge, for crying out loud—but I would have to declare OJ’s vagabond houseguest
Kato Kaelin as the winner of that bizarre contest. I don’t know if Kato was
the first person in American history to become and remain famous
for being famous, with absolutely no discernible talents or achievements
beyond the fame itself. But he most definitely exemplified that trend at a
still-early period in its development—and given the ways in which over the subsequent
three decades the genre
of reality TV has created an entire cottage industry dedicated to producing
countless more such famous-for-being-famous individuals and communities,
it’s fair to say that no legacy of the OJ trial was more culturally significant
than that of Kato Kaelin’s bizarre yet inarguable celebrity status.
I don’t
think any 21st century individuals better exemplify that famous-for-being-famous
trend than do the Kardashians, and it’s thus far from a coincidence that that
family’s rise to fame likewise began with the OJ trial. Entrepreneur and attorney
Robert
Kardashian wasn’t just a longtime friend of OJ Simpson’s who became part of
his defense team; he was also a thoroughly private citizen who through those
contexts and events became one of that moment’s most public
and famous figures. Or, more exactly and even more tellingly, whose own
fleeting such fame in 1994-5 helped open the door for multi-generational familial
fame over the subsequent decades, for his ex-wife Kris Houghton (formerly Kardashian)
(now Jenner) and their four children (Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian)
to become one of the 21st century’s most wealthy and influential
media empires (I wish that felt more like hyperbole than it does). Individual
fame like Kato Kaelin’s is striking but relatively powerless; Kardashian-level
fame brings with it a great deal of 21st
century power.
That final
hyperlink is to Kim Kardashian’s podcast
The System, which highlights the case of a wrongfully-accused and
-incarcerated individual (Kevin Keith) in an effort to change the criminal
justice system more broadly. When it comes to this week’s blog subject, obviously
there are complicated OJ trial echoes around the phrase “wrongfully accused,”
although I genuinely don’t imagine Kim is making that connection. But I would
also highlight one of the more striking
individual scenes from The People v. O.J. Simpson, depicting Robert
Kardashian (David Schwimmer) at a Father’s Day brunch with his four kids.
Kardashian’s fame is on the rise and his kids are excited, but he instructs them that “in
this family, being a good person and a loyal friend is more important than
being famous. Fame is fleeting, it’s hollow. It means nothing at all without a
virtuous heart.” Of course the moment (a fictional one created by the show’s
writers) feels deeply ironic given what would go to happen to those four kids.
But I would argue that Kim’s podcast reflects the continued presence of this
alternative possibility, for this family and for all of us—not one that opposes
fame or celebrity per se (they will always be part of our society), but one in
which meaningful actions remain more important than fame.
Last
figure tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What
do you think? Simpson trial figures or stories you’d highlight?
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