In the opening credits of House of Kardashian, something about the propulsive classical score and collage of beaming childhood photos feels strangely familiar. As ten Kardashian-Jenners clad in identical double-denim all pose from inside a gold-gilded frame, their frozen beams set to a jaunty, string-heavy soundtrack, it dawns on me: Succession.
You can see why producers might’ve drawn this comparison with a family of almost exclusively unlikeable characters who seem to crave money and success above all else, and will go to almost any lengths to get it. On the other hand, we have the completely fictional Roy family.
Promising to shed unexplored light on “the most powerful female dynasty in history” (the ancient Chinese Zhou dynasty might have something to say about that one) House of Kardashian is yet another ‘tell-all’ documentary about one of the US’ most infamous celebrity families, but this time narrated by the family’s “inner-circle”. As it turns out, this apparently clued-up crew consists of Caitlyn Jenner, and a bunch of archive recordings from various other televised interviews with the likes of Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian. Since none of the Kardashian-Jenner family (apart from Caitlyn) agreed to be interviewed for this, we’re instead left with a fairly random coterie of various attorneys, talent agents, ex-nannies, supposed friends, one of Kanye West’s mates, and the controversial Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis.
It makes for fascinating, though incredibly depressing, viewing observing the different ways that these various interviewees seem to perceive the Kardashian clan. Male TV executives, talent agents, and sleazy wet t-shirt competition videographers all largely wax lyrical about how their fame represents some new frontier of feminism, and thirst over marriages and babies as yet more storyline fodder for the Kardashians’ reality empire. “Women were empowered! Women were liberated, finally!” declares Francis, shortly before claiming that women also “don’t have pubic hair anymore, which is awesome,” because of his notorious soft-porn show.
Unsurprisingly Caitlyn Jenner has the most insight to bring to the table, recalling Kris’ financial savvy, and the childrens’ struggles when the late Rob Kardashian (father to Kim, Kourtney Rob, and Khloe) successfully defended OJ Simpson in court. She talks openly and candidly about her experiences of gender dysphoria when she was still – as she puts it - Bruce Jenner, the all-American athlete, and being hounded and followed by gossip press as she first began her transition. Approaching more salacious subjects, such as the question of whether Kim and Kris deliberately leaked the former’s sex tape to land their reality show, Jenner’s default response is to claim that she was “down the golf course” and stayed out of it all.
Occasionally, some interviewees, most of them women, more accurately skewer the contradictions in a success story like this. The attorney Lisa Bloom, who represented Blac Chyna in her revenge porn case against Rob Kardashian, highlights the hypocrisy of the powerful family proudly supporting their brother while failing to recognise the obvious parallels between Chyna’s traumatic experiences, and Kim Kardashian’s own experiences of having a sex tape leaked without her consent. Rather than blaming the Kardashians or wider society for perpetuating misogyny, sexism and unattainable beauty standards, she argues that the two feed each other in a vicious cycle. Curiously, the documentary refrains from mentioning that, while Bloom is well-known for representing women in sexual harassment and abuse claims, she advised Harvey Weinstein - in other words, another complicated character.
At times, admittedly, I found myself feeling sorry for the Kardashians, listening to various hangers-on struggling to contain their fizzing excitement every time a new personal crisis presented yet another money-making oppurtunity. Several of the talking heads were clearly relishing a chance in the spotlight, but their ‘never-heard-before’ insights mostly amounted to unfounded speculation about the motives of people they seem to barely know.
And this is my biggest gripe with House of Kardashian – while it sets out to get to the bottom of the Kardashian-Jenner’s unbelievable grip on celebrity culture and social media, there’s little newness here. Cruicially, it largely shies away from acknowledging Caitlyn Jenner’s disdain for the ‘intolerant’ LGBTQ+ community and support of Donald Trump, Kanye West’s vile anti-semitism, and the true extent of the brutal murders OJ Simpson was found ‘not-guilty’ of - thanks to the legal defense of Rob Kardashian. These are either glossed over or omitted.
It’s a shame - unpicking these hypocrisies and double-truths more thoroughly might’ve bought some genuinely new insight to the table, but instead this feels like more of the same.
