MJ Corey wouldn’t define herself as a fan of the Kardashians. It’s perhaps a confusing point for those who take a quick glimpse at her social media platforms, which are dedicated to expounding incidents of Kar-Jenner lore – from Kim wearing Marilyn Monroe’s dress at the 2022 Met Gala to Kendall’s backward cucumber cutting – to a following of 230,000 across Instagram and TikTok. Going by the moniker Kardashian Kolloquium, it’s a folly Corey has been on the receiving end of many times before, with the famous family’s virulent hater-base regularly jumping at the chance to tell the writer, media theorist and cultural commentator all the reasons they don’t deserve her attention. 

But Corey’s approach to the Kardashians is more forensic than fanlike. Using the family as her prism, she analyses what their exponential rise from reality TV underdogs to global powerhouses can tell us about how the modern media landscape works, and how the Kardashians have deployed specific tools to build a sprawling empire within it. Now, Corey has compiled and set down her findings in a new book titled Dekonstructing The Kardashians: A New Media Manifesto.

In book’s first part, Corey unpacks the history of western media using case studies from Disney to Marilyn Monroe to Paris Hilton (she revisits Kim’s early proximity to Hilton at a time where fame was increasingly based on visibility rather than ‘talent’ – a shift which provided a roadmap for her career to come). In part two, Corey unpacks Kardashian lore, using well-known touchpoints like Kim’s sex tape, the launch of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the Paris robbery, the rise of Kimye, and much more to construct her multi-layered answer to the question of how the Kardashians got to be so famous in the first place, and what that means for us now. 

Here, we sit down with Corey to hear more about why she’s chosen to study the Kardashians, the core tenets of the ‘new media manifesto’ and what the rise of the Kardashians says about us as consumers. 

What went into the decision to write this book now?

MJ Corey: There were a few answers. There was an organic aspect – it happened randomly when a roommate put on Keeping Up With The Kardashians around 2018. I sat down to watch, and it struck me. I began documenting a self-study of media theory and postmodernism. But the Kardashian Kolloquium project really took off in 2020 when I joined TikTok. The algorithm sent my work far and wide and I went viral. At that time, the Kim-Kanye marriage was dissolving, and people were captivated by it, even as they claimed the Kardashians were ‘over’. In my experience, they hadn’t been that viral since 2014 or 2015. 

That led to writing opportunities and eventually a book deal. It coincided with a shift from the Instagram era to a more algorithm-driven TikTok era. Since the Kardashians reflect how the media functions, it made sense that my work would grow in the 2020s. So it was both organic and strategic – very Kardashian-like. 

What was the process of writing the book like? Did you have a clear plan, or did it evolve as you went? 

MJ Corey: I always intended to write about the Kardashians the way we might from the future – looking at them with distance. By the late 2020s, culture had shifted enough to allow that kind of analysis. People became more ready to situate their influence meaningfully rather than react emotionally. 

During the proposal, I realised the book needed to triangulate media history, theory and Kardashian history. That was intimidating and I struggled with writer’s block. What unlocked it was an out-of-print encyclopedia structured around people, places and things that shaped American culture. I realised Kim is a postmodern icon reflecting culture through images and references, so the book should mirror that structure. 

Was there anything that surprised you while writing? 

MJ Corey: Some things I’d noticed on social media were validated through deeper research, especially patterns in how the Kardashians sequence events and narratives. For example, in the Skims chapter, there’s a sequence of tweets and lawsuits leading up to the launch that demonstrates deliberate narrative construction. It reinforced the idea that they’re masters of storytelling. I was also struck by how carefully Kim chooses her conflicts. The Taylor Swift feud felt more curated than I’d realised. Meanwhile, she avoids conflict with Rihanna, a direct competitor. 

On a personal level, writing the book changed my relationship to the media. I became more cynical about how engagement requires selling parts of yourself. That’s something I’m still grappling with.

You start the book by saying ‘the family as a media machine can hold a rather psychoanalytic mirror to the rest of us – the onlookers they titillate, outrage, and engage.’ What do you think the rise of the Kardashians says about us as consumers? 

MJ Corey: They tap into fundamental human anxieties – race, sex, death – core aspects of being alive. They also provoke us to locate our boundaries. We’re drawn to test what’s acceptable. The Kardashians generate engagement by pushing that line. It shows that we’re easily outraged, easily intrigued, and responsive to primal stimuli. 

Media has also moved closer to us. We’ve gone from consuming memes to becoming them – performing ourselves online. The boundary between consumer and content has eroded. 

You frame the book as a ‘new media manifesto’ – what are the core ideas you hope readers take away from that? 

MJ Corey: Kim Kardashian is a useful emblem of a media landscape where everything is aggregated and recycled. Algorithms fracture identity and social cohesion. We understand the world through images and slogans while becoming more disconnected in material life. It validates postmodernist concerns about hyperreality – where we relate to each other through representations rather than reality. We need to be conscious of how life and identity are commodified. 

Kim was positioned as an outsider compared to Paris Hilton – shorter, [darker skin], ‘new money.’ That framing allowed her to embody the American Dream narrative of upward mobility

What is it about the Kardashians that highlights the state of the contemporary media landscape more so than any other prism you might look through? 

MJ Corey: I could have studied WWE or Disney – they operate similarly. But the Kardashians are people, which makes them easier to engage with. They’re intuitive early adopters of new media. Like Walt Disney embracing television, they embraced social media early and understood how to use it, especially by selling their image. They also mastered ambiguity early on. Kris Jenner demonstrated this during the OJ trial era, making statements that engage with issues without taking clear positions. That strategy scaled across their careers. 

Writing this book marks a shift in the way you’ve previously shared your thoughts on the Kardashians, which so far has primarily been via the Kardashian Kolloquium’s social media channels. How has this shift impacted your practice? 

MJ Corey: I was always a writer, but social media forced me into compressed, curated formats. Writing the book was what I’d always wanted – long-form, immersive work. Initially I felt rusty, but eventually I found my rhythm again. The challenge now is shifting back. Writing the book required total immersion – 12-hour days, in isolation. Coming back to social media feels like re-entering the world. 

There’s also tension: I critique commodification of the self, but participating in media is necessary to succeed as a writer. I’m still figuring out how to navigate that ethically. 

How much of the Kardashians’ success is down to strategy, and how much is down to opportunism?

MJ Corey: It’s both. Early on, there was more organic adaptation – something would happen, they’d use it as content, then refine it into strategy. Now, it’s much more systematised. There’s too much money and infrastructure for it not to be. What’s fascinating is how their system – where reality becomes capital – shapes their actual lived experience. 

You speak about the role of Kim’s ‘underdog construct’ in her rise. Can you tell us a bit more about this? 

MJ Corey: The underdog archetype is central to many American icons. Kim was positioned as an outsider compared to Paris Hilton – shorter, [darker skin], ‘new money.’ That framing allowed her to embody the American Dream narrative of upward mobility. Even now, she uses it, like positioning herself as an outsider in business with Skims. We’re drawn to these narratives. Watching someone struggle and rise creates emotional engagement. It’s psychologically satisfying. 

In the book, you analyse how the Kardashians have capitalised off nostalgia throughout their career. How do you view the relationship between the Kardashians and responding to cultural trends versus creating them? 

MJ Corey: Nostalgia is a coping mechanism in an uncomfortable media moment. They use familiarity with a twist – something recognisable but slightly new. Kim herself is an amalgamation of past cultural references. That balance between familiarity and novelty is what makes content feel innovative. 

If you had to pick one moment where the Kardashians went from reality stars to bonafide global media icons, what would it be? 

MJ Corey: Around 2014 to 2015, during Kimye. The Met Gala, the Vogue cover – there was huge resistance, which became part of their mythology. Her Paris robbery also elevated her within high fashion. Fashion is one of her primary mediums and will likely define her legacy. 

In your view, is there a ‘post-Kardashian’ model of fame emerging already?

MJ Corey: Yes – more of a post-Instagram model. Fame is now fragmented. There are many micro-figures rather than singular dominant ones. The Kardashians are no longer at the forefront, they’re embedded in the background of this system. They’ve adapted, but they’re not defining it in the same way. There likely won’t be a single replacement figure. Instead, power may shift toward tech elites –  though the Kardashians are closely connected to them.

Dekonstructing the Kardashians is available now.