Critics reframed Kardashian’s self-promotion as legitimate artistic capitalism

Evidence

This reappraisal reached its zenith in April 2015 with the publication of Selfish, a 448-page Rizzoli collection of Kim’s selfies. This made her, critics argued, akin to an artist. Slate’s Laura Bennett called the book “riveting,” describing Kim as “someone who has spent her life devising elaborate ways to get herself seen.” The Atlantic’s Megan Garber took it further, proclaiming that Kim had invented, “in her way, a new strain of capitalism. Its currency is the selfie…. There is, say what else you will about it, something admirable, and refreshing, in that.” — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 373

Categorization

• SEED: The ‘selfie capitalism’ framing is a provocative inversion of the sellout narrative — a possible angle for the reader’s counter-argument that the era’s signature is a collapse of the line between self-commodification and art.
• ADDENDUM: Relates to the ‘On Sacrifice’ article in that both deal with how cultural elites legitimize what was previously condemned — though here it’s self-commodification rather than ritual. Weaker tie; mostly the article is about ritual.