TheGoldenChild

Famous for Being Famous

As Blatt suggested and the Times article explained, 1 Night in Paris wasn?t exactly the end of Paris Hilton?s life. ?Ms. Hilton tried to stop distribution of the tape, although its notoriety paradoxically catapulted her to an even higher orbit of fame, establishing her as a kind of postmodern celebrity, leading to perfume deals, a memoir, and the covers of Vanity Fair and W,? the Times wrote.

Because of U.S. Code 2257, the Kid Rock video will never be distributed without his permission. But what about Paris Hilton?s? According to the Times article, Paris Hilton receives profits from her sex tape. According to Blatt, ?There?s no way of putting out the DVD unless Paris Hilton signed off on it.? Without connecting the dots explicitly, Blatt hints that the second video of Paris and Rick Salomon, the better-quality version, was produced subsequently, with both parties? full cooperation, for mutual profit. ?Put it this way,? Blatt says, ?by looking at both tapes, I believe she?s aged somewhat since then, a different hair style, et cetera, more consistent with how she looked on [The Simple Life] than when she was 19.? (Ms. Hilton?s manager and agent were contacted several times to comment on this story but did not reply.)

Why would Paris Hilton allow the tape to be released? The easy supposition is that all people, even billionaire heiresses, like to make a little more money. The more complicated theory is that she needed something more important to her than money?celebrity. While Paris Hilton?s appearance on The Simple Life mocked her disconnection from the common folk, she seemed to share the common desire of reality TV participants for fame. With fame, the logic goes, comes more fame, as well as further appearances on TV, lines of print in the newspapers and tabloids, not to mention business opportunities, memoirs, and the like. The only thing shocking about that motivation is Paris Hilton?s apparent willingness to participate in her own public degradation. But then again, the payoff hasn?t been so bad, so maybe Paris is onto something. As Kevin Blatt might put it, the media loves this shit.

We talked about the fact that porn and reality TV can both be considered exploitative. Porn, he said, is moving more and more toward the model of reality TV. Staged reality is all the rage.It has been observed that people were once famous for their accomplishments but now tend to be famous because they?re famous. For most of us who lack the talent for achievements worthy of public notice, the easiest path to fame is through our own infamy and perhaps even humiliation. In that regard, reality TV is only too happy to provide an outlet. Appearances on Jeopardy may celebrate your intelligence, but an appearance on American Idol is more likely to celebrate your pathetic lack of talent. Then we get into shows like The Swan or Extreme Makeover, which celebrate your ugliness or deformity; The Biggest Loser, which celebrates your obesity; Black. White, which celebrates your racial ignorance; Cheaters, which celebrates your sordid infidelities; and Fear Factor, which celebrates your ability to endure extremes of grotesquerie and threat.

The further you?re willing to go, the more likely you will be famous. But, as Blatt says, ?Unless you?re Omarosa, nobody really remembers you once the show is over. Same thing with porn. Houston obviously made a lasting impression. She did shit no other porn star did.?

Blatt embraced the idea of going further than anyone else when he crossed over to the reality TV industry. His initial foray was as executive producer for a TV pilot called American Cannibal that promised to put contestants through a much more extreme version of anything seen before on Survivor or Fear Factor. For Blatt, the show represented a chance to push the limits of acceptable TV and gain the free publicity the media?s only too happy to provide.

Blatt?s ability to play the media game is bolstered by a winning charm that makes him hard not to like even as he describes the ins and outs of the porn industry. In conversation Blatt generally sounds like an unusually intelligent frat boy; occasionally he cackles like the perverted uncle at your cousin?s wedding. We talked about the fact that porn and reality TV can both be considered exploitative. Porn, he said, is moving more and more toward the model of reality TV. Staged reality is all the rage. Web sites that feature public voyeurism, amateurs having supposedly spontaneous sex, or professional porn stars dressing up like under-age teens are all highly popular. ?Is it right?? Blatt asks. ?No, but who am I to say one guy?s porn is disgusting? I?m a walking contradiction if I pass judgment on others. I don?t like what they do but under the law they have every right. A lot of porn I watch that?s deemed obscene by other people is nothing to me compared to eating cockroaches on Fear Factor.? Besides, he says, though kids hurt themselves in backyards imitating the faked reality of WWF wrestling, ?You don?t see people renting porn movies and coming home and then doing a flying anal.?

I asked him to explain the flying anal, but I?ll spare you the details. Some things are best left to the professionals.


The 24/7, 500-Channel, Reality-Based World

As for American Cannibal, Blatt says the production was more than he bargained for. The shoot took place in organizational chaos, a contestant was injured, and the pilot has yet to be picked up by any of the networks or cable channels. Blatt?s lawyers don?t want him to talk about any of it. Adding to his headaches, a documentary crew he allowed to follow him over the course of the project (in the interest of gaining more publicity) is releasing a documentary about reality TV that includes footage of Blatt?s production at this year?s Tribeca Film Festival. Although he says it seemed a good idea at the time, Blatt, who?s never found publicity he didn?t like, is now concerned he will be portrayed in a less than flattering light. In the meantime, he?s got a high school reunion to go to, and he?s nervous about how his old friends and teachers in Cleveland will view his chosen career. On the other hand, he?s looking forward to showing off his 21-year-old girlfriend. (As if to show me what his old high school buddies will be in for, Blatt later emailed me half a dozen nude photos of her, much to my surprise.)

But if Blatt, Paris Hilton, David Joseph, Rick Salomon, Houston, and all the other people in this morality tale are getting what they?ve always wanted?money, exposure, fame, and further opportunities for same?then what about the media? What?s in it for them? Why do the Los Angeles Times or the New York Times, not to mention the major networks, the cable news shows, and the assortment of news magazines and tabloids treat this stuff like news? Do they want to make Paris Hilton, Omarosa, or Houston famous? Why help Rick Salomon and David Joseph sell more DVDs? Is the media suckered, co-dependent or forced to be complicit in some dark Noam

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