At this point, everyone has either seen or at least heard of Kim Kardashian’s latest controversial magazine cover. Her recent photo shoot has caused a great deal of buzz, making its way through every possible social media outlet. It’s safe to say that if you have a Twitter, Instagram or Facebook account, then you’ve probably caught a glimpse of Kim bearing it all on the cover of December’s issue of Paper Magazine, along with the caption “Break The Internet.”
There have been a number of photographs released from Kim’s shoot with Paper, all of which were shot by iconic photographer Jean-Paul Goude. Goude wanted to re-create a photo he took in 1976 using model Carolina Beaumont. In the photo, he instructed Beaumont to balance a champagne glass on her bottom while cracking open a bottle of champagne and having the bubbly liquid digitally altered so it soars over her head and cascades into the glass behind her. Interestingly enough, he instructed Kim to remodel the same pose, 38 years later. This fact that Kim is capturing an unoriginal idea is said to appropriately coincide with her talent—in the sense that she has none. She is merely standing in the shadows of someone who has perfected the same pose years before her.
However, Kim’s champagne photo isn’t the image that’s garnered the most attention. People have been talking about another picture taken on the same day: one where she has slipped off her dress and is holding onto the garment daintily, revealing her entire bare backside, with her head looking directly back at the camera.
Now, I’ll let you be the judge as to whether or not this was a smart move for a new mother (Kim is a mom to five-month-old daughter North West). Glee star Naya Rivera certainly doesn’t seem to think so. When Kim posted this nude picture of herself on Instagram, Rivera commented on it saying, “I normally don’t. But…you’re someone’s mother…” In contrast to Rivera, others have argued that posing like this is simply normal for Kim – it’s her line of work (for example, she has posed nude for Playboy multiple times, beginning in 2007).
Kim didn’t stop here, though. Yet another image surfaced, this one featuring the celebrity posing in all her full-frontal glory. Although this image was obviously censored through media outlet publications, the uncensored version made its rounds through the Internet. Kim certainly didn’t leave much to the imagination.
The best element that has come out of Kim’s scandalous photos (besides, of course, hearing the thoughts and feelings of other celebrities) is the memes that have been created on Kim’s behalf. It seems like everyone has been altering Kim’s pictures in some way or another. I’ve seen one image where Kim’s bottom has been substituted for an emoji of a peach, another where her head has been swapped with husband Kanye Wests and one more still where her bum has been placed on an image of Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars (a personal favorite).
Regardless of your thoughts of Kim’s latest cover, one thing seems certain: she has definitely broken the Internet.
