The Price ain't right

Last updated 08:50 27/11/2009

Consider, if you will, the entity known as Jordan.  Jordan shows off her lingerie rangeDepending upon which particular lens you view her through, and this is surely the way she should be seen, you could argue that she is a brilliant manipulator of her own public image or she's just a voracious attention seeker who simply cannot stop doing things in front of people.

I became aware of Jordan, aka Katie Price, in the nineties while living in England, during which time I would sometimes indulge in admittedly blokish but also quite funny lad mag, Loaded.  At that stage Jordan had already graduated from a newsprint "Page Three Stunna!" to a glossy magazine covergirl with enormous fake boobs who skited about how much she liked sex, which in a magazine like Loaded is to be expected, I suppose. 

Personally, I've always been highly suspicious of people who go out of their way to announce how much they enjoy "making the beast with two backs".  You may as well go on record as saying that you take perverse delight in ingesting nutrition via the medium of food, like, EVERY DAY, or that you're totally addicted to inhaling a cocktail of nitrogen and oxygen.  It's like you can't live without it.  Let's be clear, most of humanity is more or less obsessed with sex.  Pretty much EVERYONE enjoys it on some level, apart from those who haven't tried it yet and for them there's always the Twilight films to fill the gap, so can we just take it as a given please?

Now where was I? Ah yes, Jordan.  So naturally it was only a matter of time before she segued from having an amazing rack to getting knocked up by a premier league footballer (Dwight Yorke in this case).  So far, so cliched.  But Jordan didn't stop there.  She went all the way with appearances on reality TV shows, "writing" THREE autobiographies in the space of five years, a couple of "novels", and topping it off with marriage to a one-hit wonder popstar.  All while wearing some quite "wacky" outfits and enough spray tan to keep a high school full of emos looking "healthy".

Whatever else you may think about her, you certainly can't deny that she is driven.  Mind you, you could also say that about someone with OCD.  Is Jordan's ceaseless self-promotion and media saturation the carefully orchestrated plan of a savvy businesswoman or does she just not know when to stop?  I don't doubt that Jordan knows that her public persona is a caricature, what I'm not sure about is if the caricature is actually an accurate portrait. 

Friedrich Nietzsche once said "when you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks into you" which I think is supposed to make reference to the frightening deeps and darkness inherent in the human psyche, and that prolonged exposure to such can bring up the stuff in ourselves that we wish weren't there, or would prefer to hide.  But is the opposite also true?  If you gaze vacantly at the vacuous and the shallow, does the shallow give you an "up and down" over the top of its designer sunglasses, and suggest a makeover?

While I give Jordan credit for marketing herself, ahem, up the wazoo I strongly suspect that she's got a real problem with fame.  That this is what defines her, but that it will never be enough.  You do have to question the priorities of someone who dumps their boyfriend on telly and then won't speak to him about it until a film crew can get there.  That ain't right. 

The thing is, I continue to be sort of fascinated by Jordan.  I really do think she should just go home and try and be normal for a while but for that to happen people like me would have to stop paying attention to her (not to mention writing blog posts), so you see my (or her) problem.

So what's your take on Jordan/Katie Price?  Is she a brilliant media puppetmaster, or is she just a better than average attention-seeker?  Is there a difference?  Is all this reality television turning us into a society of individuals with hidden shallows?  Or if you prefer to approach this with a soupçon of whimsy, what might be the next chapter in the ghost-written, trashy novel that is her life?

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Picture: Reuters

75 comments
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Thalia   #1   09:01 am Nov 27 2009

I think perhaps she is the definition of Mental? Pretty sure its a combination of manipulator/attention seeker because lets face it shes just a woman with enormous fake tits without all the rubbish she pulls. It validates her as a person. Which is a bit pathetic.

As for reality TV it doesn't really float my boat I like the cooking ones.. at least you learn new things from that, perhaps its just a commentary of the decline of society?

I think the next thing in the dramedy of Katie Price aka Jordan is a lesbian episode... unless shes already done this and I don't know about it..

Geoff   #2   09:18 am Nov 27 2009

So, basically another one of these manufactured "famous" people who are famous for nothing more than being famous. She hasn't done anything of note, so other than being a clothes horse why do we "society" keep pandering to her desire to suck the fame out of everything around her?

Muppie   #3   09:28 am Nov 27 2009

She'll start her own church/cult, and convince people that she is their "Spiritual Aunty".

sher   #4   09:30 am Nov 27 2009

All I can say is nice rack.

Thalia   #5   09:38 am Nov 27 2009

@Muppie #3 oo yes I didn't think of that one... she and King Brian should team up and do their own version of jonesville.

Thalia   #6   09:39 am Nov 27 2009

hrm Jonestown even.. silly me.

mybobthedestroyer   #7   09:51 am Nov 27 2009

Who cares?

Dandy   #8   10:10 am Nov 27 2009

Skanky does not equal sexy, unless you are a 14yr old boy, when really, pretty much anything vaguely female equals sexy...

Man I hate turning into a grown-up...

JeM   #9   10:13 am Nov 27 2009

I love trash tv, dodgy mags and Paris Hilton. But Jordan is a bit of a dork to me. I saw her on Chelsea Handler the other day. CH took the p*ss out of her big time and Jordan just continued being her normal idiot famewh*re self. It was cringeworthy to watch.

I also thought it was terrible of her to leave her special needs son (to another man) with Peter Andre when she fled to the States when they split up. Good on PA for taking on another dudes special needs child when the mum disappears to go seek attention.

Ben   #10   10:16 am Nov 27 2009

Never heard of her and now I have I shall try and forget it.


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