The Kardashians. (Credit : Facebook)
By Precious Haruna
You probably don’t know her by name or maybe you have never even heard of her, still, she made the list of the most notorious serial killers in the world and like most serial killers her reputation precedes her. She was a Hungarian noblewoman, a bluestocking and a psychopath. Her name is Elizabeth Bathory, it doesn’t ring a bell right? Trust me, you will be well acquainted with the bloody countess. She was fond of jamming pins and needles under the finger nails of her servant girls, she enjoyed biting off chunks of flesh from her victims, smearing them with honey and leaving them to be attacked by ants and bees. The highlight of her cruelty; Elizabeth allegedly believed that the human blood could retain her youth, health, beauty and yes, she bathed in the blood of her victims or so rumour has it.
Certain individuals, women specifically, seem to share the same opinion as the bloody countess. Serbian conceptual performer and grandmother of performance art, Marina Abramovic experiments with a facial treatment that allegedly rejuvenates the skin and slows down the aging process. Platelet Rich Plasma, PRP, otherwise known as the vampire facial or blood facial is a facial rejuvenation treatment that uses an individual’s plasma from his/her blood to stimulate collagen production and cell migration. This can be done by either using a microneedle or applying it directly which allows for the elimination of lines, folds and wrinkles. Marina uses this technique amongst others in confronting pain, blood and the physical limits of the body to preserve her youth.
Unbeknown to a lot of people, myself inclusive, reality TV star and Instagram enchantress, Kim Kardashian, is a die-hard fan of Marina and her rabid views pushed her a step further; she experimented with PRP and it turns out that the experiment didn’t really sit well with her. Now her sister, Kylie Jenner, seems to be pushing subtle cords on this treatment to make it gain acceptance, make it not so weird. The 24-year old billionaire and business mogul posed naked while covered in blood to promote her upcoming Halloween themed cosmetic line. She also made a spine-chilling commercial in collaboration with the horror franchise of Freddie Kruger for her upcoming cosmetic line, Nightmare on Elm Street. The very graphic video shows Kylie drenched in blood and in her most seductive state, exposing certain sensitive parts of her body as she basked in the blood bath.
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In my one opinion, this video carries an undertone, a subtle one but an undertone nevertheless and it seems to be strongly linked to the whole weird ideology of using blood to preserve ones youth. Although her pictures and commercial didn’t explicitly bear any relation to the vampire facial treatment, her mannerism and the setting of the commercial suggest some sort of connection to PRP. Pray, how? I’ll tell you. First, let me make a very brief analogy and then I will connect the invisible dots. Marina Abramovic experiments and testifies of the efficacy of this facial treatment. Kim, a true-blue tries it out and for reasons best known to her, she decides that she wouldn’t do it again, howbeit, her reluctance to try the treatment again was after she pushed for the treatment to be the new normal, after she made it look like an everyday facial routine, a not so disgusting act. Similarly, Kylie shows up covered in blood promoting a limited Halloween themed make-up line. Are the pieces starting to fit and make sense?
To me, the American entertainment industry is highly calculative. They don’t make hasty decisions that aren’t beneficial to them or promote ideologies that wouldn’t get worldwide acceptance. This move from the kardashians is not an impulsive or coincidental one. Kylie has a huge fan base, she is an influencer and whatever she says or does or even endorse makes strong waves across various social media platforms and as such her subtle suggestion will certainly encourage fashion crazed individuals to try out this facial treatment. The downside to this is that people may go about it the wrong way. So many things can go wrong, for starters, in a bid to preserve beauty or youth, people may go on a rampage; killing indiscriminately in order to get blood in mass for individuals who need it in large quantities. Howbeit, these are just assumptions, my assumptions to be precise and perhaps my assumptions and questions may go unanswered for eons but before you dismiss my candid opinion as baseless I implore you to think hard; sometimes the answers we seek are often right in front of us.
Haruna Precious Ikilama, is a student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
