Nothing says twenty-first-century contemporary America like the convergence of reality TV, a mass shooting, and instant celebrity. This is precisely the scene where poet Ben Fama’s first novel, If I Close My Eyes, begins. Enter Jesse Shore on his nineteenth birthday, while passing his gap year working retail in Manhattan, as he waits in line at Kim Kardashian’s book signing at 555 Fifth Avenue. Cameras are rolling as anti-fur protesters surge, followed by gunshots, which “almost sounded cute, like snapping bubble wrap.” This kind of juxtaposition of horror and cuteness trails Jesse throughout the book. One person is killed; another, Marsy-Rose Arenas, is grazed; and Jesse ends up in the hospital for a few weeks. As he comes to, film crews are setting up in his room: enter the Kardashians, Kanye, and producer Ryan Seacrest.
The absurdity inherent to this juncture of violence and Kardashians with cameras rolling has been present since the nascence of reality TV, which first blossomed after the OJ Simpson Bronco chase. Kardashian patriarch Robert read Simpson’s suicide note to ninety-five million viewers. This, more than a decade before E!’s Keeping Up with the Kardashians (KUWTK) debuted, a show that you know even if you’ve never seen an episode. The docusoap thrives on the ebb and flow of interpersonal drama. It’s the same chaos that brings together Jesse and Marsy-Rose (also known as Mars)—a natural beauty and aspiring though steadily B-list actress—as both attempt to parlay their fleeting visibility into something more lasting.
Something more lasting takes the form of many ideas: creating a spin-off show with Jesse and Mars; filing suit based on a theory that the protest and shooting were instigated by the show; becoming paid representatives in campaigns against gun violence. One might think they would bond over their shared trauma, but truly it’s over their desire for capital—cultural and financial. Of course, Jesse swoons over Mars’s beauty and is also drawn to her wildness. He’s a willing sidekick, too, indulging and partaking in her substance-fueled dramas. Mars is attracted to her melancholy young admirer and his clever ideas. It’s the LA fever dream of a television drama. It’s the putrid LA sunshine of Tangerine. It’s the addled LA of Jon Lindsey’s Body High, and at times the addictively vapid and beguiling LA of KUWTK.
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