I remember being a teenager and finding this random show on HBO, called ‘Sex and the City.’ I honestly started in the 3rd Season and it just sort of took off from there. I remember watching in somewhat secrecy because I had no idea how my mom would actually handle me watching a show with the word Sex in it. But I loved that show with all of my heart and I remember every Sunday Night sitting in my room and just waiting to see what would happen to give me a 30 minute fix for the rest of the week.
The story really was amazing, a simple New Yorker who wasn’t horribly looking trying to find love in her own way. And of course she had girlfriend. So many things and lessons came from this show but I remember all of them with a smile.''Maybe we can be each other's soul mates, and then we can let men be just these great, nice guys to have fun with.'' – Charlotte
But throughout the years, the show got big. I mean really big, but I just held it as something good to me because there was something about it that made me feel like I wasn’t crazy and that I too would find my love.Conversation always arose from this popular show and only one I distinctly remember. “Elizabeth, which character are you?” “Oh, I’m a Charlotte.” I said. “No you’re not.” “What? Yes, I am totally a Charlotte.” “No, you’re all of them.”
That is when it hit me. The reason this show was so amazing was because there was a Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte in every woman. That’s why this show was such a cash cow! That’s why I had to watch because every episode I found something to relate to it with. And then the last season came…
It’s almost as they were taking you down this lovely road for a fancy afternoon picnic, against your own will. You didn’t want to follow along, you didn’t trust where they were taking you, but you went along with it. And then bam, they gave you what you wanted. Everyone ended up happy and all women and gay men could rejoice and sing that it ended happily.
And then someone got greedy. It wasn’t long until rumors of the Sex and the City movie where coming out. I could go along with it, it had been a while, I wanted to see just as everyone else what had been happening in their lives. So I saw it, it was ok but I thought it was alright. And then came the second movie. And that is when the end of world started.
Sex and the City used to be a show about the strength and love of a woman, how she could always endure but leave the room with her head held high and a great smile. It was an amazing story of ‘making it on your own’ *scene to Mary Tyler Moore throwing her hat in the air* and being courageous in this big bad world. But no, people are bored of that, so what do we need to portray? Why, how about a woman that had depend on a man. How about we take our strong powerful characters and have them complain about everything under the sun! It just became too much. And honestly, if I had a nanny and a housekeeper and was able to buy any Prada, Coach, or Louie purses and shoes that I wanted, I would find it really hard to ever complain about anything. It’s women that can’t just stop and be happy for one second, seriously! I paid almost $10 to see them complain and I am suppose to pay that again to see the second?
I tried as long as I could to not let anyone convince me to see it, but eventually it got to me and I had to see it. I regret it every day. I wish I never listened to it. (I hold my foot down on things sometimes, I still haven’t listened to a Justin Beiber song yet) But alas, I have seen it. I can not un do it. But please, take a moment to remind yourself if you decide to watch what network cable has called itself an episode of this crap, just avoid it. It’s not what it used to be and it probably will never be back that that. I hate to be the one to break the news to you on it, but Sex and the City is dead.
I think the few episodes of Sex and the City I watched were really good, and I believe my favorite one being the one where they were watching the couple in the next apartment building having sex, eating popcorn and drinking wine. I think that the downhill part of the show came after we satisfied our need to be strong, independent women and moved into the romance. I agree, I think someone got greedy and decided they'd sell more tickets if Sex in the City went romantic comedy. Also, my main reason for avoiding the show stemmed from the obvious class and race delineation. All of the characters were white upper/upper middle class women. As show addressing the way women and homosexuals break out of their gender roles and find happiness should probably take their character's class status into account, just a little. After all, its hard for any twenty-first century woman to buy into the conflict of an uppercrust, single, hot New Yorker having such superficial issues.
ReplyDeleteYet if we're going to be bearing bad news, we should probably address the fact that Sex and the City was probably doomed from the start. One of the most tragic aspects of liberating comedy is the degeneration back to old stereotypes. I believe Jane Austen was also guilty of this herself. In Northanger Abby, Austen's character is a parody of the stereotypical heroine. Her argument (among others) was that happiness came from contentment, but that attainment was in the hands of the searcher. In Mansfield Park the heroine does not fit the stereotype at all. Fanny Price is the archetypal lady. However, the fact that she transcended her class speaks to her characters. Austen is, above all things, anti-romantic, her characters managing to marry for love instead of material wealth. Although she has conceded that material wealth is not a problem if you also happen to love the man who has it.
...Pleasure talking to you again...Sorry I went feminist on your blog post. Its just so nice to see someone else thinking about these things. Also I think the reason I didn't watch Sex and the City was because the only time I could watch it was on TNT and they edited the content.