Jul 07 2008
Sex and the City part 2
Carrie Bradshaw is supposedly a free and independent woman who is living the single life in New York City. Her and her friends go out, date, and then discuss (gossip). These women are free in their language and their actions. No cultural norm will keep them down. Oh how great it must be to wear designer dresses, wear designer shoes, and drink $20 martinis. That is the life any girl would want, that is freedom.
Carrie speaks to Mr. Big as if she is a small child asking her parent’s for a cookie; she allows herself to be dominated by him simply by the manner in which she acts even though she insists that she wants to be financially independent of him (in regards to the penthouse suite he buys for her). She is controlled by a need for consumption, style, and shoes. Is this the action of a free and independent person?
Carrie’s assistant (the next generation of single woman looking for love in NYC), Louise, rents handbags to give the illusion of a lifestyle she cannot afford, controlled by the need to be fashionable, the need to fit in. Is this the action of a free and independent person?
Samantha becomes a slave to her own sexual desires, fighting them only in the stereotypical manner of eating binges to soothe her urges. Miranda insists that “marriage ruins everything” because her marriage is falling apart due to boredom and poor communication. And Charlotte is happy with her quiet family life (Ok, there is nothing wrong with that, I just didn’t want to leave her out).
Not one of these characters is free and independent, yet the producers and advertisers have sold them and the show as being so. The bastardization of feminism continues with the illusion of independence and the proliferation of gender stereotypes.
One Response to “Sex and the City part 2”
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I do agree with you. The show/movie focuses on the relationships of the women. You need to remember though that two of these women have powerful careers. Miranda is a partner in a law firm; which for a married mother is hard to acheive at the young age of 43. Samantha has her own sucessful PR company. The sad thing is that these aspects of the women’s lives are pushed to the back, and relationships are pushed to the front. Perhaps because they are far more interesting or dramatic. It’s not called Sex and the City for nothing.
P.S. I still don’t know how Carrie affords her shoes. She only had a weekly article for 5 seasons of the show.