SEX AND THE CITY

Yes, I went to see the feature film version of SEX AND THE CITY with my lovely fiance Alli.  Because I am a very, very good and loving man.

SEX AND THE CITY is actually quite amazing.  I am constantly impressed by its ability to unapologetically embrace and embody a very particular view of the world: one where the label of clothing you wear and the flavor of drink you taste are of the utmost importance, and one in which all of the foibles of modernity's version of city life is not a break from tradition... it is life itself.

How is a scene in which a rich white New York writer gives her African American personal assistant an astoundingly expensive name-brand handbag (as an act of utmost kindness and insight) anything but appalling?  Somehow, in SEX AND THE CITY, it's a moving scene because it's here that Carrie truly understands what poor Louise needs to feel good about herself and be better off in the world: an expensive bag.  Purse.  Whatever.  Apparently, happiness CAN be bought.

The reason I am so perplexed by these scenes is that they actually work.  They draw a viewer even as critical as myself in, and it was only a few times during the film that I actually muttered, "ick."  The film fully embraces the human drama inevitable in even these women's lives, and makes it clear to us for at least a little while what it is to live such a life.  Truly, I have almost nothing in common with these women.  Yet somehow the film is effective enough, perhaps due to its constant return to sexual themes, to which all human beings can relate, that I identify with and do not entirely despise them.

Comments

[Brett]

Interesting...

I was watching Entourage a bit earlier today, and I thought to myself that it is in some ways analogous to sex and the City...it promotes a materialistic, superficial lifestyle...perhaps the fact that said lifestyle goes along with artistic endeavors (and that the characters actually have a sense of artistic integrity) gives it some meat that Sex and the City lacks...But when Chase's boys sit around and talk about the chicks they're going to hook up with, it seems like that sort of conversation might be on par with the City girls babbling about expensive purses.

Though, too, there is the sense that (especially in the cases of Drama and Turtle) the characters are likable but not lionized...the endearing futility of their longings gives the series a wider, more self-aware vision.

So I guess I'm trying to step back a bit and gain some aesthetic distance - do I think that Entourage is better just because of gender identification? Or is it actually of an objectively higher quality...

hrmmph...I guess the answer is probably 'both!'

[brian scofield]

Well, I don't know what effect Sex and the City's shallowness has on its quality... it's a strange moral judgment that the show is obviously trying to turn on its head.

I think ENTOURAGE is different because it's more self-aware and almost self-mocking. Yes, it usually treats the characters with respect and empathy, but it also has a lot of situations that are over-the-top (but close enough to reality to be grounded), and a kind of wink-wink acknowledgment of how pathetic the guys are. It does less to justify the guys' actions as much as marvel at their absurdity and, yes, humanity.

I don't think it's necessarily better from an objective standpoint (SEX is actually more consistently true to its intent), but it's certainly better from a male perspective.