girl talk.

Sex and the City. Four words, four women and a major media frenzy has left everyone from credible news outlets (I’m looking at you, New York Times) and un-credible late night talk hosts (Jimmy Effing Kimmel) unable to talk about anything else. Carrie and the gals have been called everything from groundbreakers to whores in the media and the reviews of the movie are left somewhere in-between. Since seeing the movie a week ago my own assessment lies somewhere in the (heather) gray area. SATC, The Movie is like Carrie’s fashion choices: fanciful, glamorous, and a bit silly. But it is also unrealistic, vapid, and, well, just…stupid.
The women of SATC that women of the city and virtually everywhere else have come to love on HBO, syndication, or DVD are now older, wiser, and wealthier on the big screen. In the series the gals loved to shop and drink, but they also had real jobs and real relationship issues. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a fantasy world. In what world does a freelance writer afford an Upper East Side apartment and $500 stilettos? When does a partner at a law firm have time for drinks seven days a week? Still, as a viewer, I felt that these women were somewhat real. Sometimes, I even wanted to grab a Cosmo and join in on the girl talk.
In the big screen adaptation, however, my love for these women was lost. Four years later, the fearsome foursome are still teetering along the streets in four inch heels; in Brooklyn, with Big, babies, and Botox.
Fast forward (so you don’t actually have seen the movie): Carrie is finally happy with a very sexy Mr. Big and although it’s practically a footnote in the movie, she has published three books. Big has footed the bill for a penthouse on Fifth Ave. and Carrie has invited 200 guests to their wedding. Samantha lives in L.A. with her younger man, Smith. Much to her chagrin (and ego), Smith is central to her PR firm and she eases her ego with trips to Rodeo Drive and a lap dog, a la Paris Hilton (There is nothing sadder than a 50-year-old version of Paris- Ed.). Miranda is still a successful and cranky lawyer and wife. She loves her son, hates Brooklyn, and hasn’t had sex in six months. Charlotte is on Park Avenue cloud nine; she’s adopted the trendy Asian baby and still has time for a run and sex three times a week with her Harry husband.
No, spoiler alerts, I’ll just say that the women hit some bumps in the roads in their relationships (except for Charlotte who becomes pregnant and just gets a bump). After one Big bump for Carrie, the gals end up in Mexico, where the women show their stripes for both fierce friendships and being elitist assholes. Attempting to put Carrie’s broken life back together, Miranda has gotten Carrie her apartment back and Samantha is hiring movers. Looking at her friends glued to their BlackBerry’s, Carrie states, “Wow. You two could run the world.” Perhaps a nod to women’s general do-it-all altruistic motives or motioning to Hillary Clinton’s over-qualified presidential bid, Carrie states the obvious; women, however stifled by gender inequality can do it all.
But these women are also the shameful prototypes of upper middle class America. Charlotte won’t eat anything because “it’s Mexico.” Samantha assumes she can buy everything and everyone because she’s white and wealthy. Carrie mourns a relationship she essential ruined like it’s the apocalypse. All the while, we’re supposed to emphasize with Charlotte, admire Samantha and Miranda, and grieve with Carrie.
From the two hundred commercials about cell phones and a reality show about oil mining in Texas called “Black Gold” (seriously.) before the movie to the three hundredth mention of Louis Vuitton during the movie, the consumerism was disgraceful and distasteful and general shallowness of these woman made this woman sad she is a woman.
But, some endearing qualities of SATC are still prevalent on the big screen. Like the series, SATC The Movie exhibits the importance of female friendship; for these women and for all women. In a world where women are pitted against each other in the workforce, politics, movies, reality TV, and reality reality, it is refreshing to see such a staunch display of female friendships. While these women are largely selfish, there is one thing they love more than Vuitton and Blahnik: each other.
A film reviewer for The New York Times asked the charming Sarah Jessica Parker’s advice for all wannabe Carries. SJP responded, “stop into the library on the way to the store,” stating that a woman might find something more worthwhile in the library than in a store. I wish Parker would have brought a bit more of her smarts to Carrie Bradshaw. While Carrie and the gals are fun, they don’t encapsulate all that women are and should strive to be. Carrie Bradshaw knows that women are smarter than that and we all wait for the world to realize it too.
And yes, I went out for cocktails afterward. But I wish I would have gone before the film.