Thursday, March 3, 2016

Sex and the City, Still Worth Watching!


Lately, whenever I see anything written about Sex and the City, it's something negative. I have seen article after article and post after post where the writers and bloggers are bashing not only the show and movies but the characters as well.

The two comments that I have seen the most are: "the show is unrealistic" and "there's no way Carrie Bradshaw could have afforded her lavish lifestyle".

As far as being unrealistic, it's a TV show not a real life documentary. Sex and the City was a dreamy and fashionable look at Manhattan life centered around four very different women. If being realistic is the criteria for judging TV shows (and movies) then that would make almost everything we watch unrealistic.


As for Carrie affording her lifestyle, she made a fair living writing her weekly column "Sex and the City" for the newspaper, The New York Star. A column by the way which was rather popular and turned her into what I would call a minor celebrity.

If those who criticized paid attention, early on in the series Carrie afforded most of her lifestyle by unfortunately maxing out her credit cards. Luckily, up until she was forced to buy her apartment, it was rent controlled. It wasn't until she got her book deal (season 5) that she was finally able to truly afford her lifestyle. Prior to that, her finances were so bad that if it wasn't for Charlotte giving her a loan, Carrie would not have been able to buy her apartment. Also, during that time while she was trying to figure out her finances, she started freelance writing for Vogue magazine where she ended up making $4.50 per word.

I don't get why so many have begun bashing Sex and the City and the characters years after the show has ended. Well, I guess everyone has their own opinion and I'm also sharing mine. I think the criticism that's disappointed me the most are the ones that are focused on Carrie. Out of the four main characters, she has received the most backlash. She has been called: stupid, materialistic, selfish, a slut, a bad writer, anti-feminist and so many more horrible things. Why is she being judged? Carrie was never presented as being perfect, she had flaws just like the rest of us. What changed, certainly not Carrie, so what has caused the shift in opinion? Why now is she receiving all of this negativity?

I'm not embarrassed to say that I still love watching Sex and the City. For me it doesn't matter if some critics call the show unrealistic or try to figure out how Carrie can afford her fabulous life. All that matters to me is that the show was brilliantly written and it's still entertaining to watch. Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte were four fun, zany, crazy, intelligent women who were far from perfect but that made the show even more enjoyable.

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