The older I get, the more I find myself drawn to shows that were made before I was born. A part of me doesn’t quite remember the exact moment I began watching Sex and the City, mainly because my mom owned the entire series on DVD. However, my mom and I always find ourselves talking about the characters’ fashion choices, the hustle of New York City, and yes, who we thought Carrie should have ended up with.
I grew up in a very open household, where HBO shows played in the background and in some ways, raised me on storytelling and how the world wasn’t as glamorized as I had conceived it to be. Sex and the City was a show that gained a large following in the years before I was born, but now that I’m in my early 20s, I’ve realized that it’s been able to keep this audience and expand into the Gen Z demographic.
As a writer navigating my final semester of college, Sex and the City has, in a strange way, shaped a lot of who I am as a person. I don’t exactly relate to Carrie in terms of her financial status or conflicts, but I do find myself advertised as a relationship therapist of some sort for everyone around me. Even if Sex and the City was released almost 30 years ago, the doorways of conversation about sex and sexuality were and still are paved by the series. Carrie’s columns, strangely, feel more relatable and real to a generation that uses dating apps and online support to meet a potential suitor.
And yes, there is something to be said about the characters. The core group of women — Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda — can be seen as having destructive behavior towards one another, but in terms of storytelling, it works.
Not every character needs to be “morally” perfect in terms of friendships or even romantic relationships because at the end of the day, no human is. Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha are flawed people, and watching the show made me realize how much these characters parallel the people I encounter on a daily basis.
They are good friends for the most part, but sometimes, they’re not. It’s just a part of life to deal with friends who may give bad advice because everyone is flawed in their own ways.
The relationships and hookup culture in Sex and the City are meant to be seen as cringey. When we see the women meeting different men or pining for a former relationship, we can at times as the audience find ourselves wanting to jump through the screens.
But, if you really sit down and think about it, haven’t we all had a friend who’s hooked up with someone we’ve cringe at? Especially with Gen Z’s quick responses to dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, or Bumble, we often come across profiles that seem too good to be true. Our current dating culture reflects how things were at the time of SATC’s massive success. Gen Z’s heightened interest in Carrie’s relationship with Big and Aiden can be seen as a reflection of how we view relationships, and yes, even the struggle to choose one over the other.
Another reason I think Gen Z adores Sex and the City is because it’s somewhat of an unrealistic dream. Not all of us can be Carrie Bradshaws, running around New York City in Manolo Blahnik shoes and living by ourselves in a stunning Manhattan studio. The time the series was filmed was a completely different era to live in. You can look at the show as a form of escapism, because of how extravagant it can be at times. With clothing that’s worth thousands of dollars, relationship conflict, and the added layer of the NYC nightlife, of course, we can find Sex and the City interesting. It’s not as relatable as the relationship and friendship aspects of the series, but Gen Z has fallen in love with the world of SATC outside of the characters.
Even though some of SATC is severely outdated, what has made this series stand the test of time and become a must-watch for the Gen Z demographic is that we all can relate to the personal aspects of the show. We can relate to those awkward morning-after conversations following a night on the town with friends, the dating scene in our cities, and even the harsh realities of friendships that we choose to ignore. The show is cringey at times, because life in itself is cringey. And if we can wrap up our insecurities and relationships in a Ralph Lauren-styled bow, we can find bits and pieces of ourselves in all of the SATC characters.
Sex and the City is a show that I think will continue to be relatable to future generations as it opens the doorway for more comparisons while we navigate the world, one high heel at a time.