Sex and the City (SATC) is said to largely be for women in or around their 30s. But this show pertains and stretches to various audiences—especially to 20-something-year-old women.Â
Strong Female FriendshipsÂ
The quartet consists of Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) are a great compliment on the concept of chosen family. The four know how to support one another through their ups and downs, whether it be Miranda’s candid takes on Carrie’s poor choices, or Charlotte being a shoulder to cry on. Even when fighting or having disagreements, the girls know how to make up. Even when Carrie was going back and forth with the character Big (a love interest of Carrie’s), the girls didn’t drop her. Yes, they judged (which is valid), but they didn’t treat Carrie like a disease. Everyone just wanted to course-correct her while wanting the best for her.Â
Realistic Dating (and God-Awful Situationships)
Speaking of Big, he is truly everywhere, in many women’s lives but he shows up in different forms. Whether it’s you, your friend, sister, cousin, or mother, everyone has been affected by this back-and-forth, neglectful, draining and toxic behaviour in a situationship. SATC is honest in its portrayal of relationships and singlehood. The series showed healthy relationships, to ones that faded, were just straight out weird (truly showing the horrors of dating), ones that resurfaced, and others that involved cheating. SATC also gave power to women who were single and well into their 30s, emphasizing there is no rush to find the “right one”, and showed that the girls had great fulfillment in themselves and each other—nothing was wrong with them because they preferred being single and not marrying.
Sex Positivity and Confidence!
The title in the series does not lie, because there is much sex in this city. And there should be! Before this series, there was nothing like it. It broke barriers with the way sex was perceived from a woman’s perspective, making it the cultural phenomenon it is today. While everyone in the series has their different experiences when it comes to sex—Samantha is truly the sex pioneer of the show. She is the champion of sexual liberation, advocates for women’s pleasure, and shamelessly owns her sexuality. It was truly refreshing to see an unapologetic, fierce woman who doesn’t conform to the idea of what a woman should be.Â
Independence
The series starts off with all the girls fully established and happy in their careers; which further progress as the series goes along. Carrie writes her own sex advice column (which the series uses as narration), Miranda is a corporate lawyer, Samantha runs her own PR firm, and Charlotte is an art dealer/gallery director. They each have their own apartments in Manhattan, and each character values their own work-life balance and puts themselves first. They don’t depend on their partners, nor feel behind in the sense that they aren’t married with children. While all of the women are motivated in their careers, they accept that everyone’s motivations are different in their lives. Charlotte has traditional values, whereas Samantha chases her sexual freedom and empowerment, Carrie treasures her writing and creativity, and Miranda is career-motivated.
The Fashion and Nostalgia
SATC is in a league of its own when it comes down to the series’ fashion and late 90’s to 2000’s chic New York aesthetic. When you finish this series not only will you feel culturally educated in pop culture, but you will also feel wise, and own the skin you’re in—but you will know the worth of a good f*cking shoe. Carrie paved the way with her outfits in the series (while some are notably questionable, though that seems to be the price of wearing high fashion items), but most notably are the glamorous pairs of shoes she wears. From Miu Miu, Roberto Cavalli, Dior, Louis Vutton to Manolo Blahnik, her closet is packed and that list doesn’t even cover half of it (I wish my situation was the same). All the girls in the series make their shoes a priority, and that’s fine by me. They all have such classic distinct New York styles complimenting the times in which the series was made and makes watching the show nostalgic (and fashionably inspirational).
SATC takes you along the journey of the personal growth of all of the characters, never making any episode a boring watch. The series constantly touches on the societal expectations the characters face on women, and they constantly break them. Some concepts of the show are outdated but many can still still relate to the problems of our current social climate—like feeling lost or having career, dating, and friendship struggles. While these issues are present in the show, they also are met with humour and the support of one girlfriend to another.Â