As I sat in my media studies class this past week covering the bechdel test, I couldn’t help but wonder…why am I watching this show that does not have a single memorable scene that passes the bechdel test, but why can’t I stop watching it?
The bechdel test asks whether a work features at least two female characters who have a conversation about something other than a man. In some iterations, the requirement that the two female characters be named characters is added.
I began to criticize Sex and The City in my head. Why does it focus so heavily on the women in the context of their relationships with men? We learn so much about four women, Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte, but so heavily in the contexts of their sex and relationship lives. They embody different tropes. Charlotte is the one who idealistic to a fault and believes in true love, Miranda is stubborn and smart, Samantha is sexually adventurous and independent, and Carrie is well… Carrie. She’s flirty, charming, inquisitive, and irresponsible (and somehow funds an incredible designer closet with a newspaper column?).
Throughout six seasons (1998-2004), we watch as these characters navigate dating, sex, and relationships in New York City, and as they debrief these experiences over a meal out. Over. and over. And over again. They discuss what went right, what went wrong, what they looked like, what the men looked like (in graphic detail), what it was like before the sex, what it was like during the sex, and what it was like after the sex, how they felt, will they call the man, will the man call them? Oy. You get the point.
I thought, do they literally have nothing to talk about besides men and sex, with a sprinkle of a work-focused plot? But then I realized… maybe that is the point. Maybe, I just need to look at the show from a 1998 perspective, rather than a 2023 perspective. In 2023 we are bombarded with unlimited amounts of shows both reality shows and scripted shows that show people of all genders in romantic and unabashedly sexual contexts. Whether it’s Too Hot To Handle or Bridgerton, today we’re seeing everyone, and specifically women, in these sexual contexts. So to the 19 year old who was born the year SATC had it’s final season, SATC doesn’t seem very revolutionary. But that’s the thing. At face value, to me, SATC in 2023 isn’t forward thinking (why would it be?), but for 1998, it arguably was… and that’s what I realized.
Sex and The City didn’t just dip its toes into the uncharted televised sexual exploits of women fresh out of their 20s, it dived in. Because the reality is- girls and women do sit around (at the very least once in a blue moon) debriefing sex and their relationships. What SATC did, was be one of the first shows to show this and really embrace women’s sexuality. While the women often discussed experiences in the context of their relations- they were focused on as agents of their own experiences. No other show really dived into what women really experienced, and from such strong perspectives, at the time.
The women don’t have “locker room talk” but rather brunch. Women don’t just retreat and write in their journals with a dainty plume, they talk. My friends and I can attest to this as we have unintentionally cleared out the patio of a family-friendly pizza place while debriefing our school years after arriving home for summer break this past May. Oops…maybe it was a coincidence (I doubt it).
I think it is so easy to draw conclusions and point out everything that was acceptable in the late 90s but is now frowned upon in the early 2020s. Additionally, what pushed the boundaries then, doesn’t necessarily push them now. We have grown to become more inclusive and mindful of diverse identities and how we choose to represent and discuss them in the media. Sex and the City and its reboot, And Just Like That are great representations of this shift. They were both created by the same (or similar) team of people, but in two different times.
In one episode in the original series, Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl… Carrie explores and denies the existence of bisexuality. In contrast, in the reboot, Miranda is one of many characters exploring their queer identities. But- I feel as if the reboot lost its touch. The thing that made SATC so captivating and unique was how it so boldly and clearly displayed the four women’s’ sexuality, but now that isn’t as rare.
So now, the creators are trying to compensate by having discussions about sex through a more queer, race-base, age based, identity based lens. Pretty much everything that has to do with sex in the character’s respective lives. There are SO many discussions that take place- to the point where it removes the value of them being there.
Of course I think that these topics should be prevalent in the media and in our entertainment, but so many storylines at once lead to them being ineffective. Viewers are trying to comprehend so many things at once, and it is too much. What is the point of covering so many different political issues if they are not given the individual attention they require in this day and age, in the media?
Just some brunch for thought…
