As Taylor Swift would say, some things “Never go out of Style”, and the show Sex and the City’s huge comeback have proven it right. It is undeniable that this 2000 hit has gained our attention once again, however, apart from the success, many topics of the show are being disliked by Gen Z.
WITH WHOM IT ALL BEGAN
A blonde New Yorker, writer, and journalist, who owns a column, and loves Cosmopolitans… Does this woman sound familiar to you? Well, if you’ve said the iconic “Carrie Bradshaw”, I am sorry to tell you that you’ve got it wrong!The blondie I’m talking about is Candace Bushell, the author of “Sex and The City” and even more iconic real-life Carrie Bradshaw. Did you know that?The protagonist of SATC is actually a fictional representation of its author!
Candace started writing a column called “Sex and The City” for “The New York Observer” journal in 1994, in which she shared her and her friends’ (sex?) life stories and adventures. Later on, she adapted those columns into a book, with the same title, in 1997. Finally, in 1998, “Sex and the City” was made into a TV show by HBO and shortly became the huge success that is known to us.
From 1998 to 2004, SATC had an incredible repercussion around the globe and continues to be one of the most relevant TV shows that has ever been made.
HOW DID GEN Z GET FAMILIAR WITH SATC?
On April 1, 2024, all six seasons of Sex and The City were launched on Netflix and it’s on easy access for Gen Z viewers.
The show had always been available on HBO, but being uploaded on the most popular streaming in the world, with 260 million users, has changed the game and brought the adventures of those four New Yorkers back to the spotlight.
However, this doesn’t explain why a show from almost three decades ago is drawing so much interest from a generation that wasn’t even born on its launch day. There are other aspects that cooperate with the undeniable truth that Sex and The City is, like it or not, a timeless atemporal piece.
When the show was released on TV, there was no other one exploring women’s sexuality and feminine archetypes the way SATC did. For the first time on TV, people were watching four women talk openly about sex, and more specifically, the type of sex that women actually enjoy having. It was revolutionary and ahead of its time, quickly becoming a huge success among those who, tired of watching Ross and Rachel’s boring relationship from “Friends” , found comic relief in Carrie’s and her friends’ anything-but-boring love life.
Carries’ coolness and sense of fashion, Samanthas’ sexual liberty, Miranda’s exemplary career, and Charlottes’ dreamy life, were all any woman in 1998 wanted to have in a world in which the best she could hope for herself was to marry rich and be a mother.
The originality and revolutionary character of the show explain why it was so popular in the early 2000s, but why would it still be 24 years later, among a generation of babies who grew up around feminism and have “activism” as their middle name?
The answer is: What makes this show timeless is how relatable it is to women and the relationships they’ve had throughout life.
Any woman, from whatever generation and age, can identify with falling for a man who won’t take you to his mama, like Mr. Big, or dumping the ones that were too good to be true, like Aindan, and unfortunately, even coming across those who can’t get it up, like Trey McDougal.
It’s comforting to watch other people go through the same thing we women have been through, and more, to know that it won’t be the end of the world. Even if it is all fiction, the feeling we get is that If someone out there managed to survive it, maybe I can do it as well.
As Miss Carrie Bradshaw would say:
“After all, computers crash, people die, relationships fall apart. The best we can do is breathe and reboot.”
Despite the love Gen Z feels for SATC, many attitudes of the protagonist are coming out as a shock to them.
Firstly, it is undeniable how much of a bad friend and egoistic Carrie acts many times on the show. There are countless episodes in which she chooses, with no hesitations, a man over her girlfriends (the ones she agreed to be her true soulmates).
And the thing is, Carrie goes through many relationships during the show. Therefore, if she chooses a man over her best friends every time a guy comes into her life, there won’t be any friendship left behind.
Here are just a few examples:
- When Miranda injured her neck and asked Carrie to come help, she simply sent her boyfriend at the time instead, who ended up seeing Miranda dropped naked on the bathroom floor.
- Again with Miranda, when her BEST FRIEND was giving birth, Carrie couldn’t wait to get out of the hospital to meet Big before his flight.
- When she invited Samantha, who was going through an identity crisis, to go with her on a trip, and when she met Big there, simply kicked out Samantha of the room they were sharing.
- Finally, the COUNTLESS times when she ignored her friends and just wanted to talk about herself, her man problems, and her melancholics *all the time*.
After that, it isn’t so hard to understand why Miranda was upset every time Carrie ran straight back to Big’s arms, right?
Personally, as one of the Gen Z kids and a girl’s girl, I get why this behavior is so upsetting and concerning.
From the point of view of girls who were raised not to be dependent on men, watching such a progressive character get blind at the sight of one, it’s truly terrifying.
Apart from the love-hate relationship with Carrie, we’ll always be down to watch another episode of her, drinking Cosmopolitans and parading around New York with her Manolo Blahnik’s.
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The article below was edited by Bruna Blanco.
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