Sunday, October 17, 2010

Sex And The City - A TV Legend

By Rod Smith

I guess most people will know that Sex And The City was one of the TV phenomena of recent decades, spanning 6 years and 94 episodes on American cable television channel HBO.

Perhaps the main reason that this TV show was so successful, and so popular, was that it touched upon the emotions, both positive and negative, that all of us have to face as we go through life and enter into relationships with sexual partners.

It's unlikely that you don't remember how the series was set up, but just in case, let's recap: the four main characters were 4 sassy women in their 30s and 40s who shared their relationship adventures with each other, detailing their highs and lows, but essentially revealing their vulnerability as they tackle the big issues of relationships today.

The show was partly based on writer Candace Bushnell's book of the same name, and Bushnell has said several times that Carrie Bradshaw, the main character in the TV series, is effectively her alter ego. Carrie Bradshaw was played by Sarah Jessica Parker, who fulfilled the show's brief of expressing adult comedy and sexual matters in an upfront way. The adventures of the four friends were recorded by Carrie Bradshaw in her column for the local newspaper.

One of the great aspects of the show was its power to make us empathize with the main characters, Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbes, Samantha Jones, and Charlotte York. Together they experienced just about every possible nuance of relationship, and in the process we felt for them, just as we would feel for ourselves if we went through the same experiences in real life. This was where the power of the show lay -- relationships are something we all know about, and the drama uncovered feelings that perhaps we have never been able to express.

The narrator of each episode is Carrie Bradshaw, who we see working on her computer in her apartment as she writes her newspaper column about relationships in the city. While she's an open-minded woman, she definitely wants to have fun and find the right man, but unfortunately for her she's entangled with Mr. Big (played by Chris Noth) in an "on again" "off again" relationship which interweaves its way through all her other relationships.

Charlotte York works in an art gallery, and looks on the face of it like a very conventional girl from Connecticut. She's a very optimistic character, she places emphasis on love not lust, and is constantly revealing herself to be a true romantic, searching for her knight on a white charger. She's seen as slightly disapproving of the lewder antics of her friends, and subscribes to a set of rules about dating that seem very traditional. Nonetheless, she is capable of breaking her own rules when the mood takes her; later she struggles to have a child with her second husband, finally adopting a girl from China.

Miranda Hobbes is a cynical character in the early series of the show, perhaps hating men, but certainly finding it difficult to be in a relationship with one. She is softened by the birth of her son Brady, and while this brings her pleasure and delight, it also brings a new issue for her since she wants to find some way in which she can balance her career and her status as a single mother. Perhaps of all the characters her transition from emotional independence to emotional maturity is most finely depicted.

Charlotte York is an interesting character who seems to have had a conventional upbringing and who seems to subscribe to a set of rules around dating that make her look like a conventional girl. However, her life is anything but conventional, because when she marries, she discovers that pregnancy is not going to be easy, and eventually she and her husband adopt a little girl from China to provide her with the family life and security that she has long craved.

The power of the show lies in the fact that every single one of us has faced some of these issues, if not all of them. These 4 sassy women wisecracking their way through New York City in the trials and tribulations of life have something to teach every single one of us.

As one reviewer on Amazon said, "It was a great six years, and I will enjoy watching the DVDs forever. It's a shame that broadcast networks can't take the lead from HBO and the BBC and make series that run for a limited time with high-quality scriptwriting and great stars. - 40725

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