Movies in the Real World or Why Sex and the City 2 is Not the Real World.

Before watching the movie.

I decided to watch Sex and the City 2. I went with two classmates and my boyfriend to the movie theater on Shattuck. (Poor him! Poor us!) The airbrushed poster was all over the place. Sarah Jessica Parker with diamonds, sparkling and airbrushed (the emphasis on the airbrushed is intended).

I went to the 11.00p.m show. It is really absurd that, since we were going with a under 21 friend, we were not able to go to the 10.15p.m show. Alcohol was not served in the last movie screened that day, but the one before.

After entering, it was popcorn time. There were not that good and really expensive, but they were definitely the best part of the movie. When I was walking with my super-sized popcorn, a group of 5 girls walked into the establishment. There were all wearing short dresses, high wheels and more makeup that I would usually wear in a year. It it interesting how overdressed they were, as if they were trying to get Carrie Bradshaw's approval, just like in “Purple Rose of Cairo” (Woody Allen)

The movie theater was surprisingly almost empty: us four, the five overdressed girls waiting for Carrie's approval, four girls normally dressed and one old guy. I believe that the old guy was just trying to find a girl.

The movie

There was a time when Sex and the City proclaimed (just proclaimed) to be a reflective feminine and women’s empowerment program. Many women sat in front of the television to watch Carrie trying to find “the One”, and faced every day problems as a middle age woman in New York City. Not that the program had a profound message to deliver about gender rights, but at least it dissimulated social constructed nature of stereotyping female in favor of an intriguing argument about love and sexuality. The problem is a concept of the policy of visibility. The show made sexuality and the discourse surround it available to a TV audience. The movie on the contrary deploys a hegemonic discourse around sexuality and becomes an actual threat produces for mass consumption since, as Scott points out:

"It is precisely this kind of appeal to experience as uncontestable evidence and as an original point of explanation. As a foundation on which analysis is based- that weakens the critical thrust of history of difference”. (Scott 399)

Regrading the film as a well-based experience is denying common sense a space. In absolute contrast with the assumed nature of the show, the movie Sex and the City 2 might almost horrify the audience that once followed the HBO program. The film reinforces women’s most outrageous stereotypes characterizations, portrays Muslim culture as needing to be westernized, and resolves the main character’s problems in an oversimplified manner.

In first place, the movie Sex and the City 2 evidently reinforces particular female stereotypes. Carrie behaves like a spoiled brat, trying to resolve marital problems with material consumerism. She reinforces the media created stereotype of a woman obsessed with fashion. Miranda, formerly categorized as a female professional, quits her job and finds her husband telling her that the decision was good for her. She used to be characterized as a woman that had professional aspirations, but the movie argues that it is correct for a lady to have personal aspirations only if she is single. Charlotte perpetuates the jealous woman category. She is preoccupied that her husband might like her babysitter because she does not wear a brassier. Finally, Samantha reinforces a despicable woman category: the over-obsessed with youth stereotype. She pretends to be empowered by sexual activities while taking 45 pills in an effort to stay young. In overall, the film creates and perpetuates fixed categories of women that depend upon masculine authority to feel complete. All are seeking men’s acceptance at any cost, whether that means taking 45 pills per day or quitting a long time pursuit job. The problem is that during the movie the just behave as childish, immature and ridiculous grownups.

Secondly, the movie represents Muslim culture as in need to be westernized. At the end of the movie, Carrie cleverly advices her audience that we “have to take tradition and decorate it”, but her regards on Muslim culture does not seems as if she really understand that there are other traditions that does not actually fit in her social construct. Her regards upon the usage of the burka seems as if she does not gets that it is part of the traditions of the Muslim culture. She also pretends to understand the Muslim ideology by saying “Thanks to Allah” to a shoe salesman, a phrase that disrespects the religion when being used so vaguely. In addition, Samantha also disrespect social conventions and is sanctioned because of her offensive sexual encounter. One might see her act as rebellious, but it is offensive to disrespect a society in which you are immerse in, just because you have an urge to have sexual relationships in public spaces. Control over one's body does not mean that you hysterically take 45 pills a day, but that you understand cultural codes that are not your own. Above all, the construction of Muslim women as wanting to be a part of the Western society just seems out of place, and resemble Saïd discourse on Orientalism where he accounts that:

"He [Saïd] shows how the Orient was and still is simultaneously a construction (as an imaginary exotic other) of the West and constructed (discursively fixed as a homogenous real geographical space) by the West. In both instances the West is able to extent power over the Orient.” (Saïd on Hayward 295-296)

The four ladies pretend to save the exotic “otherness” by delivering a message of promiscuity. (The scene of Samantha hysterical screaming to the muslims of the market that she has condoms can be an example of it). The four ladies forgot that New York City does not represent the universal norm of culture, but the movie emphasizes to the audience that Muslims are just longing to be like Carrie Bradshaw and her “trendy” girlfriends. But then again, the 5 ladies in the audience just want to be like Carrie and emulate her “style” and “attitude”.

At last, imaginary and unrealistic problems are presented in the movie. Carrie is angry because her beloved husbands gave her a television for their bedroom. She goes to Abu Dhabi and kisses her ex fiance. Naturally, the husband forgives her by giving her an enormous black diamond after pretending to leave her, when in fact he was just trying to torture her psychologically. Charlotte’s jealousy over the babysitter just disappears when she founds out that the nanny is a lesbian. So, the husband is now safe from the bra-less babysitter because she is queer! Samantha gets to have sex in public with whom she disgustingly and repulsively names “Lawrence of my Labia”. And Miranda got herself a low-profile job to give herself to her family and be a complete woman. The problems, unrealistic and reinforcing negative stereotypes, disappeared at the end with no real dialogue. In fact, just having a conversation with the people they were angry at might have destroyed the entire movie, because all of the infantile concerns and childish problems where in their minds, and just expressing would have solved them without all the drama. If they talked to the partners about the problems, they would have save my the 2 and a half longer hours of my life.

At the end, Sex and the City 2 construct and represent a hysterical type of woman: an insecure, self-obsessed female character that is longing to be accepted by any means, even if that results in jail, quitting personal aspirations, cheating on your husband just to feel young again, or disrespecting other culture. It constructs stereotype characterizations of women that disrespect an entire culture. The undermining of the female figure leads to a movie that lacks real arguments, has no propositions and abundant critiques around the fact that the movie could be an hour shorter if they just resolved problems by talking.

Returning home

I leaved the movie really angry and having violent thoughts against humanity. I realized that the movie construct femininity around high heels, designer clothes and jewelery. They were trying to make the audience think that being a women is abandoning our personal and professional plans, denying our identity and turning our problems into a really beautiful pair of Jimmy Choo's. I could not believe the void of intellect the movie showed. Sacred, I turn to the internet to find what the people were thinking about after watching Sex and The City 2. Rotten Tomatoes really made my laugh, so the anger started to pass by. Some of the most interesting critiques I found were:

"The ugly smell of unexamined privilege hangs over this film like the smoke from cheap incense.” A.O. Scott

“It has no plot to speak of, little in the way of wit or intelligence, and is about 50% longer than can reasonably be justified.” James Bernadine

“When Carrie asks Big, "Am I just a bitch wife who nags you?" I could hear all the straight men in the theater -- all four of us -- being physically prevented from responding” Andrew O. Hehir

And my personal favorite:

“I walked into the theatre hoping for a nice evening and came out as a hardline Marxist, my head a whirl of closets, delusions, and blunt-clawed cattiness . . . There is a deep sadness in the sight of Carrie and her friends defining themselves by . . . their ability to snare and keep a man." Antony Lane (New Yorker)

I was glad that other people were also horrified.