A Guide to Sex & the City for new or casual viewers
Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker)
Much like Paul McCartney, Carrie is the glue that holds the group together and like Sir Paul, she is the subject of much revile. Whenever I’ve talked with friends about the show, the one thing we can agree on is that Carrie is very unlikeable; she’s neurotic, melodramatic and completely self-centred. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that Carrie’s their favourite character. And Parker herself was notable for being the only member of the main cast to have a no nudity clause in her contract. Carrie is a writer and author of the eponymous sex column in the Star, a major New York newspaper. The trouble has always been that the column, which pretty much chronicled the more interesting exploits of her friends, was really, poorly written. Remember Felicity? Yeah, it always kind of reminded of that title character’s (lack of) “insight” trying to pass it off as profound discovery. The big (pun intended) plot development for Carrie in the movie is her pending marriage to Mr Big (Chris Noth) who’s full real-name we’ve learned from the trailer is John James Preston (we learned his first name is John in the serie’s finale). Considering Carrie’s track record of blowing it when it counts the most (Aidan anyone?) the road to the alter shall not be a smooth one. A lot of people were ticked at the TV show’s finale for wrapping up a series that saluted the virtues of singledom by giving the main character a cozy reunion with her most famous ex. But if the filmmakers decide to end the movie in such a way as to rectify that mistake, here’s hoping that Ms. Bradshaw does better than a post-it note when Big exits. |
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Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall)
It’s hard to believe that Cattrall had to literally be talked into taking this part, her most famous role since Porky’s.
Samantha was arguably the most popular character from SATC because of her frankness in conversation and sexual pursuits. Her been there, done that, have the bumper sticker attitude was as much an annoyance to her girlfriends as it was a boon because somewhere in Samantha’s blunt honesty was always, at the very least, a kernel of truth.
She once observed that, “There isn't enough wall space in New York City to hang all of my exes. Let me tell you, a lot of them were hung.” During the length of the series, Samantha toyed with three-ways, a lesbian relationship and a lot of different men from robber-barons to white-collar criminals to waiter-slash-actors. In the final season, Samantha showed signs of settling as she beat breast cancer, all the while having the love and support of thespian in the making Smith Jarrod (Jason Lewis).
In the film, it seems, that after years of monogamy, Samantha’s roaming eye begins tempt her to go astray. Which is a shame because the conclusion of her storyline in the series seemed so natural; the anti-relationship guru realizing that she can be with one person does not necessarily translate into settling. It’s the difference between growing up and growing old.
But by all means, please deliver some more of those Samantha-esque pearls of wisdom like “Money is power. Sex is power. Therefore, getting money for sex is simply an exchange of power.”
Charlotte York (Kristen Davis)
If Samantha is the nattering Ying, then Charlotte is the sobering Yang. Charlotte pretty much is the Pollyanna of the group; hopelessly optimistic and romantic. Carrie is reunited with a high school flame and all things are going well, so Charlotte is the one that reacts by saying, “You're marrying him!”
She was also the one of the four that was terminally on the look out for Mr. Right; every relationship was only worth engaging in so long as it might lead to marriage. Charlotte ended up walking down the aisle twice: once with Trey, a doctor with… *ahem* bedroom issues as well as one, huge mommy complex. (It’s worth nothing that Trey was played by Kyle MacLachlan, who’s never portrayed anyone even remotely normal).
But of course, Charlotte had to marry Trey because in typical fairy tale fashion (just as she would have wanted), she wouldn’t have met Harry (Evan Handler). Harry was Charlotte’s divorce lawyer and despite the notable, superficial demarits of being both bald and chubby, he became her proverbial knight in shining armour.
In the movie, the story pretty much picks up from where the series left Charlotte off. She and Harry have adopted a daughter from China, but now it seems, after years of trying and being told that she can’t, Charlotte has become pregnant. It’s a plot development easy to see coming because the exact same thing happen to one of Sunday School teachers.
Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon)
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Somewhere after Charlotte’s hurray-for-everything pep talk comes the cold shower of bitter truth that is Miranda. She’s a lawyer, a good one, and also highly successful. Personality-wise, Miranda is the more realistic of the quartet, as well as the most cynical. But at the same time it was Miranda that took the most bold-footed strides away from her single gal in the city lifestyle. First, she became pregnant by her on-again, off-again boyfriend Steve (David Eigenberg), then she embraced single-motherhood before finally admitting to Steve that she loved him moving herself, Steve and their son Brady out of the city and into a house in Brooklyn. Also, somwhere in between, Miranda and Steve got married and in typical Miranda fashion she was heard to remark “I said no white, no ivory, no nothing that says virgin. I have a child. The jig is up.” Without even trying, Miranda ended up living the typical life of the American nuclear family, even taking in her senile mother-in-law in the series’ finale. It’s only natural then, that all this seems in doubt in the film. One scene from the trailer shows Steve apologizing to Miranda for… something. Does he cheat on her? Are they having marital difficulties? Is it the stress of a Manhattan girl living in Brooklyn? Who’s to say? |
New York City (Herself)
Parker once commented that New York is the “fifth lady” in the series. It makes one wonder why then that the world premiere of the Sex and the City movie took place in London, England rather than Manhattan. SATC is rooted in the culture and atmosphere of New York City, why to hold the premiere anywhere else is akin to having the first showing of the Beverly Hills 90210 movie in Austin, TX. Still, as always, look for NYC to play it cool in the new movie.
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