Sex and the City

[Deleted]

I'm getting caught up so I haven't actually watched the final episode yet, but Paris is where Carrie and Big finally got together, when he rescued her from the evil clutches of Baryshnikov. I don't remember Big ever expressing any great love for Paris himself (and it was also where he met Natasha, so...?) but it is a place of significance in their relationship. The man was 100% New York though so it probably would have made more sense to scatter him in the Hudson and pour a Manhattan made with really expensive whiskey on top.

I hope we see Steve happy, if there is a next season. He truly did nothing wrong and he deserves someone who will appreciate him. I want to think Miranda will live to regret this but this show doesn't have the best track record with the women actually facing consequences for their decisions, they always get bailed out somehow.

[Ginger]

Mar 7, 2005 15:24:15 GMT -4 eveschmeve said:

Che is also friends with Carrie, I’m sure they would understand.

Che, who assembled an entire bar full of people to hear the news of their pilot via a rehearsed musical number performed by a 5-piece band, would understand if Miranda skipped the big event? After Che deigned to allow her to come? I think Che would go back to ghosting Miranda, and Miranda knows it.

Che both showed and told Miranda who they are in this episode, and that's "a fuckin' narcissist!"

It was fun to see Miranda listening to California Girls and finally seeming to realize that Che's not funny or clever and is kind of full of shit, and then as soon as Che told her they wanted her to come to California, Miranda was happy again.

[magazinewhore]

I really don't mean to pile on Che hate, but can you imagine if a man in a heterosexual relationship announced he was going to LA to shoot a pilot by singing, "California Girls?" It's such a douche thing to do with your new GF right there. I don't dig objectifying women from straight men, gay women or binary people. It's icky regardless.

[Binky]

Oh, Che is an asshole. Frankly, they’re Samantha’s replacement: selfish, promiscuous, unapologetic. But Samantha was also loyal and supportive. But Miranda is the one deciding to throw away her whole life for Che, who might reasonably expect a 50 year old woman to have some sense when told Che offers nothing traditional.

[dragonflie]

I gotta disagree- Che is nothing like Samantha.

I truly do not think we are meant, or that the writers intended anyways, to feel anything but happy and proud/you go girl, for Miranda. I get no impression the writers realize that what Miranda did/is doing is shitty/selfish, and - the biggest issue for me- COMPLETELY out of character. She is a bumbling idiot now. She's also not likable. The writers said in one of their podcasts that they felt the rejection by fans of Miranda leaving Steve was likely due to the patriarchal bias of society and that we are always routing for men and not women (that is my summary- not an exact quote). I really think they intended it to come across as empowering. How: no idea- Miranda's an idiot now, who is giving up career and family to follow around a narcissistic addict. My main evidence for thinking the writers are clearly not of the mind this new Miranda will implode: they thought the Che Diaz' "comedy concert" was funny. Actually my main evidence is: these are writers who called whatever that was a "comedy concert". Also- these are writers who treat all characters who are 55+ like they are 80+. Also, these are writers who seem to write all gay men as caricatures. Also, these are writers who now have EVERY ONE of their female leads jobless and dependent on their spouses income to survive. (how Miranda will financially support herself now isn't clear- but she has given up any semblance of a career.)

My point: I don't trust these writers to create anything as nuanced as some of us seem to be hoping for.

[horseface]

One thing about the "aging" aspect of the show did strike me. Miranda and Steve had an argument. She said, "I don't want to sit around like old people. " Steve replied, "we ARE OLD!!" I am about four to five years younger than these ladies. Once I hit about 40 I did notice a rather interesting divide in my circle of friends. Some did in fact identify as "old." I have a few friends who did start adopting a lifestyle and style of "older adults." They got short grey haircuts, trousers with elastic bands round the middle, and they talked mostly about aging, ailments and c paps. Those in our age cohort who did not "slow down" did feel a bit of judgement. My pregnancies occurred around the same time as some of them were becoming "great aunts." By no means do I condone Miranda's behaviour, but I absolutely can imagine two people in the same age range experiencing such incompatibility. While I have not witnessed it within a couple I am not unaccustomed to seeing this kind of thing happen between friends.

[magazinewhore]

So in an interview with the Bustle, one the of writers said this (when asked about fans who felt Miranda wasn't herself).

"First, I would say, to us, she still felt very much like Miranda. Miranda was always a rebel. She was always pushing back against societal constraints. The fact that she wound up getting married and having a baby, if anything that was the aberration. What we really wanted to explore this season is Miranda in a state we've never seen her in before: completely knocked off her ass in love. Just out of control, really head over heels, the script is gone, the rules are gone. She's just following her heart. And we embraced that and we felt like she's still her, but she's having her own struggle. I feel like the audience's struggle with Miranda not feeling like Miranda is the struggle she’s having herself."

I don't think the writers get it at all.

[dragonflie]

That's the issue I've had as well magazinewhore; everything I have read from the writers indicates they are happily plugging along thinking : 1: their writing is so empowering and nuanced 2: Miranda is in loooveee and it's so wonderful, and in character.

My genuine questions to them: first and foremost: what part- ANY part- of Miranda in this show is in any way like her character from the OG show. What work or exploration have they done to get that character to where she is now- to get fans to understand her drastic change- even a little bit. If ,as the writers seem to indicate, this character is pretty much the same and all/most of her actions ARE in character- name one- one action/thing she does that jives at all with the previous character in SATC.

secondly: are they intentionally trying to sh^t on aging and abuse of narcotics? They solve Miranda's drinking with a 2 second clip, as her love is clearly what solved the drinking problem. They make her love interest an addict of their own right, who Miranda now follows around. They spend much of the series making snide comments or crafting offensive stories around how people at the ripe old age of 55 can barely make it through the day. The one empowering thing they kinda do is have 1 woman let her hair naturally go grey. And then they reverse that in the last episode when Miranda truly finds herself!! (by moving to LA and following her new love. Who cares about a job or her child or anything else- and ditch that grey hair she (and they) went on about empowering her to be natural with. She's finally FREE so she doesn't have to be gross and grey haired any more).

These writers continue to sh^t on everything they pretend to be enlightened about. Honestly- I think SJP should be embarrassed at this point.

[Binky]

Let’s see:
Workaholic Miranda quit her job to go back to school. (Working adults get degrees all the time.)
Became an actual alcoholic (but fixed it with a book off Amazon)
Allowed her son’s girlfriend to move in with no observable rules about conduct.
Fell madly in lust with Che, cheated on her husband, then threw away her new career plan immediately.

You know, if they’d kept ANY of Miranda’s original traits intact, they might have sold a relationship with Che. But they didn’t, so it’s just part of the total mess that is reboot Miranda.

[scarlet]

BTW, does Miranda have a massive nest egg that she can afford to not be working? They didn't make any mention of if Steve still owns his bar (actually shocked there wasn't some "Steve lost the bar, what a loser" conversation).

Mar 14, 2005 2:10:14 GMT -4 dragonflie said:

They solve Miranda's drinking with a 2 second clip

Subtext: The only reason Miranda was drinking was because she was so dissatisfied with her life--once she found Che, poof, no more drinking. Trading one dependence for another--good job, writers!