The cult HBO production Sex and the City, which came into our lives 25 years ago, is still among the favorite series of female audiences today. If we ask why, of course, many reasons can be listed. However, what appeals to us the most is the emotional partnership we have established with this quarter-century-old story.
It all started about 25 years ago: The New York Star columnist Carrie Bradshaw, who was walking the streets of Manhattan in her high heels, picked up her newspaper and was talking about the great resources of her column on relationships. Bradshaw’s great sources were her three women friends in their 30s: art dealer Charlotte York, public relations specialist Samantha Jones, and lawyer Miranda Hobes. With Sex and the City, which premiered in 1998, these four women from New York became the emotional partners of their sisters around the world.
Like Carrie Bradshaw, with whom almost every woman who watches the series identifies with, I turned on the computer screen and started to think about why we women love Sex and the City so much. Here are some questions about the series: Is Sex and the City a feminist drama? Not, really. Were Chanel bags so glamorous because they took us to fashion heaven with Manolo Blahnik shoes? Of course, it was seductive in a degree, yet the bond that the series connected with us was certainly not from here. To me, the main point is its story that tells us a courage example to stand on our legs and write our own story.
In the final scene after six seasons, Carry, walking alone on the streets of Manhattan, said that the most exciting, challenging and meaningful relationship is the one we have with ourselves. Sex and the City is a growing up story for many of us, even though it was about four adult women in their 30s. A manifesto on love, sex, romantic relationships, friendships and being a woman in life was a guide overflowing from the white glass. As the song says, we learned from Carrie Bradshaw that when life gets tough and we are out of breath in dead-end streets, all we have to do is sit in a restaurant alone and have a glass of wine. Because the most exciting, challenging and meaningful relationship was the one we built with ourselves.
Today, years after I watched it for the first time, when I think about Sex and the City once again, I realize how timeless, universal and belongs to us women. So, a big part of Carrie’s life and the show, I don’t recall Mr. Big, I just remember this cult show with Carrie and her friends. Sex and the City, was a manifesto for women and our relationship with ourselves. It included loves, friendships, heels and bags, and answers to question of how to deal with wrinkles on our faces and many more.
Long story short, Sex and the City empathized with us women. It has been on the white screen for a quarter of a century, if you are one of those who give up hope that love will come across you on a street corner when you least expect it, those who want to hug their friends after a breakup, those who are about to move to a new city, or those who just want to prepare a cocktail and watch something to clear their minds. My favorite is from the second season, Carrie’s “So, I sat there and had a glass of wine alone. No books, no man, no friends, no armor, no faking”, chapter 14. Because Sex and the City is our story of finding ourselves, not the loves we hope to find on the corner of the street.
