Have you ever found yourself wishing your favorite movies and series were a little less complex, or just a little? I am thinking, for example, of ‘Sex and the City’, how this contemporary television classic has forged part of the identity of the female and feminist population that we take for granted today , but that years ago was not so established . I evoke how much we will have improved so that we read it as outdated… Not even thirty years have passed!
I put on the table that it was relevant to build women in whose image we saw ourselves reflected (and reflected, and reflected), because of their imperfection and talkativeness, because of their bad luck and because of their need to laugh at themselves . I vindicate even more, if possible, the commitment to give them a good future: a path that, although it would not be straight, did lead them to a better place. A future that always, always (this is what Darren Star ‘s series underscored season after season, in a very feel good moralistic tone ), led the protagonists towards a reunion with their inner self.
But, from time to time, I find myself wondering how much Sarah Jessica Parker’s divine imagery helped change anything, really , for the people who walked daily beneath her huge, woman-empowered busts that topped this or that billboard. . How could the HBO series influence the real lives of its viewers? A housekeeper would never improve her working conditions by dreaming of resembling the rich women in her favorite series De ella. On the contrary, perhaps dreaming of a glittering New York they would forget that her miserable wages depended on people like them, dreamy ladies, mirages more than reflections.
So what do we do with ‘Sex and the City’? In short, the answer is: we illuminate its buts, we debate its faults, we celebrate its existence.
The same Candance Bushnell, author of the articles on which the series is based, had spoken against some values of the original story : “The reality is that finding a man may not be the best economic option in the long term. Men can be very dangerous to women in many different ways. We never talked about this, but that’s something women need to think about: you can do a lot less… When you have to depend on a man,” she added: ” The show wasn’t very feminist, in the end. But that’s TV. That’s entertainment. That’s why people shouldn’t base their lives on a TV show . ” But, worth the truism, fiction is threaded into reality.
Here is the ‘Sex and the City’ Cinematographic Universe, which returns in 2021 with a miniseries that aims to close stories from the past as well as open up possibilities for the future. ‘And Just Like That…’, “and just like that”, a few chapters remind us that the small screen can open up to as many lives as characters populate it, as people look at it.
Yes, ‘And Just Like That…’ still needs to integrate that inequalities are intersectional and that they do not depend only on skin color. However, we celebrate the existence of the HBO Max series because it allows us to continue discussing the state of things… About what we miss and about what we have achieved. Progress is not a well marked path.
Che Diaz, no-binary host
Deciding not to participate in the reboot, Kim Cattrall (Samantha) invited the creators to include more diversity in a predominantly cis, white and straight series. If we look at the incorporation of Sara Ramírez, a Mexican and non-binary person, as head of the podcast where Carrie participates , it will be that the writing team took note of Cattrall’s invitation. We only have to boost it.
Not everything ends at 50, and Sarah Jessica Parker (56) knows it. “Everyone has something to say: ‘He has too many wrinkles, he doesn’t have enough wrinkles.’ It almost seems like people don’t want us to be okay with where we are, like they enjoy seeing us suffer for who we are today, whether we choose to grow old. ” naturally and not be perfect, but also if we do something that makes us feel better,” she said in a statement. 
Look means “looking”, but also “Miranda”
Because the diversity in the reboot of ‘And Just Like That…’ is accompanied by a conscious exercise to broaden and improve representation in the series : of the four new friends of the leading trio, two are of African-American descent. Nicole Ari Parker is a documentary filmmaker, Karen Pittman , JD.
Welcome to the fantastic world of the NY subway
In fact, the change is so prosaic and radical that even memes have been made around this “stellar” addition . For the first time, friends, glitter, restaurants and the Subway coexist in New York. Because in the series we see a subway platform that isn’t even ugly or dangerous, it’s just mundane. Could this new setting be a tacit vindication of the lack of normality of the original series? Or maybe the subway has already become a habitable space for the imaginary of ‘cool’, without the need for real change? Let’s get back to Macklemore’s ‘Thrift Shop’ theme and get a little muddy: the debate is served.
A reboot that looks ahead
Is the ‘Sex and the City’ universe still gravitating towards comedy? A frank answer would surely leave room for a “yes”, with something else. It’s not just that some of the characters have disappeared ( Willie Garson , deceased, Kim Cattrall , disagreement), it’s that their emptiness hasn’t been obviated.
