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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think SATC is a terrible representation of women?

156 replies

BlueNeighbourhood1 · 11/03/2018 11:40

I'm 34 now so probably should've watched this in my younger years but I was way too into Friends.

Ive started at the beginning and one season in and Carrie is absolutely awful! She basically has every red flag we say men have but in a woman. Possibly narcisstic and everything is all about her, how was she a role model in the 90's?!

Or is it just me and she's still an icon?

OP posts:

Eemamc · 11/03/2018 14:32

The episode that stayed with me was when Charlotte talked about them being each others soul mates. And the he’s just not that into you episode. I regularly thought about that when I was dating, and not necessarily being treated very well. I told that to myself and moved on rather than doing the needy texting them thing, and trying to force something that wasn’t right. Definitely going to be telling my daughter that...it’s about self respect.

user5292769 · 11/03/2018 14:36

But why do they have to be representative of women? There are many tv shows with awful male characters and no one says they are poor representations of men?? Why do women characters have to be role models or representatives of anyone?

IamXXHearMeRoar · 11/03/2018 14:38

When I found the first grey pube I thought of Samantha, laughed and reached for the razor.

Pikehau · 11/03/2018 14:38

I watched it when I was at uni and it was “live” no Netflix / record on sky back then!

It was escapism... I loved it... I loved the thought i could have fun in a big city, be successful and be happy.

They are not role models and never did I aspire to be them but I probably hoped I could have the “fun”!they did when I “grew up” (finished uni and earnt my own money)

It was ace!! Now if I watch it as a mother and a 36yr old woman I am but it’s sentimental.

I also LOVED This Life

LipstickHandbagCoffee · 11/03/2018 14:44

It’s a made up tv show,it’s purpose is entertainment,not accurate social representation
Entertainment shows like SATC aren’t a searing deep exploration of women in society
SATC is frothy show to be watched on the sofa,not unpicked in search of ideology & meaning

IamXXHearMeRoar · 11/03/2018 14:50

I think Six Foot Under was a terrible representation of undertakers and I loved that too.

Eltonjohnssyrup · 11/03/2018 14:55

The whole point of the first movie (which I loved) is that Carrie is awful and Big is completely right to ditch her at the altar. The whole movie is Carrie facing up to the fact she was being awful and just caring about showing off at a big fancy wedding rather than caring about the person she was marrying. And the whole film is about her realising that until she comes to the point of being able to admit it to herself and then just marry him for himself at City Hall with no fuss.

Carrie being awful a lot of the time is the whole point.

There seems to be an awful lot of point missing on this thread. Like it not being convincing Miranda would be in a relationship with Steve. That’s part of the point too. She doesn’t want to have a relationship with him, and they only end up together because her unplanned pregnancy means she actually has to get to know him properly and finds out all his positives which she would otherwise never have bothered to find out. Half the point is that she sacks off the professional black guy (who is what she would have wanted before) in favour of Steve.

Eltonjohnssyrup · 11/03/2018 15:01

All the stuff that’s come out recently about how horrifically SJP treated Kim Catterall has spoiled it a bit though.

The entire reason the second film was such a stinker was because SJP was more consumed with humiliating KC than making a decent movie.

The sexual humiliation that KC was put through when the others weren’t seems like borderline sexual assault/harassment.

SJP is a good actress. But she is a pretty vile human being. Perhaps a lot of that is reflected in Carrie?

Piffle11 · 11/03/2018 15:04

I absolutely loved it when it first came out ... I was only about 5 years younger than Carrie, and newly single: when I watch it now I really cringe - it hasn't 'aged' well at all. I always found Charlotte annoying, and her character seemed to become more insignificant as the series progressed. I thought Samantha was amazing, but looking back now - and especially the second film - I'm embarrassed by her. Miranda is probably the only one I would actually want to be friends with: Carrie is a shit friend who dumps the girls whenever a man beckons. And the clothes - jesus, how terrible the fashions look today! You can watch certain films/series and the fashion can still stand on its own, but SATC ... a lot of it looks so overdone, so in-your-face-expensive, for the sake of it. The first film about moving to New York for love and labels ... nearly switched off the DVD right there and then. The storylines for SATC got worse when they decided to use Michael Patrick King instead of the group of female writers that had come before ... why would a gay man know what it's like to date as a single woman?

BeastInView · 11/03/2018 15:05

Get a grip. Bit much to call her a 'vile human being' based on a few rumours. The two women clearly didn't get on but it's not Saintly Cattrall v Vile Human SJP.

mrsBeverleyGoldberg · 11/03/2018 15:11

I enjoyed how glam it was and their lifestyle as I was routinely being vomited on by my babies. But I didn't like Carrie at all. Selfish egocentric whining spoiled brat. But I love Samantha. I watched for her.

MickHucknallspinkpancakes · 11/03/2018 15:11

Actually I was single in my early 30's in London and worked regularly in NYC and it was very representative of the lifestyle.

And single women are in a ratio of 2 to every 1 single man in NYC so there are a lot more women out socialising and single, and dating in this environment has extra pressure for women to meet the right guy.

mrsBeverleyGoldberg · 11/03/2018 15:17

I have to robustly disagree with anyone who doesn't think Aiden is a huge lovable sweetheart.I couldn't believe Carrie dumped him and cheated on him. The way he proposed was adorable. So handsome too.

Eltonjohnssyrup · 11/03/2018 15:17

beast, you obviously haven’t read the stuff Kim Cattrall said when her brother died recently. It’s not rumours. Kim Cattrall has been very open about it recently. Things like the lies told about her refusing to sign for the movies in order to try and pressure her into taking poor deals. She’s spoken at quite some length about how SJP had sex scenes written in to humiliate KC sexually and that she was forced into nudity she was uncomfortable.

It’s not much of a secret. SJP has a reputation for being a deeply unpleasant person off set and being prepared to feed damaging stories about costars to the press.

KC has been very clear that no amount of money in the world could induce her to work with SJP again and it’s why the third film isn’t happening.

Just because you’re ignorant about all this stuff doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Rather than telling me to get a grip, why don’t you have a try at actually informing yourself about stuff before you comment on it?

BeastInView · 11/03/2018 15:21

As I said, get a grip. With Hollywood spats there are always two sides to every story. How sweet of you though to feel so injured on Cattrall's part that you refer to Parker a 'vile human being'. Are you 12?

Eltonjohnssyrup · 11/03/2018 15:34

Have you ever actually watched the shows or movies beast? You know, the ones where Samantha’s sex scenes become increasingly embarrassing and humiliating as the series progressed. And it’s well known that was a result of SJP deliberately setting out to sexually humiliate KC.

And yes, I do think that a woman who uses sex to humiliate another woman is a ‘vile human being’.

If you don’t beast, that says a lot more about your faulty moral compass than it does about me. In fact I would much rather be a 12 year old than an adult woman who wasn’t capable of seeing how unpleasant that behaviour is.

Eltonjohnssyrup · 11/03/2018 15:36

It’s not like it isn’t there on film publicly available. But apparently you’re okay with using sexual humiliation to punish women you don’t like.

You sound like a peach. Do you have many friends?

blastomama · 11/03/2018 15:38

It's there on film but its totally open to interpretation. I don't think anyone here should be repeating this gossip mag fodder as fact, its a bit weird to be that invested or that sure>

BeastInView · 11/03/2018 15:39

I've got a faulty moral compass and a woman you've never met is a vile human being based on celeb tittle tattle. Got it. Did it never occur to you that Parker may have different take on the time she worked with Cattrall? What with there being at least two sides to all these kinds of fallouts? Maybe start reading things other than celebrity gossip sites.

Run along, child.

BeastInView · 11/03/2018 15:40

You sound like a peach. Do you have many friends?

I think I've insulted 12 year olds. They're far more emotionally mature than this.

MichaelBendfaster · 11/03/2018 15:41

I think Miranda is quite a good representation of women. She is a really good friend, good at her job, just a generally nice person.

I agree with this. I was always at how she was apparently the 'bitch' of the group. She is the best friend out of the lot of them. There's an episode where Carrie has to give a talk to some group and she worries that they won't like her, and Miranda just shrugs and says 'Fuck 'em,' and I thought 'Well, that's exactly what I would have said.'

I was appalled when they lumbered her with Steve and she moved to (now cool, I know, but then sticksville) Brooklyn.

BeastInView · 11/03/2018 15:41

I don't think anyone here should be repeating this gossip mag fodder as fact, its a bit weird to be that invested or that sure

Very weird indeed.

redexpat · 11/03/2018 15:53

'Women' is a very big group of people, and boiling it down to 4 types is impossible. They were never meant to represent women. They were 4 women characters which at the time was incredibly rare. Even rarer 4 women talking about sex. Living independantly, spending their money on whatever they liked. And its tv so there will always be extremes. But the production values were high. There was no slut shaming. They were all flawed which made them more real. The friendships were the basis of it. They were much better friends to each other than many on MN experience.

StorminaBcup · 11/03/2018 16:54

Aidan was awful! Whiny, passive aggressive creep in a folksy 'shucks I'm just a handsome carpenter' disguise

Given the choice of character flaws presented by the others I’ll stand by my original comment

FrannyAndZooeyGlass · 11/03/2018 17:10

And there were lots of story lines even in the first season that could resonate despite the characters being annoying.

The episode where Miranda - who finished first in her class at law school, has a great job, is slim, pretty, well-dressed, hard-working, well-adjusted, witty - is passed over by a man because he only wants to date models. That was the first time relationships and male / female desires were examined in a modern way.

Compare that story line with the crap representation of relationships and friendships on Friends.

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