Wednesday 4 June 2008

Movies that fall short of the "expectations" surrounding them

I'm often over critical of films, especially those with a lot of hype around them. I also like to consider myself a feminist. For these reasons, I refuse to see Sex and the City: The Movie.

It's been the long awaited movie of the summer (thought my long awaited movie is Mamma Mia: The Movie Musical) and really, I could care less. I've never gotten into the show. I've tried. I really really have. When friends have wanted to watch it I've joined them. When there was nothing else on in the hotel except for reruns on HBO I watched it, I will admit, I even watched the first season on HBO in demand, so don't say I didn't try to get "into" the show. I put forth a lot of effort through the years.

However, I still don't like the show and I REALLY don't like the characters. From the get go I hated Charlotte. Her focus in life being predominately to get married and have children just made her boring and one dimensional. Supposedly, she's a successful at whatever she does at the art gallery (owns it maybe?), but really, I can't help but think of Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate, and not in the good way I like to think of her. At one point of the film, she's lying in bed talking to Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) and he asks her what she studied at college. She studied Art History before she got knocked up and had a shot gun marriage. If I recall correctly, the young women in Mona Lisa Smile also study Art History, in their spare time when they are not getting married or waiting for a proposal. I'm sure there are other examples of this in many other films, but what does this equate to? Women who study Art History have few ambitions or alternatives other than the job of housewife and mother. I'm NOT saying this is true of present or past Art History students, but that at least in mainstream media a BA in Art History = BA in Housewifery. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make here is that Charlotte, like many of her hollywood fore-mothers, is of course only interested in marriage and babies to the point that it makes her a caricature, boring, and a cliche. Hence, why I never liked her to begin with. I realize she's supposed to be annoying and whiny, but what does it say about society when women go "oh i'm such a charlotte!" Really, is this the equality we've been looking for?

The one I hate only slightly less than Charlotte would be Carrie. I think she is the reason I never got into the show. You really should like the main character. Well, I don't. I find her neurosis annoying as well. I find her to be a more flamboyant package of Ally McBeal. She allows for this man to continuously love her and leave her. Even when he's married he still messes with her head. I realize that partly why so many women love this character is they too have an unattainable guy in their life that they just can't seem to get over. I mean, who hasn't? I know have, but I'm only 22. Most teenagers and women in their 20s do at some point, but I would hope that a woman nearly twice my age would be more sure of herself and have greater self esteem. Apparently not, apparently we never get over that one guy. But the thing is, must like in When Harry Met Sally, this isn't based in reality! You don't end up with your "Big," your "Big" ends up with someone else. Someone who isn't neurotic. Someone who does let me walk all over you emotionally. Sorry girls, but it's true. The real world does not function the same way High School or College romances do. I think this is why I really hate Carrie, perhaps even more than Charlotte who I try to just ignore, is that women can "identify" with her, but what does that say about us? That we are also neurotic women pining over men we can't have, allowing men to treat us like trash, and throwing away the stable, loving ones who just aren't as exciting. Well, that excitement is actually the fear and possibility that he will up and leave you for someone who isn't as neurotic or stupidly obsessed with him.

Moving right along. When I first watched it I enjoyed Samantha a lot. She was probably my favorite, maybe because I'm loud and don't care what people think. I'm definitely the one at the luncheon table who will shout "cock," "pussy," "fuck," et all and wonder why everyone else is blushing. I was always the "Samantha" in the group. But while some people find Samantha to be the "sexually liberated feminist" of the group, she's really not. Her character and story lines, like the other female characters, is based on, and dependent upon, men. She gets the laughs and outrageous moments, but only because of her constant craving for a "phallus" (should I get all freudian on you? I'll pass that for now). You will have to set aside the season where she was in a lesbian relationship, but when you think about it, it really follows a similar pattern as her sexual romps with men. However, the point is she is just as dependent upon men as Charlotte is for meaning, and Carrie is for neurosis.

Looking back on the show, the one character I truly like is Miranda. Perhaps she's the most realistic of them all. Sure she is also looking for love and dating, but she's often forgotten, shoved under the rug, "closested" if you will. The first few seasons, the stylists for the show made Miranda look like the biggest cliche of a lesbian ever. They desexualized her through her hair, make up, and wardrobe. However, while the least glamorous, she's one of the most truthful characters ever featured on the show. She has a love hate relationship with men, she decides she doesn't need a man for her to keep her child (see Knocked Up) and while she does eventually get with Steve, it's not because she feels she HAS to get married or have a man, it's because she wants to and loves him. I might also be biased based on the episode where she gets upset that Steve (i think it was Steve) wants to cuddle and falls asleep on her pillow. Honestly, I can share blankets, I can share bed (I have two younger sisters I had to share hotel beds with on vacations so I'm used to that), but give me my damn pillows or I'll shove you off the bed.

To wrap this up, I refuse to see the movie. I really do. I don't think they needed to make a movie out of it, I think the series was more than enough, and if they make a sequel I may have to kick someone. I'm not saying everyone should avoid this movie (as it's impossible since most my friends already have), but I will not see it in the movie theaters. Perhaps, later, on a plane, or at a friends I could be convinced to see it (see 27 Dresses), but until it's free for me don't even bother. And even then, be prepared for a struggle.