Attention women: if you have not yet seen this film, DON'T. If you have, I truly - from the bottom of my heart - hope you didn't like it.
It was entertaining, yes; however, the writers made certain choices - actually MANY choices - that made me walk away from the film feeling purely disgusted that such writing abilities had been used for evil. Yes, evil.
SATC writers, I am sorry, but you have absolutely NO CONCEPT of what constitutes a happy ending. Allow me to inform you: it is not when the character gets what she wants; it is when she gets what she NEEDS.
NO ONE IN THIS FILM (save for the perfect cartoon-like Charlotte) gets what she needs. Instead, they all get what they WANT, and we are supposed to be joyous.
What do these characters want? Here come the SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS:
- Carrie wants to end up with Big. He proposes to her (horay!) and then leaves her at the [alter] (boo...). So what does she do after moping for half the film? She takes him back. Because he apologized...many times. So he must be really really sorry, right? And when he proposes again? She accepts. What an idiot. Exactly HOW MANY TIMES must a guy screw you over before you learn your lesson? She WANTED to marry Big, but is that what she really needs? Of course not. Yet the director cues the sappy, romantic music, and we are supposed to swallow this as a happy ending. Happy ending my butt.
- Speaking of butts, Miranda wants to be successful on three fronts: kicking ASS at her career, her parenting, and her marriage; however when she starts becoming more successful in the work place, her sex life suffers. So what does Steve do? He cheats on her. But it's HER fault, right? Since they haven't been having sex...(note the sarcasm?)? So what does Miranda do? To her credit, she does try for half the film to get over Steve. And what do her friends do? They encourage Miranda to FORGIVE HIM. Wtf!?!?!?!? And WHY? "Because Steve is such a nice guy." Well, honey, Mr. Nice Guy just nicely screwed another woman. But that's okay, too, since it wasn't meaningful...right? Eventually the 3 severely insecure friends convince Miranda that she is wrong, and Miranda does take Steve back. Unlike Carrie and Big's situation, this one is resolved on the Brooklyn Bridge...because that's a good location for another happy ending, right? WRONG. A happy ending would have been Miranda THROWING STEVE OFF the bridge. Not kissing him on it. Eesh, Miranda...I really hoped you would have more sense.
- Charlotte is a smiling, pregnant blow up doll the whole movie, as usual - no complaints there - so let's move on to Samantha. She has moved to LA to manage Smith Jarrod's (sp?) career only to find that she resents spending most of the day revolving her life around a man. So after thinking about it for 2 and a half hours, she decides to leave him. You go, girl. Only problem: he is actually the only nice guy in the entire movie.
So what are the writers trying to tell us, women? Apparently we should be leaving the good guys and taking back the ones who cheat and leave us at the alter. And not only are they encouraging us to do that, they are trying to convince us that these are happy endings!
Don't get me wrong. The movie is quite entertaining. Really. But of all messages to convey - and I am not advocating a film be made purely for its message - why THAT one? The film would have been JUST AS ENTERTAINING if the women learned they would be happier alone. Or at the very least - with guys who treat them like queens.
Instead, we have QUEENS, NY and a bunch of guys who act like princesses.
5 comments:
Well said!
I totally agree with you Jaydi. These guys were LOSERS (exccept for L.A. cute guy). How can young women today build confidence in themselves when Hollywood tells them this is what they deserve.
Wow, I haven't seen the movie, but based on your description of the endings it does sound a little bit disappointing. I can't help but think, or at least hope, that maybe they were not trying to say that these women were "happy" per se, as we know that no television character ever is, hence the series. Perhaps the creators didn't want to resolve the characters in that tv-series-to-movie kind of resolution. I've never seen these women as my role models, so perhaps there is beneath all of the superficiality and frankly poor judgment, a commentary on women who involve themselves too much in the unwise decisions, that they live miserably and therefore end up miserably - maybe that was being true to these characters, because honestly, how reputable were they to begin with?
I for one am a big fan of the show, always have been, and it sounds like you were too, hence your disappointment, but on a level it doesn't surprise me, because the vicarious enjoyment that I derived from those characters, in retrospect, was more or less, all of the dumb decisions they made- ending up with the asshole, trying to make the impossible yet exciting relationships work, being a pregnant doll--okay, not that one, but doing the stupid thing, can seem fun, and dangerous, and risky, and is the perfect thing to experience at a distance. These are women who lead somewhat retarded lives in an introspective, fashionable, and glamorous way, and while they appear to be"independent", to me, that has always struck me as by default, rather than their all-knowing feminism or inward omniscience.
And I love them, I do, but in the way I love Patrick Batemen, for following through on the bad ideas that I might want to try out in a life I'm not so invested in. Except Bateman is more badass, duh.
Agreed
Right on Jaydi! That was an almost perfect review of the film, but you forgot to critique the most ridiculous part!!!
Carrie hires a girl named Louise from SAINT LOUISE!!!
This is just so they could make the joke..."Im going to start calling you Saint Louise from St. Louis!!!!!
Thats only funny if that happened by accident in real life!!!
Anyway you rock otherwise Jaydi!
Long time reader
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