Why y'all always talk about tv characters as if you would spend more than five minutes watching people behave in completely moral, rational ways? Stop it. It's entertainment not a template. LOL!!
Tv/Film, all writing is made for drama or heightened conflict. Without it, you can't watch. In script development, I work on upping the stakes as a producer and as a writer. Even as a documentary producer, we look for ways in editing to make sure the story has an arch (not pushing anything but you can't just show paint drying). So no show is going to show just content characters living their content lives whether drama or comedy.There always has to be something to come in and mess things up and mush it about
. As you mention there is no way you'd watch (listen or even read a book) if everyone was behaving in completely vanilla ways. You need some scoundrel to enter the picture or someone who is fallible to completely keep shooting themselves in the foot, etc.
And let's face it Hbo pushes boundaries, has always. Even shows like Euphoria are claiming that's teens everywhere. I remember when kids came out (the film "kids") they were like this is life for everyday kids and I was like nuh uh speak for yourself. I was a tween when it came out. When I was allowed to watch it some years later, I was like what? No. And don't get me wrong, there were definitely things happening here and there but not overall. Films and tv shows, the pr people try to spin it as "
this is life" so that you watch.
For sex and the City it was a bunch of ww. A show invented by a lonely society driven white, observing others, basically a lady without friends in real life (where are the real versions? they only identify her for one reason), and two gay dudes (one Executive and Producer) who developed the show. All that sex stuff came from the lead writer/producer (gay guys), and their slanted point of view. Yes they had women writers in the writers room but they are relegated to go with the story line that the lead comes up with and add flourishes to that. So you had a bunch of WW painted by White Gay men. And women are modeling themselves after this concept?
Think about it
dating like a man was always encouraged. We aren't men. That's insulting. I don't have to do anything like a guy. I have to just be me. They were like Samantha dates like a man. It's so liberating. Why can't she just be
her? So anyways, they made everyone into a specific character /archetype and honed it. If you watch it with that in mind, you appreciate the show. And I do when it's on reruns. But I don't take it serious. I remember people actually looking for friends like sex and the city style or saying who are you a Samantha, Carrie, Miranda or a Charlotte, and I'm like I'm a
luckiest 
. These women aren't real. And they aren't even archetypes of real white women. They were much more interesting than any of my white roommates in college
.
Samantha:
And getting back to Samantha, I always think it's funny that everyone says how she was emotionally detached but here she goes demanding that Richard commit to her, while telling Smith Jerod she loves him but she loves herself more. Nah, she was just as complex as others. I think that's where some of the women writers got in the mix in the writer's room. Because even though it's being developed from the gay men's producer/head writer's mind,. the other writers have to then fill in the gaps. Some people/ women live think one way but do the complete opposite in others : So with the
one, he needs to be like this but another guy who is not the one will never measure up so the standards change for him. Samantha was really no different in that way. She may have commitment issues but they darn sure whipped into shape when Richard rolled up. She wanted to lock him down and only fled when she realized it would be exhausting (constantly checking on him) because she knew she
couldn't .
Common annoying theme:
Okay I realize it's sex and the city but do you realize that anytime someone waited for sex, they were penalized? If you take that seriously you're going to think you have to be as free sexually as the others and waiting is a bad thing or makes you uptight versus doing what you want to do personally. Hence why taking a show at face value can suck. For instance:
- Charlotte waited for Trey and got a limp noodle upon attempt at lift off after marriage.
- Samantha and that dude that she supposedly loved at the beginning of the show (saw reruns), waited to have sex with him only to find out he had a "gerkin" (remember that because the reference was
) . She confessed when he wanted to go to counseling and she realized this would be her life and she said she just needed a big one and he said maybe she was just too big.
Another annoying theme is how these women are supposed to be so independent but in the end in the tv show and movies it was like the Taming of the Shrew (if you don't know that reference think Shakespeare and an unruly lady and a man finally taming her in the end). For all Carrie's talk about "Some women are born to run wild" let's look at some examples
- Charlotte was reduced to telling Harry she would love to be with him married or not if only he'd date her. Then he's like okay now that you've learned your lesson little lady, I'm going to marry you. Keep in mind he's a nice guy but he had some flaws. She was like look at you and look at me. Sorry dude. She had her ish together and was cute, sweet, well meaning...meanwhile he was just doing him. Meanwhile she's hopping and skipping, and twisting into a bunch of positions without any promises from this dude other than, "If only you were Jewish". And I know she was looking for perfect but she dropped that with him. People evolve. Dude had her converting. The she coverts to Judaism for Harry and dude can't turn off the tv while she cooks a full elaborate meal for the Holidays. I understand the game's on but he's going to leave her because she loses it and asks him to set a date. DUDE should've asked long ago. I don't care if he bought a ring. And so she's left sobbing to him in a room of Jewish singles about how she would be honored if he'd just breathe in her direction.
- Samantha changes everything for steve except her bad attitude lol. She twists into so many pretzels it isn't even worth it to go into.
- Carrie marries in city hall and let's face it that is not what she wanted. And this is after dude has the nerve to be scared after all the crap he put her through and not go to their regularly planned wedding. He criticizes her when it's in the New York Times because he's been married three times when she's never been married. So she's supposed to not be excited about announcing her wedding because he's embarrassed for choosing to marry three times? And let's face it one of them was on her watch, he chose someone else over her. Even when some say she was bored in the next movie, no not really she was upset that he was no longer interested in her in the same way. She got even more upset when he wanted to keep the separate spaces like yay! which sent her running to aiden and back to telling him because that way she could create some drama, show him she still has others who like her, and send him in a tailspin. Of course he came back with a ring to show her how to be properly married, which she happily accepted.
- Samantha, okay in the end she left Jerad but let dude roll back into her life promising fidelity and all that Samantha facade would fall away for Richard. She'd be a settled married wifey.
Eh there are more but this is off the top of my head. The show is just for guilty fun when you're bored on rerun not to take their lives seriously. I don't want to go into other dynamics because it would become a novel. I'm always analyzing shows lately because I'm working on writing something so it's fun to break things down.
