Manolos? Check. Cosmopolitans? Check. Fabulous girlfriends? Check. Impossibly glamorous designer wardrobe? Check. Hit sitcom-turned-blockbuster-movie Sex and the City is more than just a style guide for women all over the world — it is a manifesto for life.
While fans overseas indulged in the box-office smash weeks ago, Australian audiences had to hold their killer heels back from cinemas until the release of the movie recently. While the flick, which has been touted as a movie-length final episode of the hit series, promises to deliver more pink drinks, sexual fantasies and fashion-forward dressing than any SATC fan could handle, we take a look at the legacy of the SATC phenomenon and just what this pop-cult hit has meant to women the world over.
The phenomenal success of the HBO hit series and the worldwide wave of eagerness for the release of the film is testament to the universal appeal of SATC. What is it that has struck such a chord with audiences? Is it just good old-fashioned escapism for viewers, all packaged in a modern-day designer wrapper? Or is there something more behind the glitz, glam and sexual confidence of these four women that has drawn in audiences far and wide?
For starters, SATC bands together four somewhat contradictory women, who, outside the show, seem unlikely friends, but who support each other through relationship crises, wardrobe malfunctions, illness, children, marriage and much more. The stark differences between the characters of Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha give viewers some point of individual identification with the show, while on a universal level, SATC centres around a fundamental truth for all women everywhere — that of friendship. As Carrie so succinctly says, “No matter who breaks your heart and how long it takes to get over it, you’ll never get through it without your friends.”
The SATC theme of femme-power is also one that has struck a chord with modern working women, who may have prioritised career or single life over the traditional values of marriage and family. SATC depicts singledom in such a glamorous way that men are almost side-dishes to the four girls’ fun and exciting lives full of art openings, the “It” bars of Manhattan, egg-white omelettes and designer shoes. SATC embraces the power of friendship, but interestingly, achieved higher ratings when the girls were in relationships on the show. This is testament to the notion that most single women, however satisfied, still maintain the hope that a meaningful relationship can happen to them, too.
While the more serious subjects of friendship, love and life were a major drawcard for SATC, the sizzling and often confronting sex and the glorious Cinderella-like fashion were what made SATC into a Cosmopolitan-infused success around the world.
A unanimous gasp could be heard every time Carrie stepped out of her Manhattan one-bedroom in the latest outfit from the show’s stylist Patricia Field. It appeared that, no matter what heartaches the girls were enduring, there was nothing a new pair of Jimmy Choos couldn’t fix. Fashion was often the armoury used by the foursome when the more serious and painful side of life took over. Field is now renowned the world over for her unique SATC styles, looks that Manolo Blahnik told the UK Sunday Times are “sexy, quirky and fresh, without being threatening. Women liked that”.
SATC offered women a measuring stick for their sex lives and while the sexually charged Samantha campaigned for the more extreme notions of casual, no-strings-attached sex, SATC confronted the full spectrum of sexuality and sexual issues, and challenged and empowered female audiences to embrace and question their sex lives.
SATC is an ingenious blend of fantasy and reality that provides serious life advice and fabulous fun for women everywhere. So, with the much-anticipated release of the SATC movie happening this week in Australian cinemas, put on your best pair of heels, grab an entourage of friends and escape to a world where wardrobes expand by the day, cocktails flow freely and sex is everything it is meant to be, while you ponder life’s more serious questions of love, health, relationships and career — over a Cosmopolitan, of course!
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