Reading "Sex and the City" (Reading Contemporary Television) -

I think whether you like the book 'Reading Sex and the City' really depends on what you expect of it. It might be ideal for fans who want to read about aspects of the show in more depth but will, I think, disappoint those who were hoping for analysis with a little more bite. The series has received such glowing press in the USA, where it has been gushingly fêted for portraying "smart women [who] aren't afraid of their femininity or their appetites" (Los Angeles Times) and who are "anything but desperate...They're well-dressed, well paid and sexually gratified!" (Newsweek). Against the background of its tremendous global popularity and these rave reviews, this collection could have shaken the boat with some thrilling counter arguments, but criticism - and sometimes critical engagement - is kept to a minimum in this anthology. Marketed as a "critical celebration" and packaged in girly pink hues, the editors even include a recipe for a Cosmopolitan cocktail, a list of all major sites in New York from the series, and gossipy stories of the SATC tour. Instead of exposing, for example, the disingenuousness of making Carrie have a size zero body whilst never portraying her exercising and pretending that her favourite food are sugar-rich cupcakes from The Magnolia Bakery, we get an article on 'being in love with Sarah Jessica Parker' and a homage to the Manolo Blahnik shoes made so famous by the show.

Two articles in the collection provide welcome relief from this rather uncritical, sycophantic material, though. Kim Akass and Janet McCabe brilliantly deconstruct the opening sequence of the show, demonstrating that it contains two classic patriarchal representations of woman as whore (Carrie's skin-like dress on the bus advert as well as its reference to her knowing good sex) and woman as madonna (Carrie in a virginal fairy princess tutu). Humour, they argue, is here used to undercut female investment in patriarchal constructions of womanhood. In her article, Joanna di Mattia defly unravels the roles played by Big and Aidan in Carrie's romantic fantasies. Big - his very name has phallic connotations, as well as referring to his height, wealth and social status - embodies the emotionally impenetrable phallic seducer. His anonymity is a tabula rasa onto which Carrie can project her romantic longings; she remains irresistibly wedded to the belief that she can change him. Aidan also has a telling name (he does, after all, come repeatedly to Carrie's aid); he represents the Mills & Boon rescuer, but Carrie's fantasy landscape is, Di Mattia argues, "too intense to become Aidan's wife".

But there are some key questions, provoked by the show, which this anthology doesn't address in depth. Men are objectified the way women traditionally are, reduced to types ("toxic bachelors" and "modelisers") and judged by their appearance (how tall they are, how big their cocks are). Isn't this a simple case of reverse sexism? With Carrie's screechy, little-girl-lost routine around men in mind, can we really talk of the show having a "progressive representation of relationships"? Doesn't the shoe fetishism of the characters repeat and reinforce one of the most clichéd notions of femaleness? And - perhaps most importantly of all - aren't the four main protagonists rather too racially, sexually and economically privileged for this show to be considered somehow "representative" of women?

It is undoubtedly welcome that a series based on female friendship has become so successful, but we should be wary of overstating its subversiveness. Ultimately, as one writer in this anthology concludes, 'Sex and the City' never seriously queries the pursuit of Mr Right. The old patriarchal fairytales still have currency here, then, although sparks of feminist enlightenment surface, albeit fleetingly, as in Carrie's question to the show's most hopeless romantic: "Charlotte, honey, did you ever think that maybe we're the white knights and we're the ones who have to save ourselves?".

A Must Have (5/6 people found this helpful)

Anyone who is either a fan of the hit HBO series or an academic, even both this book is a must have.

I too could not put it down eventhough I haven't seen much of the series Sex and the City at all, this book has shown me what I've missed out on! The content covers several poignant episodes and disects to reveal messages in regards to Feminism and even the "Manhattan Dating Scene".

Check out the recipe for making the Classic Cosmopolitan cocktail drink, nice touch!

Extremely interesting (17/19 people found this helpful)

this book makes you the reader think alot more about the issues covered in sex and the city and also how they are covered, i especilly like the essay about the show illustrating the male charachters as freaks. This book achieves exactly what it set out to do, puts the wheels in motion for the conversations at the watercooler. it is an extremely interesting read and i would advise any die hard fan to purchase the book immediately, because once i picked it up found it hard to put down.

Reading "Sex and the City" (Reading Contemporary Television)

Reader Reviews:

Interesting, but sometimes gushy, responses to Sex and the City (4/4 people found this helpful)

A Must Have (5/6 people found this helpful)

Extremely interesting (17/19 people found this helpful)

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