Gen Z is attacking ‘Sex and the City’ & the gays aren’t having it
With "Sex and the City" now on Netflix, Gen Z is finally exposed to Carrie Bradshaw, and all of her many, many flaws.
After all of these years, Lexi Featherston was right: No one’s fun anymore!
Sex and the City, the iconic comedy-drama that inspired a generation of gays to sip cosmos and declare they’re in their “Carrie Bradshaw era,” is now streaming on Netflix.
Though SATC has been available on HBO for decades, the show’s move to the most popular streaming service in the world makes it accessible to a far wider audience.
That includes Gen Z, whose anticipated reaction to the show has dominated online discourse for two weeks. How would the most diverse generation on record identify with Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda, four wealthy white women who spend their days cavorting around Manhattan?
Perhaps even more pressingly, how would a group of young people having less sex than their parents and grandparents respond to a show that revolves around the aforementioned characters’ sexcapades and romantic dalliances?
The answer is, exactly how you would expect! At least, that’s the case when it comes to one writer, who wrote about her grievances with the show in The Independent.
“I’m Gen Z watching Sex and the City for the first time. It’s not just outdated, it’s cringey,” the headline blares.
Before we go further, it’s worth noting that even SATC‘s most devout fans would admit there is plenty of cringe throughout the show’s six seasons: Carrie declaring that bisexuality is a “layover on the way to gay town,” Samantha using derogatory slurs when fighting with Black transgender sex workers, Miranda’s near-constant classism.
In other words, the SATC girls aren’t necessarily the best people. They’re greedy, promiscuous and in Carrie’s case, deeply self-indulgent.
And that’s the point! When the writer points out the irony of Carrie being a sex columnist with rigid views about sexuality, or Charlotte’s toxic ideas about dating, one phrase comes to mind: Duh!
“Unlike Friends or The Office, which have their own problems when watched through a modern lens, there is not a single main character worth rooting for in Sex and the City,” the article says. “The bottom line is I can’t enjoy a show that’s supposed to be about female friendships when I have zero sympathy for characters who aren’t just terrible friends, but terrible people.”
At the risk of piling on, the writer seems to miss the groundbreaking premise of the show. Carrie and her pals aren’t just female protagonists. They’re flawed female protagonists, with bad judgment and a penchant for hurting others.
The latter part of Season 3, for example, is centered around Carrie cheating on her boyfriend at the time, Aidan. She cheats on generous, dotting Aidan with Big, her on-again off-again boyfriend, and full-time emotional tormentor.
And you know what? That’s what makes Carrie relatable. She’s the ultimate anti-hero, a walking contradiction with very expensive shoe habit.
Who among us hasn’t asked for money from a wealthier friend, only to become mean and passive aggressive when they refuse?
Please tell us what you think of Laverne and Shirley next.— Joseph “Future Sand Worm” Guarino
(@RoninJoey) April 12, 2024
Gen Z will never understand how iconic Samantha Jones is smh!!!!— Ghalia (@ghaliasaheb) April 12, 2024
Despite debuting 26 years ago, SATC remains at the forefront of the cultural zeitgeist. There’s no better example than the show’s widely panned reboot, And Just Like That.
SATC lovers have a myriad of complaints about AJLT: scattershot writing, no Samantha Jones, the mere existence of Che Diaz. But yet, we still watch, waiting with bated breath for Miranda’s next tired quip about aging.
And maybe that’s the main disconnect between Gen Z and SATC: they’re just not old enough! It can take years of heartbreak and disappointments to rally around Samantha’s awakening as a “try-sexual,” or Carrie dumping perfectly good men for no reason.
SATC would probably age better if the women were selfless and cognizant of others. But what would be the fun in that?
Part of the joy of SATC is hate-watching for the characters! I love Carrie because I hate how horrifying her thought process and decisions are, like crying about being the villain in Natasha’s life or treating Aidan the same way Big treated her. We don’t need perfect characters…— fatherfigvre (@fathrfigvre) April 12, 2024
Terrible people are fabulous to watch— the cutest moron (@moronshaney) April 12, 2024
open the schools!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!— John Luke Byrne (@byrninlove) April 12, 2024
What do you think? Is Sex and the City too cringe to enjoy? Let us know in the comments below…
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