Manhattan Maneaters (Sex and the City)

Name: stoffy

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Product:	Sex and the City
Date:	26/06/03 (410 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very witty, good character development

Disadvantages: will be offensive to many

Four women who talk about their vaginas and how bad men are under soft-focus lighting. Still, enough about the sub-Pebble Mill daytime TV shocker that was ‘Loose Women’, this op’s all about ‘Sex and the City’, one of the better American comedy-drama imports over the last decade or so.

The show centres around the loves and lives of four thirty-something Manhattenites as the stumble from liason to liason with varying degrees of permanence.

The main focal-point is journalist Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), who’s newspaper column’s strapline that ‘Carrie Bradshaw knows good sex’ is somewhat contradictory to her own life, as her lovelife takes a series of rollercoaster rides with various beaus throughout the programme so far. Also doubling as the narrator, Carrie has a big designer-shoe fetish to make Imelda Marcos blush and an even bigger Gucci purse judging by the size of her apartment. She is also one of the few adult characters in modern-day American drama that is a regular smoker...

By contrast to the level-headed and fountain of knowledge that is Carrie, Samantha (Kim Cattrall) thrives on her insatiable appetite for men. With more notches on the bedpost than most people have had hot dinners, she is the most morally bankrupt of the quartet, although beneath the hard and confident exterior, there is a much softer and insecure side to her that can emerge at the most inopportune moments. Having said that, she knows the Kama Sutra back to front, and has partaken in pretty much everything carnal at one time or another.

Comparatively, Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is positively uptight. Prissy and a bit of a control freak, she views relationships from a more romantic angle than the rest of the foursome, and usually gets the more issue-led storylines such as impotence and infertility.

The main characters are completed by Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), the confident lawyer
, who never quite manages to find the right kind of person. Usually the most sensible of the bunch, she is prone to making big mistakes in her relationships, and is never afraid to express an opinion. She also became the first of the quartet to drop a sprog in the recent series, and memorably, her waters broke all over Carrie’s expensive designer shoes.

‘Sex and the City’ has been criticised by many on the basis that it’s two-dimensional and an unrealistic portrayal of how women interact with each other. However, behind the common sex and relationship theme of each episode, the writing is incredibly sharp, and other topics are also dealt with in a matter-of-fact and non-melodramatic way. There is also the advantage of having self-contained stories in each episode as well as plots that carry over, so that you can enjoy a one-off episode and still understand what’s going on.

After some not so subtle hint-dropping by Cynthia Nixon, it is unlikely that too many more series are going to be made of the show. Arguably this is the right thing to do and ensure that the it doesn’t go past its sell-by-date, although the evolution of the characters’ lives and circumstances up to this point have kept the show fresh.

As you may expect, it is totally unsuitable for minors, and even some adults may be a little squeamish at the subject matter. Even so, it’s definitely worth a try as it’s every bit as sharp as the very best imported American comedy,

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