Sex and the City is coming to Netflix (Picture: HBO/Darren Star Productions/Kobal/Shutterstock)
Are you a Carrie Bradshaw, Charlotte York, Miranda Hobbs or Samantha Jones?
It’s a question that many women who watched Sex and the City in its original run asked themselves, but a whole new generation could now be pondering the same conundrum – if they are not turned off by the sex-driven plots.
The New York-dwelling, sex-loving, Cosmopolitan-drinking, brunch-eating fashion icons made an impact in 1998 when the HBO show first arrived on TV screens and now it’s heading to Netflix.
The ‘Netflix effect’ will see it introduced to a whole new set of people, and with 75% of 18 to 34-year-olds holding a subscription to the platform (via Statista) it’s likely going to fall into a whole new set of hands.
The series starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, and Kim Cattrall holds a special place in the OG fans’ hearts.
From the moment, Carrie sauntered in front of a bus wearing a pink tulle skirt with a knowing smile on her face, the world was changed for the diehard viewers.
For many, it was empowering to finally see strong powerful characters owning their sexuality. It reminded the world that women could have desires that were equal to men.
It was fun, it was fearless and it was feminist.
SATC was fun, fearless and feminist (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)
Now, times have moved on somewhat. On TV (or in real life), it’s no longer revolutionary to see women in their 30s still fully in the grips of being single, owning property alone, or being the ones in control of their own choices.
So while for one batch of women, SATC was a pair of Jimmy Choos in a sea full of off-the-rack shoes, they could now be looking as enticing as the pair given to Charlotte by Buster – the salesman with a foot fetish.
I couldn’t help but wonder… has the world outgrown Sex and the City or has Sex and the City simply done its job too well?
When does Sex and the City arrive on Netflix?
The subject of how the series would translate to a Gen Z audience has arisen after it was announced that all six seasons would be landing on Netflix on April 1.
Gen Z could begin watching when it arrives on April 1 (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)
You can officially put your DVD box set into retirement (or at least give it an overdue hiatus) as SATC takes up residency on the streaming giant.
Concerned fan Danny Barry said: ‘I am not ready for Gen Z to interact with this show.’
While Gen X, and to a certain extent, Millennials, have placed the series on a pedestal, will the fresh eyes of Gen Z view the foursome in an equally complimentary way?
Problematic Sex and the City storylines
Once upon a time, women could be viewed as rebellious simply for being single, whether it was out of choice for them or if they aspired to find ‘the one’ but hadn’t been able to.
More often than not, women are somewhere in between those two categories and the SATC women brought that nuance to TV, showing it wasn’t black-and-white.
Carrie was happily single and enjoyed storing shoes in her oven and casually dating, but she also acknowledged her desire to be in love. These were not ‘old maids’, or ‘desperate spinsters’, they were simply trying to figure things out.
The women were happily single sometimes and craving companionship at other times (Picture: HBO)
While the world told them to couple up, they were steadfast in their aversion to settling down for the sake of it. All four women did end the six seasons loved-up, which could be considered a bit of a cop-out (but they did rip that apart again in the follow-up movies and And Just Like That… though).
They were all fulfilled in high-powered jobs and their sole goal wasn’t to get an engagement ring (aside from maybe Charlotte).
While the ladies undeniably broke boundaries with showrunner Michael Patrick King at the helm, they also had their fair share of issues. Original fans haven’t ignored those drawbacks, but instead, might have decided to overlook them, or pretend they didn’t happen in certain instances.
The queer-friendly show often celebrated the girls’ besties Stanley and Anthony and gay culture, but made other members of the LGBTQ+ community the punchline of poor jokes completely unnecessarily.
There was the time Carrie dated Sean, whose bisexuality baffled her.
Carrie was a sex columnist but was confused about bisexuality (Picture: HBO)
Over brunch, she shared her theory it simply didn’t exist and was instead a ‘layover on the way to gay town’. Charlotte thought bisexual people should ‘pick a side and stay there’, while Miranda called it ‘greedy’ and ‘a problem.’
Younger viewers are likely going to find it confusing that people were once so close-minded, especially as one study found,= that 12% of Gen Z adults identify as bisexual. ‘The way Carrie reacts to bisexuality, especially being a sex columnist, is so close-minded and disgusting,’ wrote Reddit user EXO-Love.
In another episode, Samantha moves to a new neighbourhood and gets into a debate with her new neighbours about the noise they make late at night. As things escalate, she uses a derogatory slur for transgender people (whether they are transgender is never confirmed by the neighbours themselves) and throws an entire bucket of water over them in another marker of disrespect.
Samantha uses a derogatory term (Picture: HBO)
Actress Laverne Cox told Variety’s My Favorite Episode podcast: ‘It was disappointing to me, as a Black trans woman, to see Black trans women enter the world of Sex and the City and be so thoroughly othered.’
There is a general lack of diversity in the show, and characters who aren’t white don’t always get the best plotlines. In one episode, Samantha dates a Black chef whose sister is against their romance. The storyline continues the incorrect angry, Black woman trope often used in sitcoms.
Some other aspects make for a hard watch, such as when Carrie finds out that her date Barkley videotapes his sexual partners without their knowledge (highly illegal!) and doesn’t give it the horrified reaction that the discovery deserves.
Facing an ‘anti-sex generation’ audience
As the title of SATC heavily implies, sex is an essential part of the plot. Throughout its 94 episodes, the series covers guys with the funkiest-tasting sperm, very well-endowed men (and the opposite), premature ejaculation, losing the ability to climax, dirty talk gone wrong, the fear of being bad in bed… and so on.
Sex is an essential part of the plot (Picture: HBO)
It’s unusual to make it through an episode without seeing somebody get busy, and this could be a problem for the viewers in a ‘sex recession’.
According to a recent study (conducted by UCLA’s Teens and Screens), Gen Z audiences are calling for less sex in TV and film.
Nearly half (47.5%) of those born between 1997 and 2012 have agreed that sex isn’t needed to drive plots. Instead, 51.5% of today’s adolescents want to see more content focused on friendships and platonic relationships after 44.3% stated that romance is ‘overused’ in media.
Carrie Bradshaw changed TV (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)
Luckily, the women’s friendships were always the centre of their fictional universe. Perhaps the younger audience will appreciate how the foursome considers each other to be their soulmates and men as just ‘great nice guys to have fun with’.
However, they may find it hard to forgive some of their lapses in judgement, such as when Carrie sends Aidan to help Miranda when she hurts her back in the shower.
The Sex and the City virgins will certainly be seeing the show through a new lens. However, perhaps it’s possible to acknowledge the flaws and what really should never have been put in the script, while also giving it the respect it deserves.
Because let’s be real – without Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha, there would have been no Marnie, Shoshanna, Hannah, and Jessa from Girls, or Kimberly, Leighton, Bella and Whitney from The Sex Lives of College Girls… and a lot of women would have felt way less seen.
Sex and the City arrives on Netflix April 1.
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