A Few Words in Defense of Sex and the City

After receiving the Sex and the City box set for Christmas (thanks, Dad!), I have rediscovered the guiltiest of guilty pleasures.

For all of its pettiness/shallowness/“modern feminism”/eye candy, there is something incredibly true to life in just about every episode. The friends who you stick with even though they keep making the same mistakes. The back-and-forth relationship that you don’t ever really escape. The feeling of disconnect in a big city even though you are surrounded by interesting and fun people. And not to mention the fabulous fashion.

But I like to think that I moved to a city on my own and I don’t need the bullshit glitz that “typical” girls seek from the unrealistic plotlines of Sex and the City. I like to think that my friends and I are a little more advanced beyond the show’s stereotypes and we make our own experiences instead of living vicariously through Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda. In other words, I don’t need fakeness to make me feel better about myself.

But the day after my 7 episode marathon, I was confidently stepping out of my apartment with a little spring in my step. I was imagining myself saying something charming and witty to the cute stranger that I pass every day on my commute to the train ::and this is coming from a girl who almost never says anything charming and witty:: Yesterday, I found myself wearing tan cowboy boots, textured tights and a black pashmina draped around my shoulders with a huge black leather, fringed bag dangling on my arm. I imagine one day I will be looking back at pictures and think “Whoa, I guess that was during the time that I was watching a lot of Sex and the City.”

Either way, as hard as it may be to admit, maybe we do need some fantasy in our lives. Even if it revolves around men, crude conversation and faux glamour. BUT, when I start dropping references into daily conversation, begin staying home to Saturday nights to finish season four or start looking into getting tickets for the Sex and the City tour next time I am in Manhattan, someone, please, stop me.